The Icla da Silva Foundation announces that this year’s annual fundraising gala will be held on September 29, 2010, at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, New York City. The event will be hosted by televistion host, actor, model, home improvement expert and member of the design team on the Emmy Award winning ABC’s "Extreme Makeover Home Edition", Rib Hillis.

Jennifer Jones Austin and Milton Schwartz will be honored at this year's event. Jennifer Jones Austin, transplant recipient, who helped recruit over 13,000 new donors within two months, will be the recipient of the Community Leadership Award. Jennifer joined the United Way of New York City in January 2008 as the Senior Vice President of Community Investment. Prior to joining UWNYC, Jennifer served as New York City's first Family Services Coordinator, a position to which she was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg after four years as a Deputy Commissioner in the City's Administration for Children's Services.

Milton Schwartz, father of a leukemia patient, advocate and supporter of The Icla da Silva Foundation, will be the recipient of the Corporate Leadership Award. Milton Schwartz is a partner of Grant, Herrmann, Schwartz & Klinger LLP, an international law firm in New York. He served for a number of years as Chairman of the Latin American Law Committee of the American Bar Association, President of the American Foreign Law Association, President of the Ecuadorian American Association and holds positions in related organizations. He is the author of numerous published works on comparative, foreign and Latin American law. He is also a trustee of the Mex-Am Cultural Foundation.

The gala will feature an emotional meeting between a former leukemia patient with her bone marrow donor for the first time, performances by a live band and a silent auction featuring several remarkable items. The event will also include a premium cocktail hour, a special three course dinner and dancing. We expect nearly 300 people to join us for this special evening. All proceeds support the foundation’s patient services and bone marrow recruitment programs.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings and Componet Assembly Systems have already committed to be one of the Foundation’s gala sponsors. “We have an aggressive goal to raise additional funds and resources, especially to aid families who have been faced with mounting medical bills in a tough economy,” said Airam da Silva, President of the Foundation. “The Foundation will utilize every possible resource to help save as many lives as possible”.

Your participation in this event would provide tremendous inspiration to the friends, families and supporters of those fighting the battle against leukemia.

For more information on the dinner & dance, visit http://www.iclaevents.org or contact The Icla da Silva Foundation at 1-888- 638-2870.