Rosie's Place, a Boston-based community center for poor and homeless women, announced that it raised a record-breaking $1,000,000 at its recent luncheon.

Funny Women...Serious Business, held October 15th at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center brought 1,200 supporters together and celebrated 50 years of turning hope into help at Rosie's Place, the first shelter for women in the United States. Retired WCVB 5 anchor Susan Wornick and WCVB's Karen Holmes Ward co-hosted the afternoon with featured speaker Stephanie Land, an activist and acclaimed author whose New York Times bestselling memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, was adapted into a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated series on Netflix.

This event was made possible through the support of Presenting Sponsors Bank of America, Cherise and Robert Bransfield, G-P, Christina and Michael Gordon, Erin O'Connor Kent and Patrick Kent, Jane and Joe Kringdon, Kristen and John Maxwell, Michele May and David Walt, Bob and Christa Murray, New Balance Foundation and Deb and Mark Pasculano; Presenting Centerpiece Sponsor Neiman Marcus; and Leading Sponsors Christy and Jay Cashman, Elaine Construction Company/Lisa Wexler and Tom Monroe, Forest Foundation, Lee and Peter Frechette, The Gilson Family Foundation, Thuy and Tuan Ha-Ngoc, Beth Edwards Harris, Highland Partners Charitable Fund, Linda and Joseph Hooley, Stacy Madison and Pinkham Busny LLP. Special guests included Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll; Mayor Michelle Wu; Latoyia Edwards, NBC10 Boston; Rachel Keller, Boston 25 News; Yadires Nova-Salcedo, Encuentro Latino; and Amaka Ubaka, 7News WHDH/WLVI.

Funds raised from this year's luncheon will support emergency services including shelter, meals and a food pantry as well as long-term expert education, legal, mental health, recovery, employment, housing and stabilization assistance for some of Boston's most vulnerable women.

"Over the past five years every single program and service at Rosie's Place has grown—and in many instances, doubled or tripled in volume," said Rosie's Place President/CEO Leemarie Mosca in her remarks. "We are committed to doing more for the community who needs us more. Because when Kip Tiernan founded Rosie's Place 50 years ago, as the very first shelter for women in the country, she didn't set out to make history. She set out to make a difference. And we do just that every day. We have launched a strategic plan that over the next four years will grow all of our programming by 25%. More meals, more eviction prevention work, more housing search, more education, more job search, more everything."