We had a very successful 2014 Thomas Berry lecture, our annual fund and friend raiser at CFET.  375 people attended an amazing talk by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at 3PM on Saturday, October 4, 2014.  He spoke for about an hour, and then led the crowd over to the Michael J. Doyle Fieldhouse for a reception.  Cherry Hill  Barnes & Noble came out to sell Mr. Kennedy’s books, and the movie “The Last Mountain” on which Mr. Kennedy collaborated.  Mr. Kennedy sat to sign books and get his picture taken for about an hour.  The place was buzzing with the power of his message and his challenge for us to step up to the plate in the large and small ways before us.

The event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of them.  Cathy Fox, The Scanlan Family, Rosemary and Jim Hally, Barbara and Peter Pizzutillo, Debbie and Alex Durand, Ted Fox, Governor and Mrs. James Florio, Ann and Mark Baiada, Beneficial Bank, MAFCO-Camden, Cathy Nevins and Mark Doorley, Jackie and Marco Agostini, Eileen and John Borland, Josephine and Michael Giacchino, Gorman Investments and Kristin Szylvian and Michael Chiarappa. The reception was sponsored by the Procacci Brothers of South Philadephia and the Ravitz Family Foundation of Cherry Hill, NJ.  Thank you to all of you for making this amazing event possible.

We also need to thank for their always present support of CFET:  The Heart of Camden, Inc, which hosted the reception, and the faith community of Sacred Heart Church and the pastor, Michael J. Doyle.  Thank you a thousand times.

We were blessed with the presence of some many young people who were invited to join us that day.  They came from Camden Catholic High School, Haddonfield High School, the Academy of Aquatic Sciences in Camden, Camden County College, Rutgers University/Camden, Rowan University, St. Joseph’s University, Neumann University, LaSalle University and Villanova University. They were 60 strong, inspiring us to continue the ‘great work” and inspired by Mr. Kennedy’s passion and vision.

Finally, all the volunteers who did their “bit,” some small and some very large, to make this event go smoothly.  A very special thank you to Cathy Nevins, member of the CFET board and chairperson of this event. Her dedication and her vision prompted an email to Mr. Kennedy’s people.  The result was an outstanding friend and fund raiser on October 4th in Camden, NJ. Thank you, Cathy.

To see some photographs of the event, visit the Courier-Post site and our Facebook page.