WPIG featured online at Vivanista!

WPIG was featured this morning on Vivanista. This fabulous article profiles the back story of WPIG. Curious about how WPIG came to be? Wondering about the philosophy behind WPIG's philanthropy efforts? Vivanista tells all... Check out the article here.

WPIG is excited to be a part of the Vivanista community. Vivanista has created a "a member-based, lifestyle community for fundraising volunteers". On Vivanista, groups like WPIG are "sharing unique insights, expert tips and a spirit of giving empowers members to improve their own lives and the lives of others". Vivanista has focused on developing a comprehensive website in which best practices in fundraising and other essential tools can be shared in an effort to increase the success of charitable events. Vivanista says that “as a result, more money is generated for nonprofit organizations and greater good is contributed to society”. To learn more about Vivanista, please visit http://www.vivanista.com/

Thanks Vivanista!

(quotes from the http://www.vivanista.com/)

Wearing Jeans to Work Pays Off!

On the last Friday of every month, Schnitzer West employees donate a minimum of $5 dollars to participate in “Jeans Friday”. Employees who donate are allowed to wear their favorite denim to work. The proceeds from this fun event are donated to local charity. This past July’s Charity was WPIG.

Schnitzer West, LLC is one of the Pacific Northwest's leading commercial real estate investment, development, and management companies. Quite a few past and present Schnitzer employees (Katie Patchin, Lori Chase, Alicia Stedman, Kym Haley and Megan Thomas) are WPIG members. Currently three Schnitzer employees sit on WPIG’s seven member board.

Thank you Schnitzer West for supporting WPIG!

News Update From the Bill and Pat Bali Fund

WPIG recently received great news from our 2009 charity recipient. Bill Taylor, co-founder of the Bill and Pat Bali Fund, wrote that “WPIG’s group contribution to the Scholarship Fund is already making a difference. We have four girls with loans now attending university. More girls will be applying in the next couple of weeks.”

As you may remember, in 2009, WPIG supported the Bill and Pat Bali Fund. WPIG donated proceeds from our 2009 event to this organization's Scholarship Fund to help girls in Bali gain access to higher education beyond high school. WPIG also donated resources to the Bill and Pat Bali Fund, specifically earmarked for a young girl at the Untal-Untal orphanage, Amelia Febrina Merry Bogia, in order to support her aspiration to become a teacher. This support is inclusive of housing, clothing, food, education and health care. WPIG's members have also committed to communicating directly with Amelia through written letters as her sponsors.

Meet Member Lori Chase!

Lori Chase is our featured member this month! Lori currently serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors and is also chair of the Administrative Committee. She joined WPIG in 2009 at the recommendation of a friend. Lori had been looking for an organization to involve herself in and was drawn to WPIG for it's small size and the chance to have an opportunity to help build something from the ground up. WPIG and Lori turned out to be a perfect match!

When Lori isn't working hard at her job in real estate development or for WPIG, she's training for a half marathon! Lori and a group of friends are going to complete 13-13.1 mile races this year. She's already finished 8 and has had fun traveling around the northwest to run them. Only 5 more to go!

Lori also loves to travel, work in her amazing vegetable garden, and enjoy time with family and friends in the San Juan Islands. WPIG is so lucky to have Lori as a member! Stay tuned for our next member profile... Alisha Eastman!

Non-profit & Volunteering

The women of WPIG have been busy!

We are excited to announce that in April we were incorporated in the State of Washington as a non-profit. We are on our way to being recognized and operating as an official 501c3 non-profit organization!

March kicked off our first quarterly volunteer activity at West Side Baby. We sorted and shelved clothes and items of all sorts. This non-profit organization in West Seattle collects previously owned items for children and babies and distributes them free of charge to South King County families in need. For more information or if you would like to volunteer or donate to this great organization please visit their website at http://www.westsidebaby.org/

In May, Edna & Katie were a part of the spring Girls on the Run 5k program. Girls on the Run (GOTR) mission is to use the power of running to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. 3rd – 5th grade girls are the target of this 10 week program with the finale being a 5k run to let the girls shine in their sense of accomplishment. Edna and Katie had their hands full being “running buddies” to Abby and Kate. To learn more about this program and how you can become a Running Buddy please visit http://www.girlsrun.org/

On a sunny beautiful day this June the Women of WPIG once again came together to volunteer at our 2010 Charity – Ryther Child Services. The morning was spent painting a toy shed and thoroughly cleaning all of the Ryther Vans!! This was quite the task considering that some of these vans hadn’t been cleaned in months. Just imagine what damage pre-teen & teen boys can do to the interior of a vehicle. We are looking forward to more volunteer activities and raising funds at our annual event in October for this great organization!