it’s been a busy summer for us! we want to share with you what’s been going on.
first thing’s first, we finally received our 501c3 designation! we submitted our application to the irs back in february and knew we’d be patiently waiting throughout the approval process. this is a huge step in the life of a new nonprofit, and we feel so fortunate. we received our of determination the same day we received our first sock donation from the sock factory.
we approached the folks at the sock factory in the spring to discuss partnership opportunities. what you may or may not know is that socks are among the greatest needs to those moving through homelessness. they’re a family owned company with over 40 years experience, and they’re located right here in north carolina, in hickory. they specialize in high performance athletic goods, dress, compression and outdoor socks, and have three of their own sock lines. nate banks, vp or sales and marketing had this to say about our collaboration, “partnering with project outpour gives us the opportunity to extend our family atmosphere to our community. i feel that by providing clean socks to homeless individuals, we can support the “love thy neighbor” principle that guides project outpour’s efforts.” they’ll send us several hundred pairs of new socks each quarter that we’ll be able to distribute to our friends in need. we can’t thank our new friends at the sock factory enough!
august was good to us, and we hope it was good to you too!
september just started and it’s already been our biggest month yet! on the 5th, we put our deposit down on the shower trailer. we’re incredibly excited, and can’t wait to share photos with you along the way! right now, it’s slated for completion by mid-december. in the meantime, our efforts will be focused on raising the rest of the funds needed to pay off the trailer and on acquiring a truck that will be used to haul the trailer. if you know anyone with a gently used pick up, please mention us – we’ll gladly take it off their hands. just to give you an idea of what our trailer will look like, check out what our friends in san fran have going on. ours will be similar, just slightly smaller and with our logo, of course.
finally, we have a huge volunteer opportunity that we need your help with! the rocktoberfest half marathon and 5 miler is on saturday, october 20th in the elizabeth neighborhood. in exchange for providing 80 volunteers, we will receive a generous donation that will go toward the balance due on our shower trailer. volunteers are needed from 6am-12pm, and will be assigned to water stops or along the race course to help keep runners on course. all volunteers will receive a t-shirt. we also need a handful of volunteers to help with packet pick up on thursday the 18th and friday the 19th. if you’re interested in having fun (seriously, the energy at races is hard to beat!) and helping make a difference, please complete this volunteer interest form and we’ll be in touch with all the deets. children 14 and older are welcome to join us too.
as our shower trailer is being built, we look forward to sharing photos of its progress with you. stay tuned!
