I have been working for The (vegan) Caterer for about 9 months at this point. It is amazing; it is employment I feel truly passionate about. The entire process encompasses so many parts of my life that I absolutely LOVE. Business, cooking, event planning…We had been toying with the idea of hosting a benefit and around the holidays we started putting feelers out…those feelings were returned :)
We first found the location for the event. A great small
space in SE Portland called Union/Pine. It
is a great venue that can play host to around 150 guests. We have had small
gathering type events there previously and the owners are truly a joy to work
with.
The most important task was finding a great place to bestow
all of our fundraisings on…it took some time, but we settled on Green Acres Farm Sanctuary in
Silverton, Or. It was important to us that the beneficiary was ethical, and local.
Much of the theme of our benefit is about creating a great community, and
supporting the elements of it. We are so glad to have been introduced to Green
Acres, and look forward to working with them for future events!
After we locked down the location and the date we contacted
our AMAZING graphic designer, Stacia Murphy Graphic
Design, to help us add the information to our website and she created our
flier. She has done our entire website and helped us with many other small
projects.
The ins and outs of the event have unfolded along the way.
We have found a guest speaker, business owner and activist Tim Hitchins will be
speaking about the importance of building the vegan community, representatives
from Green Acres will be giving a presentation about their property and all of
the great animals they have been fortunate to rescue.
In order to spark a lot of interest from the community I
compiled a list of vegan businesses from around the area and started calling,
asking for donations for a huge raffle. All items are vegan and cruelty free! I
am completely flattened by the level of generosity I have experienced in my
time doing this. The offerings from these companies speak well to the theme of
the event. We are all here for a common purpose and it is highlighted by this
show of kindness.
Here is a list of the great items we have in hand (In
Alphabetical Order.) This list does not even include the others we still have
to pick up, or those which are still in transit!
·
Green
Acres Farm Sanctuary – Tote bag, t-shirt, stickers, magnets, buttons, and a
tour of the farm
·
Helios Eco
House Bend – A 3 night stay for 4 guests at their exclusive award winning rental!
Worth $920!!
·
My Own 2 Hands
– Local Handy man Charles Evans has donated Two $50 Gift Certificates for
services! Help with your DIY, or other nagging issues you may need a pro for!
There are many more items in the works and on hold! I have
been posting them up on our Facebook and the Event Page as they are received!
At this point we have sold nearly 60 tickets! We are capping
tickets at 100. All tickets can be purchased at The (vegan) Caterer.
In other exciting news, I contacted the genius behind Will Travel for Vegan Food and invited her
to the event. She is a great blogger and traveler who is going around the US
eating at all of the vegan spots each state has to offer. Since we are not a
restaurant I thought this would be a great opportunity for her to taste what we
have to offer! She has created a contest to get someone to come as her date! I
have been following her on Instagram (@wtfveganfood) for many months, and I
look forward to meeting her. 
We have also contracted a new local company to run the bar. Merit Badge will be taking care of all
of your libations for the evening. It is a ca$h bar, but all proceeds will go
to Green Acres Farm Sanctuary! YAY! Check them out for all of your event needs
as they relate to alcohol! These folks are amazing to work with! They are
creating some custom drinks for all of the guests to enjoy. Don’t forget to
tip!
In addition to calling around and posting on every social
media outlet I have at my disposal, I have been all over Portland posting up
our flier, in vegan businesses, places where vegans frequent and other awesome
locations! I have been told by many folks that they have seen the flier! Stacia
did such an amazing job on it. I hope it is the first of many to come.
We have a great roster of volunteers who will be running the
door, raffles, helping with the food service, and setting and cleaning up. This
event could not happen without the generosity of these people, and we are
forever grateful for their contribution.
We have most of the large details handled…and it is time for
the nitty gritty planning stage. Tablecloths, napkins, chairs, what I’m going
to wear J…you
know the REALLY important things. Truly, these are the things that make these
events memorable. I look forward to ironing them all out!
I suppose, I better get it handled! Check in soon for more
details, follow The (vegan) Caterer on Facebook, Twitter (@thevegancaterer) and
I am on Instagram as @stepherr. The event on Facebook is public so please
invite yourself and buy a ticket!
**Please note: If you
are unable to attend we have created a [DONATION] button on our event page. Just because you live
half way across the world doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to help out a
great organization like Green Acres!
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