Boston, Massachusetts-- On April 27th, over one thousand people attended the New England Benefit Dinner in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Facing History and Ourselves and to honor Margot Stern Strom, its founder and Executive Director. Chaired by the Karp family - Jill, Stephen, Douglass, and Jana, the Benefit raised over $1.8 million and featured the voices of Facing History students, teachers, and supporters. The keynote speaker for this year's dinner was Carl Wilkens, who was the director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Rwanda when the genocide erupted there in 1994. He was the only American to remain in the country after the killings began.

The theme for the evening was the power of choice. Students shared about the impact of their Facing History classes and classroom speakers like Carl Wilkens had on their understanding of the complexities of history and their own decisions. Adrianne Billingham, teacher at Lexington High School, summarized the power of the Facing History curriculum by saying:

"With Facing History, students begin to see that they have the ability and the responsibility to make moral decisions in their lives. They begin to see that their choices count. This is the result of learning history with a text in one hand and a mirror in the other."

During the evening the Karp family and Dana Smith, Chair of the New England Advisory Board, acknowledged the profound impact of Facing History's Founder and Executive Director Margot Stern Strom and presented a tribute book in her honor.