More students need caring relationships. Schools are facing tighter budgets. Families are under growing pressure to meet basic needs and find the support they need. This year, your support can help us say yes when our communities need us most.
Every year, the Legacy Project of Stark brings our community together for one important evening: the Legacy Gala. It is a night to celebrate generosity, connect with others, and invest in the future of our community.
But this year, the stakes are higher than ever. Across our region, schools are asking for more support for their students while working within tighter budgets. Families are facing increased pressure to put food on the table, pay their bills, and connect with resources that can help them get through difficult times. And students are growing up in a world where technology, including artificial intelligence, is becoming an increasingly common place to turn for answers and support.
At the Legacy Project of Stark, we believe that while technology can be a useful tool, it cannot replace a caring adult who knows a student, listens to them, encourages them, and helps them see what is possible.
That is why we believe in funding real-life relationships. And that is why the 2026 Legacy Gala matters more than ever.
When Schools Ask for Help, We Want to Be Able to Say Yes
The demand for our mentoring programs continues to grow. More schools recognize that students need more than academic instruction to thrive. They need trusted adults, a sense of belonging, encouragement, and someone who will help them work through challenges and recognize their strengths.
Yet schools are facing budget cuts and difficult decisions about how to use their limited resources. Even when school leaders see a need for mentoring, finding the funding to make it happen can be a challenge.
Our goal is to make caring mentoring relationships available to students at no cost to their families. We work alongside schools to connect students with trained adult mentors who invest their time in helping young people grow, build confidence, develop life skills, and discover opportunities for their future.
But as more schools request our programs, we face an important question: Will we have the resources to meet the need?
The Legacy Gala helps us say yes.
Every ticket purchased, sponsorship secured, and donation made helps provide the funding we need to respond when a school asks us to fill a relational gap for its students.
It helps us reach more young people without asking already stretched school districts to carry the full cost. It helps us put caring adults in students’ lives when those relationships can make a difference.
We do not want a school’s budget to be the reason a student misses the opportunity to have someone in their corner.
Your Ticket Does More Than Get You Into an Event
The Legacy Gala is our largest fundraiser of the year. The money raised helps support the people, training, resources, and partnerships behind our programs.
Our mentoring programs are provided at no cost to participating students and families. That means we depend on the generosity of people and businesses who believe every young person deserves the opportunity to build a relationship with a caring adult.
When you purchase a ticket to the 2026 Legacy Gala, you are doing more than attending a fundraising event.
You are helping a school bring mentoring to students who need additional support, helping a young person build trust with an adult who believes in them, and helping the Legacy Project of Stark respond when the next school calls and asks us to help.
The demand for our programs is growing, and the need is not waiting. We want to be ready to meet that need, but we cannot do it alone.
This is your opportunity to help make sure that when our community asks for support, we have the resources to say yes.
Help Us Build a Legacy That Lasts
The 2026 Legacy Gala, Building a Legacy: Investing in Tomorrow’s Leaders, brings together people who believe in the potential of young people and the power of community.
Help us fund real-life relationships. Help us say yes to more schools. Help us make sure more students have someone who shows up for them.
Join Us for the 2026 Legacy Gala
Building a Legacy: Investing in Tomorrow’s Leaders
Saturday, November 7, 2026, 5:00 to 9:00 PM
Barrette Center at Walsh University, 2225 E. Maple St., North Canton, Ohio
Tickets: $100 per person
Join us for an evening of dinner, raffles, a silent auction, a cash bar, and a celebration of the people who make our mission possible.
Ticket sales close Monday, October 26.
Event details are at lpstark.org/gala.