[RELEASE] Leigh Middleton Honored with SPARK Award
Project HOME today announced it will host the 15th celebration of Bring Philly HOME, presented by Penn Medicine, on Wednesday, June 4, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Fitler Club in Philadelphia. Bring Philly HOME brings together hundreds of enthusiastic young professionals, city leaders, community members, and committed advocates for an evening filled with big ideas, inspiring stories, and motivating presentations from regional leaders committed to ending and preventing chronic street homelessness in Philadelphia.
“Bring Philly HOME is one of Project HOME’s most exciting nights of the year,” said Donna Bullock, President and CEO of Project HOME. “It brings so many parts of the Project HOME community together for a really meaningful event rooted in a shared commitment to coming together to give back. And it’s a really fun night. The fact that we’ll have a chance to honor Leigh Middleton makes this year extra impactful.”
About the 2025 SPARK Award Being Presented to Leigh Middleton
The event will include the presentation of the annual SPARK (Service, Partnership, and Radical Kindness) Award. The SPARK Award, presented by Citizens, Freedom Mortgage, Sean and Megan O'Hara, Maguire Foundation, the Phillies, and Duane Perry and Arthur Kaplan, recognizes an individual in the Project HOME family whose work underscores a shared commitment to driving inspirational and meaningful change in their communities.
This year’s SPARK Award recipient is Leigh Middleton. In 2014, John and Leigh Middleton made a transformational contribution to Project HOME – one of the largest single private gifts given to an organization working to end and prevent homelessness in the nation – and established a partnership that continues to help expand Project HOME’s outreach efforts to transform lives. Their contributions evolved into MPOWER. MPOWER serves as an impact multiplier for Project HOME’s work, leveraging public and private support from the City of Philadelphia, state and federal agencies, philanthropists, and foundations to maximize and utilize funds to the greatest benefit of others.
Each year, Bring Philly HOME is hosted by Project HOME’s Rising Leaders Committee. The mission of the Rising Leaders Committee is to raise resources to further Project HOME's goal to end and prevent chronic street homelessness in Philadelphia; increase awareness around the issue of homelessness; and mobilize and educate the broader community on how they can get involved to support Project HOME's mission, vision, and programs. This year’s co-chairs are Sebastien Lundby-Thomas and Emma Willis. This year’s event will be hosted by Tracy Davidson, anchor and investigative consumer reporter for NBC10 News.
“Each year, Bring Philly HOME is a signature undertaking for the Rising Leaders Committee, and we’re so grateful to all the committee members, partners, and sponsors who helped us pull it off,” said Bullock. “Bringing together so many committed voices in one room is truly powerful, and you can’t help but be inspired and eager to do your part to end chronic street homelessness in Philadelphia.”
