Tag Archives: philanthropy

Day 163: Rouzanna and David

Day 163-2Those of you who have been following the Year of Letters journey know that I am on the board of directors of Street Sense, a nonprofit that gives economic opportunities to men and women facing homelessness. Capital Bank, a leading local bank in the region, has been helping Street Sense for a couple of years. Last night they held their customer appreciation night at Redwood in Bethesda and they generously invited me and some fellow board members to attend.

A big thank you to Rouzanna, David and everyone at Capital Bank!

Day 163

 

Rouzanna & David,

Thank you very much for your thoughtful and generous invitation to your client appreciation event at Redwood last night. What a fantastic evening! Margaret, Anne and I enjoyed ourselves very much and met some terrific people. Thank you for your continued support of Street Sense!

Reed Sandridge

Day 155: Carol

Day 155-2Earlier this week I mentioned that Street Sense held their 6th annual Excellence in Journalism Awards. Securing sponsorship for these events is essential to their success. The entire evening wouldn’t have been possible without a generous donation made by the law firm WilmerHale – they provided the space and catering for the event. My fellow Street Sense Board Member, and employee of WilmerHale, Liz Canizares informed me that their Partner-in-Charge, Carol Clayton, was the one who gave us permission to use their facility. Thank you Carol!

Day 155

Dear Carol,

Thank you so much for generously hosting Street Sense’s 2015 Excellence in Journalism Awards in your beautiful Pennsylvania Ave. office building on June 2nd. As a member of the Board of Directors, I know how much it means for us to have access to such premium space for this event. Patrick McCahan, Jaclyn Culler and Mike (audio/video) were outstanding – I hope that you will share our sincere appreciation with each of them as well as the others who helped make the evening such a success.

With sincere gratitude,
Reed Sandridge

Day 153: Mari

I love when businesses help their community. Today’s recipient works for DC Brau, a brewery here in Washington, DC that was tapped in 2009. If I’m not mistaken, it was the first brewery inside the District since the 50s.

Photo: Reed Sandridge

Robert Samuels & DeNeen L. Brown of the Washington Post posing with Street Sense leadership and volunteers. Photo: Reed Sandridge

I stopped by DC Brau yesterday to pick up some refreshing locally brewed libations for the Street Sense Excellence in Journalism Awards that were held last night at Wilmer Hale’s beautiful offices on Pennsylvania Avenue. Mari greeted me at the brewery and was very kind to provide Street Sense with this generous donation.

The awards are a great way to recognize some of the most profound stories from the last year on the issue of homelessness. Some of them inspiring, others bone-chilling. It’s an issue that doesn’t receive a lot of support because people often believe that the problem is that those experiencing homelessness are lazy and just need to get a job. Of course there are folks like that, but the data shows that the problem is much more complex than that. Street Sense wouldn’t be able to provide the services that it does without generous help from our supporters and friends in the community. Thank you again DC Brau!

Day 153

Mari,

Day 153-3Thank you and everyone at DC Brau so much for the generous donation of delicious beer for the Street Sense Excellence in Journalism Awards on Tuesday. Your sponsorship helped make it a very successful evening. I made sure to test (strictly for quality assurance reasons) all three beers: the El Hefe, the Citizen and the Corruption. They were tasty and consistent with all my previous experiences with them.

Thanks again for supporting local nonprofits in our nation’s capital. You guys rock!

Reed Sandridge
Street Sense Board Member

Day 152: Will Hayes & Chris Long of the St. Louis Rams

Yesterday I saw an ESPN video that featured Will Hayes and Chris Long, two players on the St. Louis Rams football team. They spent the night out on the streets of St. Louis to learn what it was like to be homeless for a night. Check out the video.

Photo: ESPN

Photo: ESPN

Homelessness is something that is close to my heart so I dropped them a note. Speaking of homelessness, those of you in DC should join me tomorrow night, June 2nd, for the Street Sense Awards night where journalists are recognized for the best stories covering homelessness from the past year.

Day 152

Will and Chris,

I saw the ESPN video where you spent a night on the streets of St. Louis. I’ve been on the board of directors of a local homeless organization here in our nation’s capital for the past three years. Street Sense gives men and women experiencing homelessness economic opportunities.

Day 152-3I see that you’ll be here in DC to play Washington on Sept. 20, 2015. It’d be a pleasure to meet you both or introduce you to some of the homeless here if you were able to stay an extra day. It would make an inspiring story – spreading your work and awareness to other cities you visit this year. Maybe we could get a few players from Washington to join.

It would be great to hear from you regardless. I applaud you both for your willingness to see the people you met for more than just their current status of their housing. Your story inspired me, and many others, and I thank you for sharing your experience.

All the best (except against the Steelers),
Reed Sandridge

Day 152-2

 

 

UPDATE June 1, 2015

St. Louis Rams Defensive End Chris Long got in touch with me yesterday via Twitter. Very cool!

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