Did you attend a Columbus Underground event in 2016? If so, you helped us to contribute a combined total of over $16,000 to nine different local nonprofits this year, and we’re incredibly thankful for your support in those endeavors.
When we first debuted our Urban Living Tour and Best Bites event series in 2014, we decided to build into those events a mission to highlight and support a charity to help connect our readers with a nonprofit cause while hosting a fun event to boot. Those events were expanded in 2015 and 2016 with the help of our growing team, led by Event Coordinator Leanne Williams. This year we hosted seven Best Bites events in addition to our Urban Living Tour and The Metropreneur’s ASPIRE event, and we still have the inaugural (and sold out) Columbus Coffee Fest coming up on December 4th.
What we’ve learned along the way is that Columbus Underground readers and supporters are passionate about this city, passionate about food, passionate about urban development, passionate about small businesses, and passionate about supporting local charities and civic causes. And we’re honored and excited to play a role in helping to make those connections possible. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know area nonprofits during our events, and hope you’ve found a cause to support that you believe in.
We wanted to give a hearty and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported any our events throughout the year, which has allowed us to support the following nonprofits: Neighborhood Services, The Columbus Foundation’s Gifts of Kindness Fund, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio, Faith Mission, CelebrateOne, The Godman Guild, Franklinton Gardens, She Has A Name, and Franklin County Children Services’ Holiday Wish. If you’d like to donate anything extra to any of these organizations, today is a great day to do it. (#GivingTuesday)
And while the end of the year is always a time of reflection, it’s also a time to look ahead to what comes next. We’re already hard at work on filling out our events calendar for 2017, which will include both returning events as well as new events. If you’re interested in helping to support our mission of giving back to the community, then stay tuned for upcoming event announcements, and make sure to subscribe to our email newsletter for the latest news. Your event attendance next year could help us surpass a goal of $20,000 for 2017.
With warm holiday wishes,
-Walker & Anne Evans
