Welcome to our 10 Year Anniversary Celebration – A Decade of Dinners! We can’t hangout in person this year so we’re doing an online celebration and fundraising campaign this week. Our goal is to raise $40,000 by Saturday, October 31st! Each day we’ll have content here on our website, our email list, Facebook, and Instagram, and today, our theme is a look back!
This year has brought a lot of challenges for us as it has everyone, but we are proud of the way we have adapted our programming and responded to community needs. From moving our summer internship entirely online (huge shoutout to our AGE UP alums Kennadi, Samiya, Ronnie, Cornelius, Amy, and Hazel for working with us!) to moving low-barrier cash grants to our community members who have been impacted the most by COVID-19, we’ve seen a lot about what is possible for our little org to make big impactful changes in our community.
And so much has happened in the last 10 YEARS! Check out this sweet AGE UP timeline:
When we look back, it’s amazing to see the growth of this program and this community. When we started we had some frisbees, some cones, and an office in the back of Sam’s car. But we also had a growing network of relationships among young players and coaches in the baby Southend ultimate community, local frisbee players ready to coach a practice, a tiny grant from the Women’s Sports Foundation to cover dinner, and donated space from Jefferson Community Center. Honestly, we didn’t quite know what we were doing, but alongside 30 brilliant young women, we knew this was the start of something special.
Today, we are as driven as we were in 2010 by our trust in young people, and our commitment to make a space safe for sharing the reality of our lives. We know that building community is our best shot at ending oppression, that young people are continually underestimated, and that how we do the work is as important as the work itself. 10 years later, we’re asking the same questions: How do we do this again? What can we do next?
We’re thrilled to have built this with you all, and excited to celebrate with you.
Invest in AGE UP today by helping us raise $40,000 to celebrate our 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!