For the past two years we’ve all learned to expect the unexpected. Navigating through a global pandemic isn’t easy for any of us and it hit the nonprofit community hard. Charitable giving changed as many lost their jobs, feared for the future, and corporations faced uncertain realities. Having to cancel our beloved food event, TASTE, in 2020 was our first glimpse into how a pandemic would impact fundraising. The restaurant community was struggling, and many of our event patrons selected to support them by ordering take-out from them on our planned event day. It’s amazing to see a community come together! Sponsors and ticket holders to TASTE were also very generous and many didn’t ask for refunds. That generosity spoke volumes to keep our staff motivated to find a way to avoid canceling any other events. This was the point our organization knew we had to quickly develop our mindset for navigating future fundraising efforts.
Kidney disease didn’t stop because of a pandemic, dialysis clinics couldn’t work from home, and the transplant list didn’t go away. Our neighbors with kidney disease are so courageous and until there is a cure for this disease we can’t press pause on the mission of making sure the needs of kidney patients are met.
In early 2020 we knew that hosting safe events would be a priority, but also a necessity to move into the future. We got creative with limiting capacities, following safety protocols, and including ways to support from home and we haven’t canceled another event and most importantly we have met our fundraising goals to keep our patient services programs running. We’ve learned so much these last two years and our goal is to continue hosting safe and first class events where the community can enjoy coming together, at whatever distance makes you feel best, to make a difference. As we move into 2022, we want to say THANK YOU to the donors, sponsors, event guest, volunteers, and community members who continued to give during this season. No matter if you gave your time, dollars, services, or any other type of support… YOU helped us weather the storm.