Sunday at The Earle with Avalon - An Intern’s View
Hayley Denholtz currently works as an Event and Development Intern for Avalon. We asked her to share some of her thoughts about this weekend’s event.
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Avalon Housing’s Annual Benefit at The Earle in celebration of the year’s accomplishments. I had been helping out with the event for over a month, but having never attended it before I didn’t know what to expect. It was truly wonderful to see all the people involved with Avalon coming together to acknowledge their hard work and success. Special gust Pete Earley, journalist and author of Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, received Avalon’s first Community Builder Award and gave a short talk on the state of America’s mental health system. His passion for the subject as well as his firsthand experience with it made him fascinating to listen to. Other recipients of Community Builder Awards were Doug Smith of Swisher Commercial Realty and Deb Pippins of the Project Outreach Team. Avalon also presented its Avalon Tenant Award to Alex Mitrovich. As Alex recounted his history and how he came to Avalon’s door, it was clear to all of us the difference that supportive housing makes in the lives of Avalon tenants and their families. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that he inspired continued hard work in the coming year.
These honorees spent the afternoon amongst over one hundred Avalon supporters, donors, and tenants dining on delicious food provided by The Earle, listening to beautiful piano playing, and mingling with other people who share the common goal of finding a solution to homelessness. I’m glad I got to be a part of this event because it was a fantastic afternoon, and I’ve heard it was one of Avalon’s most successful to date!
