Sixth Annual CoachArt Children's Benefit raises $946k

CoachArt, a nonprofit organization that matches volunteer coaches with youth impacted by chronic and life-threatening illnesses for free arts and athletic lessons, announced today that it raised a record $946,000 at its sixth annual Children’s Benefit event on May 16 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

Chris Britt, founder and CEO of Chime, was honored as "Heart & Humanity Champion" at the event, which was attended by more than 500 guests. The CoachArt Children's Benefit honors individuals for exceptional professional success and personal humanitarianism. Past honorees include: Noah Wintroub, Vice Chairman, J.P. Morgan; Julia and Kevin Hartz, co-founders of EventBrite; and Jennifer Kuperman Johnson, Head of International Corporate Affairs, Alibaba Group.

In his remarks, Chris asked the guests to think about a person in their lives who helped them in their childhood.

"For me, this person was Joe," Chris said. He described a neighbor who provided guidance and support to him throughout his youth, going so far as to help pay his tuition at Tulane University. He offered a toast to all the volunteers and donors who make a difference in the lives of CoachArt students.

The 2019 event also honored Kendell Hardy of Richmond, California as CoachArt’s Volunteer of the Year. Kendell, an executive coach and HR business partner with Kaiser Permanente, has been a volunteer coach with CoachArt since 2017.

The event was co-hosted by CoachArt students Nomi, 16, from El Sobrante and Roan, 16, from Oakland, both of whom are cancer survivors.

CoachArt student Chanita, age 17, of Oakland was featured as a Shining Star Student. Chanita was born with hip dysplasia and was later diagnosed with kidney complications.

In his remarks at the event, CoachArt Executive Director Greg Harrell-Edge announced the organization’s plans to expand its service area beyond the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Thanks to the scalability of CoachArt Connect, the organization’s new online platform for matching volunteers with families, CoachArt is evaluating opportunities to offer services outside California. Eventually the organization hopes to serve families nationwide.

A significant portion of the funds raised by the Children’s Benefit were generated by the “paddle raise” that concluded the event. Guests raised numbered paddles roughly the size of ping pong paddles to bid on auction items including a trip for two to see Lady Gaga’s sold-out Encore show in Las Vegas, and to make additional donations to the organization. To raise total event income to the million dollar mark CoachArt invites the public to join a “virtual paddle raise” by donating any amount at https://coachart.org/benefit2019paddleraise.

About CoachArt
CoachArt provides a transformative learning community for children impacted by chronic illness by providing no-cost lessons in the arts and athletics in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. CoachArt was founded in 2001 by SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie and Leah Bernthal in memory of Zander's father, Dr. Arthur Lurie, a cardiac surgeon who recognized the need for long-term support and enrichment among the pediatric patient population. Today, CoachArt offers 10,000 hours of high-quality arts and athletics activities to children each year with the support of 400 volunteers and 85 partner organizations. To get involved with CoachArt as a volunteer or participate in its activities, please visit www.CoachArt.org or call 213-736-2850.

About Chris Britt
Chris Britt is the founder and CEO of Chime, the leader in U.S. challenger banking that helps members avoid fees, save money automatically and achieve financial peace of mind. From 2007-2012, Chris was Chief Product Officer and SVP, Corporate Development at Green Dot. Chris was also a senior product leader at Visa and one of the first executives at ComScore. He’s a Board Member of CoachArt.

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