Launching Showcase. A message from Companis Executive Director, Gary Davis
I’m inviting you to a special event, a conversation on the topic of how we show up for one another. I think it’s the most important conversation we can have right now as we continue to move beyond pandemic isolation. Why does this conversation matter? Because showing up is at the heart of what makes our social fabric strong. It is also a powerful way to experience health and joy and overcome difficulties. And it’s how Companis makes a difference.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Companis Board and staff were committed to growing our services beyond Seattle and King County. I have to admit that for a moment, it felt to me that vision would have to be put on hold. I was wrong. COVID’s impact on our community quickly showed us that expanding our reach was more important than ever, even when physically working side by side was impossible.
Our community connections in Snohomish County paved the way for us to advocate for expansion there, fueled by the rapidly growing need for skilled volunteers to show up for front-line and strategic roles with nonprofits offering food and nutrition, shelter and home-support programs.
Stepping forward to meet that community’s growing need, and spurred on by a grant from the Community Foundation of Snohomish County at the close of 2020, we launched new outreach and Worker placement efforts in 2021. That laid the groundwork for growth. We also added staff, and this summer we opened our second office in Everett.
OUR IMPACT
Today, Companis employs five people and has seven dedicated Companis Workers who serve key functions across our work. The intention to stretch our agency, our geographic reach, and ourselves was an investment well spent. It resulted in 66 Companis Worker placements with 35 nonprofits in King and Snohomish counties combined in the past year. These Companis Workers serve in direct human services, BIPOC-focused programs and advocacy, with seniors, youth, LGBTQ+ causes, disability services, the arts, and more.
ENTER SHOWCASE
To support this foundational growth, Companis is launching a new annual fundraiser, Companis Showcase, taking place Thursday, November 10, at Town Hall Seattle, as well as online – a ‘hybrid’ event. And so this is my personal invitation to you, dear Companis supporter and advocate: Join us in person, or online, and please stand with us as we aim to raise $170,000 so our volunteer and stipend-supported professionals can continue to show up where they’re most needed…Worker by Worker, and nonprofit agency by nonprofit agency.
You can find more information here at this link, and register to attend.
We chose the name Showcase because we, quite literally, want to show you our work and how it touches so many lives and causes. Our Showcase theme, “What does it mean to show up?” is the thread for a quiltwork of stories, including a panel discussion and testimonials on how, after a time of being separated from one another, Companis Workers and our nonprofit partners are showing up as compassionate problem solvers for the many needs of our neighbors. And our donors show up in making sure we can fulfill that responsibility.
Showcase is free, and we ask you to consider a donation now, or at the event, at an amount that’s right for you. As an incentive, longtime Companis advocate couple Angie Buysse and Cynthia Per-Lee will match the first $40,000 in contributions, doubling your gift! Learn more here.
Thank you for playing an important part in meeting our promise that Companis is where compassion meets action.