The Foundation for MetroWest, a community-based philanthropic organization that plays a crucial role in attracting, retaining and distributing charitable dollars in the MetroWest region, announced today that it will honor long-time Wayland resident, volunteer and local philanthropist Pamela Lesser with this year’s Community Philanthropist Award at its Spring Inspiration Breakfast on May 3rd.

Lesser, Pamela

The Foundation for MetroWest’s Spring Inspiration Breakfast will be held May 3rd from 9-11am at the Wellesley Country Club. More information on sponsoring the event, making a donation or purchasing tickets for the event can be found here or by calling 508.647.2260.

After a successful career in sales and sales management at IBM, Lesser has been an active volunteer for many years in the Wayland school system as well as several charitable organizations including the Board of Jewish Family & Children’s Service, the Trustee Advisory Board and the CardioVascular Advisory Committee of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). She was also one of the steering committee co-chairs for Wayland to Waveland (W2W), a sister-city initiative formed to help battle the devastation visited upon the small town of Waveland, Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina. The group raised in excess of $3M and over a ten-year period sent many supplies, helped rebuild over twenty homes for Waveland residents as well as cleaned up and restored a local baseball field, park and playground.

As a member of the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for MetroWest, Pam has been a strong advocate for the organization’s Youth in Philanthropy program and was the inspiration for the Foundation’s Youth Giving Accounts, which is a donor-advised fund program for younger philanthropists.

Established in 2014, the Foundation for MetroWest’s Community Philanthropist Award annually recognizes a MetroWest resident who is passionate about creating lasting change in the community through philanthropy, who inspires others to give generously of their time and resources, and embraces the notion of giving back within their community.
“Pam’s involvement in the Foundation has had significant impact on the success of our work,” stated Judith Salerno, Executive Director of the Foundation for MetroWest. “She brings tremendous energy to our initiatives and I am so pleased to honor her philanthropic accomplishments with this award.”

 

image006Screen Shot 2018-04-04 at 11.41.08 AM