On Tuesday, June 7, 2016, Pond Lehocky Giordano held a fundraising dinner at its Center City offices to benefit the USC Shoah Foundation. The event was hosted by the Partners with all proceeds donated to support the organization’s educational and action-based efforts against genocide. The USC Shoah Foundation seeks to overcome prejudice, intolerance and hatred—and the suffering they cause— through audiovisual testimonies.
The organization’s Next Generation Council focuses on spreading awareness and ensuring financial support for the foundation. Sam Pond, along with some of the country’s top leaders, is a member of the council.
“I am constantly inspired by USC Shoah Foundation’s ability to raise awareness and to motivate humanity to ensure that the terrors of the past are not repeated,” Pond said. “USC Shoah Foundation is committed to putting an end to genocide and clearly never forgetting the Holocaust, through the educational use of survivor testimony in classrooms around the globe.”
Also in attendance was USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Dr. Stephen D. Smith. Smith addressed attendees about the importance of growing the foundation’s archive and using the historical accounts for education, research and advocacy.
“The survivors gave us their testimonies so that we would tell the world and educate future generations 20, 50, 100 years from now and beyond,” Smith said. “The testimonies go beyond what you can find in a book, beyond what you can see on a blackboard, beyond what you can type on a tablet.”
Steven Spielberg founded the USC Shoah Foundation in 1994 after directing Schindler’s List. The foundation is dedicated to making audiovisual interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides a compelling voice for education and action. Click here to learn more about and support the USC Shoah Foundation.
