Julia Pizzi
Vice President, Human Resources
Imagine losing your job after 18 years of service because the memory loss from your recent brain tumor surgery prevents you from remembering how to actually do your job. And soon after this happens, your spouse is laid-off. Suddenly find yourself, your child and your spouse homeless and without hope. Life changes in a flash; without warning. It could happen to anyone, at any time. That’s where the Solid Ground story starts.
More than 800 community leaders, including Cobalt executives, gathered at Solid Ground’s Building Community luncheon last Friday to hear Margaret’s story, knowing that there is hope when organizations like Solid Ground exist and receive support. The Luncheon was an important fundraiser for Solid Ground, an event where guests could invest in a world without poverty. Funding from the luncheon supports Solid Ground’s 27 programs, which help over 38,000 households, like Margaret’s, to overcome crisis and build better futures.
Solid Ground is an organization that Cobalt is proud to sponsor all year long. Solid Ground’s work includes; providing shelter to women and children (the average age of a homeless person nationally is 9 years old), providing employment training and teaching participants better nutrition. A current Solid Ground project is the building of 106 units of affordable housing for 72 families and 34 individuals!
“The many generous speakers at the Solid Ground luncheon clearly demonstrated how a single act of generosity can make a huge difference in a single family’s life,” , said Cobalt attendee Max Steckler, VP, Advertising Products. “We must be accountable to each other to truly be a community. Now that’s perspective!”
Lettice Link is another example of an innovative gardening program that creates access to fresh, nutritious and organic produce seeds and gardening information for families with lower incomes. They shared a handout about it at the luncheon called Gardening for Good Nutrition: A Guide to Growing Your Own Healthy Food.
Geoffrey Canada, the keynote speaker, named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem was inspirational. He shared the insights he gained from more than 20 years dedicated to ending poverty in his community. He pioneered what the New York Times Magazine called “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time” as President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc.
“The work that the team at Solid Ground supports is part of what makes Seattle a vibrant, caring community. By focusing on supporting children and families, they provide much needed services that have an immediate and long lasting impact on our city. I am humbled to have the opportunity to be a part of this amazing work,” said Greg Meyer, Sr. VP of Product Development at Cobalt, of the Solid Ground luncheon.
For me, it was energizing to be surrounded by people taking community action to make the world better. Gandhi’s words ring true: “The future depends on what we do in the present.”
The Cobalt Group
www.cobalt.com
www.twitter.com/CobaltMarketing
www.youtube.com/cobaltlive
Subscribe in a reader