(L to R) Elizabeth Chaves, MAPS Board President; Paulo Pinto, MAPS Executive Director; Claire Andrade-Watkins; co-hosts Edna Monteiro Leith and Marcony Almeida.

Award recipients, staff and board members, along with volunteers, friends and supporters, of the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) raised a record $130,000 at the organization’s 2014 Awards Gala April 12 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

The highlight of the event, which drew over 400 guests, was the presentation of awards to six recipients who were honored for their significant contributions to the lives of Brazilians, Cape Verdeans, Portuguese and others in Massachusetts.

“In the past few years, many of you have shared with me how the MAPS Awards Gala makes you feel proud of being part of the Portuguese-speaking community—whether you were born into it or because of your interest and enthusiasm,” Paulo Pinto, executive director of the health and social service organization, told attendees. “That has made me very happy and inspired me to work even harder every year to make you feel more proud of yourselves and our community.”

“I am so proud to be among so many tonight who ‘build things up,’” continued Pinto, who was recognized himself at the gala for 20 years of service at MAPS.  “You build a better community through your work, your contributions to society, your passion for justice and opportunity for all, and your commitment to helping Portuguese speakers and others in need achieve health, happiness and success no matter what difficult challenges and fears they may face.”

Gala award recipients included: Claire Andrade-Watkins, Ph.D., educator, filmmaker and co-founder of CABO Inc., MAPS Person of the Year; Duarte Carvalho, CEO and principal of Riverside Management Group/Dunkin’ Donuts, MAPS Mary & Manuel Rogers Lifetime Community Service Award; Alphonso Brown, M.D., physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, founder of ICAN Medical Scholars and Educators, MAPS Manuel N. Coutinho Outstanding Volunteer Award; Edirson Paiva Sr., founder and publisher of The Brazilian Times,  MAPS Álvaro Lima Outstanding Business Award; and Barbara and Ira Smith, founders of Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts (HGRM), MAPS Jorge Fidalgo Community Service Award.

Besides the banquet and awards presentation, guests were treated to music from around the Portuguese-speaking world provided by Elle Gomes and Band, the group Concertinas do Minho, and DJ Manny Morais.  They also enjoyed a short video, introduced by state Department of Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett (“a proud Portuguese-American!”) celebrating the community’s passion for its shared language and culture, for helping one another, and for soccer—with homage to the upcoming World Cup in Brazil this June.

The event also featured a raffle with a $1,000 cash first prize and a silent auction with more than 40 items up for bid, including sports memorabilia and tickets, gift cards from popular stores and restaurants, gift baskets and, among the most popular, a donation from TAM Airlines and Globo Travel of round-trip airfare for two to Brazil.

Gala co-hosts Marcony Almeida, a former MAPS board member who is on the staff at the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants (MORI), and Edna Monteiro Leith, a former program manager at MAPS now teaching at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, entertained the crowd and kept the program moving throughout the night.  They and the gala’s co-chairmen, Stephen Pereira (representing the board of directors) and Susan Seger (representing the staff) received thanks and bouquets of flowers.

Two special guests—MORI Executive Director Josiane Martinez and Alejandra St. Guillen, director of the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians—also went on stage to present, respectively, a citation from Gov. Deval L. Patrick and a proclamation from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh congratulating MAPS and the award recipients on the occasion of the Gala.

MAPS has served the Portuguese-speaking communities of Massachusetts since 1970. The agency has offices in Cambridge, Somerville, Brighton, Dorchester, Lowell and Framingham.