Fundraising dinner to honor Christiana Figueres, Steve Aronson

A Costa Rican who soared to the forefront of international climate change negotiations, and a U.S. citizen who’s dedicated his life to business and philanthropy in Costa Rica: these will be the honorees at the second annual CRUSAder of the Year event organized by the Costa Rica USA Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA).

The foundation will donate 100 percent of ticket costs to a nonprofit chosen by the ticket purchaser from among the wide range of organizations supported by CRUSA and Amigos of Costa Rica, its U.S. branch. These include nonprofit organizations working in education, community development, conservation, animal care and more. (Learn more here.)

Each year, the foundation honors one Costa Rican and one U.S. citizen that have made outstanding contributions to sustainable development and philanthropy in Costa Rica, and the exemplify the CRUSA Foundation’s mission of binational cooperation.

Christiana Figueres, daughter of Karen Olsen and legendary Costa Rican revolutionary and three-time president José Figueres Ferrer, is best known for her work as the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a position to which she was named in 2010. In that role, she led the negotiations that culminated in the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magaine in 2016.

Since that time, she launched her candidacy to become the Secretary General of the United Nations, and is now the driving force between climate change initiative Mission 2020.

Steve Aronson, who calls himself a U.S. citizen by birth and a Costa Rican by choice, is known for his marketing genius at the helm of Café Britt, which under his leadership became an international powerhouse in the sales of coffee, chocolates, souvenirs and more. His selection as a CRUSAder of the Year reflects his dedication to philanthropy: after passing on the reins of Britt, he has dedicated his attention to improving public education, national parks and Costa Rican cultural life.

He is the founder of the Demain Foundation, which supports projects including the Association of International Baccalaureate High Schools of Costa Rica (ASOBITICO), an initiative that has implemented the prestigious IB curriculum in Costa Rican public schools; ProParques, which addresses the needs of the country’s national parks; and the Teatro Espressivo Cultural Association (ACTE), which promotes high-quality cultural activities for urban and rural audiences alike.

The 2018 CRUSAder of the Year event will take place on Monday, Nov. 5 at the Hotel Real Intercontinental in Escazú. For more information on the CRUSAder dinner or to purchase a ticket and dedicated the $200 cost to the nonprofit organization of your choice, visit the event website here.

This story was sponsored by the Costa Rica USA Foundation. Interested in learning how your sponsored content can appear in The Tico Times? Contact kstanley@ticotimes.net.