Editorial: Open House Opens Hearts
by Shanya Luther
On May 1st we held our 3rd Annual Open House. As with most open houses, there was good food, fabulous decorations, and plenty of friendly faces. What made this event different from those I’ve been to before? No trace of that awkward meandering where you don’t know anyone and there isn’t any way to meet folks and interact. In fact, the activities turned out to be so engaging that many guests actually stayed longer than the designated time of the event!
Much of the thanks for that goes to one of our agency’s intern-turned-staff-member, Katie Schaefer. Among all of the other ways in which she planned and worked on the Open House, Katie had the brilliant idea of having an informative scavenger hunt for attendees to participate in. Each agency program had a separate room where they gave information and examples of their work, and they all had answers to certain questions on the hunt. It was such a delight to see people of all ages bolting with enthusiasm from room to room to learn about our agency and domestic violence!
Another new great aspect of this year’s open house was the focus on our gratitude to the community and our funders for all of their support. From thousands of dollars to hundreds of diapers and from checks to chili dinners, we cannot do what we do without you all doing what you do. Our success is because of you, and we used our 3rd annual open house to share a little of our appreciation. But the amazing thing is that gratitude breeds generosity and even though we were simply trying to say thanks, we ended up being the recipients of more giving when a troop of Brownies (#115) donated half their profits from their cookie sales to us for our agency’s work. We want to recognize those young ladies for all their hard work and thank them for their support!!!
This year’s Open House was a true testimony that our community is rallying behind our agency and partnering with us to empower all individuals and families to have safe and healthy relationships! We truly look forward to all of our awareness activities this coming October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
***
More stories:
House Rules: Rivermark Leaves a Mark
Invitation: Become a Sponsor
