Mark Venezia never expected his role at Big Night Entertainment would land him at center-court of the TD Garden while being cheered by more than 19,000 fans, but that’s exactly where he found himself at a recent Boston Celtics home game.
Since 2020, Venezia has collaborated with the American Red Cross to host 119 blood drives at Big Night Live on Causeway Street in Boston. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for blood donations was extremely high. The then-unused music hall at Big Night Live was utilized to host the first blood drive while maintaining safety protocols such as social distancing.
“No one wanted to do blood drives because it’s too small with social distancing, and the bloodmobiles were shut down,” Venezia said. “Everything was shut down, it was a dire need.”
The company incentivized both its employees and customer base to partake in the inaugural blood drive with a $100 gift card to use at one of its numerous venues. Venezia, a Peabody resident, said it was a huge success.
“The Red Cross said, ‘Can you do another one?’ And I said sure,” Venezia recalled. “Here we are three years later.”
According to statistics identified by the Celtics, Venezia’s efforts have helped save more than 12,000 lives. The music venue now hosts between two and three blood drives per month.
Originally hired as a director of merchandising and partnerships in 2019, Venezia now has the title of director of partnerships in philanthropy. His philanthropic duties with Big Night are not limited to blood drives, as he was a driving force behind assisting hundreds of financially struggling former employees who had to be laid off by the company due to the pandemic.
“We had about 200 people that for whatever reason were not eligible to collect unemployment,” Venezia said. “And I was on a committee of five people where we reviewed applications with people who didn’t have food, didn’t have diapers, didn’t have rent money.”
Big Night Entertainment’s ownership initially provided $100,000 to be distributed. Since then, Venezia has continued the fundraising effort, and to date the company has donated approximately $600,000 to community members in need regardless of their connection to the company.
One initiative that Venezia is looking forward to in 2024 is a budding partnership with Best Buddies.
“We help them get their entertainment for their different events whether it’s a race or fundraiser,” Venezia said. “ We’re actually placing some of their special needs ‘buddies’ into our restaurant… I’m so happy to be volunteering with them.”
