GUTS: CELEBRATING 10 YEARS of CREATIVES CARVING OUT WISHES
If you have never heard of GUTS, allow me to give you yet another reason to love this time of the year.
In the past ten years, this family friendly pumpkin carving event has grown from a small, internal team-building activity for the employees at CRAFTED, which took place in a parking lot just outside of Uptown Charlotte, to a much anticipated community wide, friendly competition attracting hundreds of people to BB&T Ballpark- all for an amazing cause.
And he’s not alone. Hope Haven has helped thousands of Charlotte families break the vicious cycle of drug addiction since 1976.
They house hundreds of local homeless families every year who have members dealing with addiction, and help them on the road to recovery through a variety of crucial services. But counseling is just the beginning. The Hope Haven difference lies in their unique ability to provide safe, reliable housing for struggling families.
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” -Walt Disney
When St. Gabriel Catholic School parent Allison Walsh met Promising Pages Executive Director Kristina Cruise, something magical happened.
St. Gabriel Catholic School is a co-ed, K - 5th grade open to students of all faiths and backgrounds. Promising Pages is a Charlotte-based nonprofit mission is to provide ownership of books to underserved children and cultivate a lifelong love of reading through innovative literacy programs and partnerships.
“After meeting Kristina at an event, I loved the idea of having a place to donate the dozens of books that my children had outgrown,” Walsh said. “As we talked further it came to me that our school might be interested doing this as one of our service projects.”
"Our community needs to get comfortable with the uncomfortable." -Peter Browning, Dilworth Center Board Member
I drove past Dilworth Center before I successfully found it, and that's actually a good thing.
Although our culture is making strides against the stigma and shame piled onto people suffering from addiction, it's comforting to know that their first step toward recovery doesn't have to take place in a public square like Trade and Tryon.
Dilworth Center is tucked away off the main thoroughfare, accessible only through the back of a shopping center lot, bordered by a canopy of large trees and some private parking spots.
“Love is the feeling you get when you like something as much as your motorcycle.” Hunter S. Thompson
Our region’s bikers love to ride, but they also love to give back, especially when it comes to helping children in need during the holiday season.
In 10 years, motorcycle enthusiasts have packed and donated more than 20,000 shoeboxes filled with holiday cheer for Operation Christmas Child through the Billy Graham Library’s Bikers With Boxes event.
This October, SHARE Charlotte’s Spotlight Series: #RecoveringHope will focus in on our local nonprofit partners that serve those in our community who are battling addiction.
The nonprofit organizations we will be highlighting this month restore hope to the hopeless through affordable counseling, rehabilitation programs, educational initiatives, and even housing and employment opportunities. These organizations make full recovery possible for individuals in our community who need a little help #RecoveringHope.
Listed below are many of SHARE Charlotte’s nonprofit partners who work to serve to those in our community who have battled or are currently battling addiction. Read how they serve our community as well as how you can get involved with these organizations. You can also click here to explore all of our nonprofit partners who are not featured on this list but who may also serve a similar sector of need.
For the people in Shaun “Lucky” Corbett’s neighborhood, his barbershop is the pinnacle of the community. The cornerstone. The place where people go to catch up on life, spread news- both good and bad, and to come together.
Shaun has owned his shop since 2010 and his unique position in his community as a sounding board as well as a trusted source has allowed him to do incredible work to bridge the gap between local law enforcement and the community that he loves.
Following the Michael Brown incident in 2014, Shaun knew he had to do something.
Mark Gordon’s grandfather and uncle were policemen and everyone else was in the military - a call to public service runs in their family veins. So, it was only natural as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools graduate, Mark Gordon joined the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in 2000. He wasn’t prepared to see the statistics LIVE. He knew them, but the amount of fatherless homes and the crime everywhere, no matter what part of Charlotte you lived in, was alarming.
Mark describes his childhood, living in the Derita community (now Mallard Creek) as, “a little town within the City of Charlotte, kinda like the movie Sandlot - we rode our bikes everywhere, especially to the pool.”
Charlotte’s celebrated Festival in the Park at Freedom Park has been a staple in our community since 1964.
Last weekend marked the 54th Annual Festival in the Park and Charlotteans of all ages enjoyed strolling by art exhibits, listening to live music, shopping unique arts and crafts booths and then there’s the elephant ears, a Festival in the Park tradition!
Festival In the Park began in 1964 when John Belk, then President of the Chamber of Commerce suggested to Grant Whitney, an insurance executive with Belk Stores Services, to create an arts show in Freedom Park. The idea of a Spring art show had been tossed around the prior year by the Chamber but had not materialized.
Giving back is personal. It means something different to everyone. Why? Because everyone has something different to give.
When you think about volunteering your time for a nonprofit organization, what comes to mind? Your first thought might not be to use your talents for GOOD, maybe it should be. Volunteering can be an outlet for you to use your individual skill set while also help a nonprofit who needs exactly what you’ve got!
Did you know that your writing abilities, social media expertise, photography skills, or even knowledge of legal processes could be useful to a local nonprofit? Volunteering can be about giving within your wheelhouse of talent- and with 450+ nonprofit partners SHARE Charlotte can tell you first hand that no matter your talent, there is a nonprofit that could benefit from you sharing it!
We have so much great news to share from our nonprofit partners about their amazing work. But, we'd love to hear from you. Let us know if you have stories you'd like to tell and we'll make you a guest blogger!!
Our region’s bikers love to ride, but they also love to give back, especially when it comes to helping children in need during the holiday season.
