One very unique partnership that The Charles Hotel has is with The Farm School in Athol, Massachusetts, a family run farm which teaches sustainable agricultural techniques to children and adults.  The Farm School provides residential school year and summer programs for more than 1,500 people per year, and gives young people the opportunity to work the land (teaching them about the relationship between farms, food, and the importance of hard work), while giving adults the tools they need to run their own farms.  The Hotel has had a relationship with the Farm School for nearly five years and created a special event specifically to increase funding and awareness for this worthwhile organization.

For the past four years, The Charles Hotel has hosted a fundraiser for The Farm School called the “Big Pig Gig,” which has helped to raise money for the school’s farming programs.  The 2005 event attracted supporters with an intimate performance by former Grateful Dead legend Bobby Weir’s new band Ratdog and unique raffle items ranging from a trip for two to London to see Wimbelton to a custom made stone bench.  And again in 2006, the Farm School reached new heights with what was the most successful Big Pig Gig ever, raising for The Farm School over $140,000. 
           
The Hotel itself is host to another one of Boston’s most prolific, charitable and widely-anticipated fund-raisers.  It’s called “Betting on a Cause & a Cure,” and it’s a Monte-Carlo night type fund-raiser for three nationally recognized non-profit organizations – the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care, the Michael J. Fox. 2006 marked the fourth year that The Charles Hotel once again played host to a star-studded line-up.  The Hotel donated a large percentage of guestrooms, food & beverage, security, function space and décor to the event which netted approximately $1 million for the three charities.  The Boston Herald named this event the best event of 2005!