On Friday, Dec. 9, Dutch Bros., a LANE PR client, will celebrate Buck For Kids, an annual event where the coffee company donates proceeds from every beverage sold to a children’s organization.

Buck For Kids will take place at all 173 Dutch Bros. locations across seven western states. Last year, Dutch Bros. contributed $90,000 to children’s organizations on Buck for Kids day.

If you’re interested in helping Dutch Bros. give back to the community and want to pick up a cup of Joe on Buck for Kids day, find your nearest Dutch Bros. location by visiting www.dutchbros.com/locations.

LANE PR’s Wendy Lane Stevens, Kristen Siefkin, Brandi Cook, Jane Taber and Katie Stringer had the pleasure of attending the Portland Business Journal’s Most Admired Companies luncheon on Dec. 7.

We were pleased to celebrate the Portland business community, in addition to our clients, Umpqua Bank and Miller Nash.

This past weekend, my colleague Jeff Segvich and I headed to Woodinville, Wash., to celebrate Redhook’s 30th birthday in 80’s style. Hosted on the brewery’s beautiful grounds, the event featured Redhook’s new Extra Special Birthday Beer and drew thousands of hardcore eighties music and beer fans.

The musical lineup included Mitten, Tom, Tom Club, The Psychedelic Furs, and Devo (Photo: Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo with Jeff and I after the event). Despite torrential rain for the last act, the crowd sported their best neon and energy domes and the bands performed as though we never left 1981.

As the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, many of us will remember back to that day, recalling where we were when we heard of the tragedy and thinking of those we lost. As a New Yorker I remember the day vividly — I was walking into my midtown office under a crystal-clear sky, thinking how lucky I was to have a found a job right out of college, with the dot-com crash looming, and how wonderful it was to be able to start my adult life in a city so full of energy and opportunity. I left work that day feeling lucky to be alive, and lucky my friends working in Manhattan were all safe.

The 10-year anniversary of this tragic event has reminded us to seek out ways to commemorate those lost on 9/11. LANE PR is honored to participate in one special program — the NIRI-NY 9/11 Logler Internship Program. This program, initiated and overseen by the New York chapter of NIRI (the National Investor Relations Institute), was established to honor NIRI member Beth Logler, who lost her life in the World Trade Center. Through the program, NIRI partners with public and investor relations agencies and in-house investor relations and communications departments in the tri-state area to help children who lost parents on 9/11 start their careers.

As a member of NIRI, LANE PR is proud to have completed its first year of participation in the Logler Internship Program. Our agency was connected with a college student who lost her father on 9/11 while he was at work in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Though her story is overwhelmingly sad, the employees of our New York office feel fortunate to have spent the summer working with this bright, enthusiastic student and to have had a positive impact on her future career path.

If you are seeking ways to assist a family or individual affected by 9/11, please visit the NYC government website to learn more about the many organizations helping these victims: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/wtc/html/services/9-11orgs.shtml

On a recent Saturday night in a loft space in Philadelphia, almost one hundred people showed up for a gallery show.  The colors were vibrant, the paintings were signed.  But this wasn’t just any gallery exhibit.  All of the stunning artwork was creatively and painstakingly crafted on treated bark paper… by students from Awegys Comprehensive Secondary School in Kigo, Uganda.

Organized by the Mtaala Foundation, a grassroots non-profit that creates and supports educational communities for vulnerable children and at-risk youth, the art exhibition featured a charity art auction to support the construction of a health clinic at the school.  The clinic will not only serve the school, but also provide medical care to the village where no other such care exists. 

Mtaala’s art auction raised money to begin the clinics’ construction while allowing the students at Awegys to truly participate in supporting their own education.  True to Mtaala’s mission, the event reinforced the ideal of empowering youth through learning and giving back to their community. 

I personally got involved with Mtaala after my family spent a summer in Uganda to work with students and the country’s child “night walkers.”  Overwhelmed by the need and thirst for education that these children had, my parents (a middle school teacher and a construction executive) created Mtaala to attempt to fulfill this need. 

For more information on the Mtaala Foundation or how you can support our work, please visit www.mtaala.org.