verve: in bloom

At Verve, community service and involvement are at the core of what we do and who we are. This community is our home, and we feel a responsibility to give back to those organizations devoted to making the Eugene area a better place to live.

Throughout this year, we’ve worked hard to demonstrate this responsibility through volunteering and serving a number of different local organizations:

Kelli has served as marketing chair on the leadership team for United Way of Lane County Success by Six for more than four years. Success by Six is an initiative aimed at reducing child abuse and neglect through prevention efforts and ensuring that young children enter elementary school ready to learn.

Several Verve team members volunteer with the Rotary Club of Eugene Airport. Kelli is the club’s public relations director, while Amy contributes design work and Paige maintains social media for the club on their blog and Facebook page. Kelli also serves at the district level, speaking at events & working with 2011-2012 district governor on new PR initiatives.

Kelli is also on the board of Committed Partners for Youth of Lane County, which matches youth with mentors who inspire and encourage their growth. She’s also submitted application material to be a mentor, a role she hopes to take on in 2011.

The Friendship Foundation for International Students plays an important role in the community as it seeks to promote international understanding by connecting international students with the Eugene community. Verve helps make this connection possible. Kelli chairs the FFIS Steering Committee, which oversees programs allowing international students to practice English with a native speaker; and the homestay program, which places students with families during school vacations.

Our volunteer reach extends beyond the Eugene community. Elsewhere in the Willamette Valley, Verve leaves its mark at the Business Enterprise Center in Corvallis where Kelli is a business advisor. The center is a business accelerator, helping start-ups get off the ground by providing them with professionally managed services and facilities.

Earlier this year, Amy contributed design work to Artists for Children of the World, an art show held in the Portland area that allows local artists to showcase their work, and sends proceeds from the event to children in 32 disadvantaged countries across the world.

Amy also uses her design skills to benefit another important local nonprofit, FOOD for Lane County, which collects, rescues, grows, prepares and packages food for locals in need and distributes it through a network of area agencies to serve those in need in our community.

This October, Eugene held its inaugural Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Kelli and Angela raised money and walked in the race. Kelli led a team that raised over $1000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which supports breast cancer research.

At CAWOOD’s Carnival for the Cure in September, Kelli braved the dunk tank and raised more money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation than any other participant (and also proved she can tweet from underwater).

Angela also donates her time to volunteer work with the Eugene 4J and Springfield School Districts.

In addition to the time we donate to the above organizations, Verve also serves its community financially through contributions to Committed Partners for Youth, FOOD for Lane County, Rotary International and Relief Nursery, a local non-profit working to strengthen at-risk families and protect young children.

Our commitment to the community will continue through 2011, as Verve will sponsor the 2011 Local Food Connection event. The event, held on February 7 at Lane Community College in Eugene, helps link local farmers, ranchers, fishers and food buyers so they can strengthen their business connections and maintain a strong sustainable food network. For more information about next year’s event, click here.

Service to our local community is an essential part of our work and is at the core of who we are. Verve is proud to support these organizations and is proud of the contributions it makes in Eugene and elsewhere in the state. We are grateful for the work these organizations do to better our community and look forward to making an even bigger difference in 2011.