Luncheon - Speaker Adam Braun - The Promise of a Pencil

As a student, Adam Braun, was inspired by a film to travel to developing countries to see poverty firsthand. In India, he asked a boy he encountered what he wanted most. The reply stunned him: "a pencil." Braun gave the boy his pencil and never forgot how his face lit up.  He returned home with a goal of starting an organization to raise money to build a school overseas. Since 2009, Pencils of Promise has partnered with communities and governments to build 206 schools in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. It also trains teachers and covers other school costs. Braun's book, The Promise of a Pencil, released this spring, was a New York Times best-seller.