RALEIGH, N.C., September 14, 2015 – On Thursday, Sept. 3, Passage Home and the J.D. Lewis Multi-Purpose Center VIP fundraising event raised $25,000 to benefit the Building A Stronger Raleigh Together campaign and help break the cycle of poverty in Southeast Raleigh. These funds bring the campaign’s total to $110,000 since early 2015 and donations are still coming in.

Hosted at the Raleigh Wine & Design art studio, VIP guests included Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Congressman David Price, former Congressman Bob Etheridge, N.C. State and NBA player Chris Corchiani, and other dignitaries. Each attendee helped to create a mural made up of hundreds of individual canvas pieces that together depict the Raleigh skyline. This mural will tour the city for the next 12 months to help raise awareness of Building a Stronger Raleigh Together’s mission and goals.

In addition, the event included food from Greg and Samantha Hatem’s Empire Eats restaurant, silent and live auctions, and music from Brad Corrigan of Dispatch.

For more information, visit http://strongerraleigh.com.

QUOTES:

“Building A Stronger Raleigh Together has been a huge success for Passage Home,” said Jeanne Tedrow, CEO of Passage Home. “This campaign has demonstrated just how much the people of Raleigh truly care about helping their less fortunate neighbors and making this city the very best it can be.”

“It was such an honor that Wine & Design was chosen to host this VIP Event,” said Emmy Preiss, owner of the Raleigh Wine & Design location. “Everyone who attended had a great time painting their mural pieces, and I can’t wait to see their creativity showcased in different locations throughout Raleigh.”

NEW MEDIA CONTENT:

www.strongerraleigh.com

Building a Stronger Raleigh Together Facebook:

www.facebook.com/strongerraleigh

Building a Stronger Raleigh Together Twitter:

www.twitter.com/strongerraleigh

Passage Home Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/passagehome

Passage Home Twitter:

https://twitter.com/PassageHome

J.D. Lewis Multi-Purpose Center Facebook:

http://on.fb.me/1NLeV8d

J.D. Lewis Multi-Purpose Center Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JDLewisCenter

ABOUT PASSAGE HOME:

Passage Home is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community action agency headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1991, the organization fights poverty and homelessness in Wake County by developing people and places, and strengthening communities. Through its network of local corporations, congregations and community organizations, Passage Home focuses on two core services: family self-sufficiency (people) and economic development (places). The nonprofit also strives to improve the community it serves through giving program participants a hand up, not a handout. Passage Home relies on 29 full-time employees, 10 part-time employees and more than 500 volunteers to make its vision a success. For more information, visit http://passagehome.org.

ABOUT THE J.D. LEWIS MULTI-PURPOSE CENTER:

The J.D. Lewis Multipurpose Center was established in 2004 in order to bring the Raleigh community together with programs, activities and life experiences. The programs at the center are designed in order to create a positive leisure, cultural and educational experience that enhances the quality of life for those in the area. For more information, visit http://jd-lewis-center.com/.

ABOUT “BUILDING A STRONGER RALEIGH TOGETHER”

Passage Home, the JD Lewis Center and its nonprofit, The B.A.G.S. Foundation are working together along with VIP community ambassadors to build a stronger Raleigh. It is a movement spanning five months and three events with a focus on breaking the cycle of poverty in Southeast Raleigh and a fundraising goal of $250,000. The movement is in its inaugural year with the goal of uniting more and more nonprofits together each year as they work to build a stronger Raleigh together. These funds will allow Passage Home, the J.D. Lewis Multi-Purpose Center and its nonprofit, the B.A.G.S Foundation, to increase their combined impact by 775 homeless and low-income families and individuals. Together they can impact 11,899 people.

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