More than a housewarming
Over the summer, we moved ThinkShout’s headquarters just across the street, up seven floors. Lev wrote all about it earlier this year; how the choice to stay in Old Town was not an obvious one. There are challenges that go along with being located in a neighborhood with such a high density of social services. Several groups have made promises to be good neighbors to businesses moving into the area. But Lev (and our entire team) were inspired by one business that responded to local organizations by saying ‘it’s we who intend to be good neighbors, by supporting the work you do in every way we can, from volunteering to fundraising, to showing respect for those you serve.’
It was from this sentiment that the idea to combine our housewarming party with a fundraiser was born.
We partnered with three organizations that we’ve long admired about their involvement in our party/fundraiser: Blanchet House, Transition Projects, and Sisters of the Road. All three provide services to the homeless – a place where someone can get a meal, nourishment, and positive human interaction without fear or judgment. Now we just had to throw an amazing party and draw crowds so we could raise the money for them! (no sweat, right?)
We knew we needed to offer more than just food and drinks to draw a crowd. As is often the case with most of our projects, the full team started to collaborate on ideas and the party started to take shape.
We hit up local businesses and community contacts to get items donated for silent auction packages ranging from a weekend in Hood River to Yoga classes. Our teammate Olivier (owner of Twin Pines Country Club) assembled a mini golf course to entertain party goers of all ages. And the partner of one of our software developers created the set design for the golf course by hand!
Mini golf players in action!
Samuel Eisen-Meyers provided live music, and Bryan Olsen created a collage station where people could observe him making his well-known collages or create a masterpiece of their own.
Bryan helping attendees discover their inner artist.
It truly turned into a labor of love for our team, and the way in which our collective talents, hobbies, and interests all came together to create this celebration was a thing of beauty.
One of our goals in moving to this space was to support the broader nonprofit, creative, and technology communities. Well, after all was said and done and the totals tallied, we raised just over $6,000 for Blanchet House, Transition Projects, and Sisters of the Road! We look forward to being able to continue supporting the communities and organizations who are doing the important, hard work of societal improvement. If you were with us that night, thanks for being part of this community we share.
And if you missed the big night, we hope you join us next time! There will definitely be more of these in the future. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for announcements, or jump on our newsletter list to get updates delivered straight to your inbox.
