The Decade of Roasting Gala Reflection
Back in June, we started planning an opportunity to celebrate turning 10 years as a roastery - what a milestone! We also hoped it would be a chance to raise a significant amount of money for one of the non-profits we regularly support. We had done something similar in 2014 on our fifth anniversary, but we were not prepared for the response we received this time around.
We booked The Grand Ballroom in Covington for the celebration, chose a theme, and started leveraging our relationships to gather donations for our raffle baskets. This would be the main source of fundraising during the event. Over 100 businesses in the tri-state area very generously donated gift certificates, merchandise, and experiences for our gala. We were thrilled!
Partnering with The Mercy Kids for our fundraiser was a no-brainer. We visited their center in Nicaragua in 2018 where they provide physical, spiritual, emotional, and social support to families experiencing disability. From that point on, we found ourselves regularly supporting the work they were doing, and our anniversary party was a chance to boost that support.
When the time came to sell tickets to the event we spent months planning, we were pleasantly surprised when we met our goal. The night of Monday November 4, we filled the ballroom with over 220 guests, including employees (past and present) and even some new faces.
The plan for the evening was to eat, drink, mingle, enjoy live jazz music, present an updated video about the story of our company, and raise $10,000 for Mary Nelson and her team at The Mercy Kids. The 56 raffle baskets at the event quickly created a lot of energy and excitement. Mary Nelson’s genuine and authentic presentation about who she was and why she started this organization tugged on a few heart strings as well.
A week after the event, almost $15,000 had been raised to improve the lives of families in Nicaragua! We were blown away. Not only did we get to experience so much generosity, but the gala was also a wonderful opportunity to connect with the people that make our business a genuine success. Let’s just say our faces hurt at the end of the night from so much grinning. We can’t wait to celebrate with everyone again in the future