Cal U grads apply fund-raising skills to effort for mission
Share with others:
If there's one time of year when Light of Life Rescue Mission gets its fair share of fund-raising opportunities, it's those feel-good weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Agreeing to lend its name to a new event, then, is not taken lightly even if the North Side charity stands to reap the reward.
What's even riskier, said development officer Rick Rosenberger, is when the offer comes from, well, a couple of nobodies.
Enter James Betterson, 23, of Crafton, and Justin Nwokeji, 25, of Robinson, Allegheny County, a pair of recent California University of Pennsylvania graduates who decided to host a fund-raising dinner as a way to reinvest in the community.
What made their Dec. 7 event in the Strip District even more special, Mr. Rosenberger said, was their willingness to arrange a fund-raiser for the mission at such a relatively young age.
When Pittsburgh Steeler Najeh Davenport showed up as promised, it even gave the low-cost, $10-a-head dinner a VIP cachet.
"You really are inspired especially because they're so young," Mr. Rosenberger said, because "most people who are involved in giving to us tend to be older."
The pair considers themselves the recipients of top-shelf education and job opportunities, which is why they wanted to do something in return.
One day over coffee, the friends "realized how blessed we were" but decided to bypass more traditional ways of giving. Instead, they wanted to roll up their sleeves and tackle something head-on.
Neither knew much about Light of Life, but both were impressed with how many Web searches mentioned the mission's Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless.
Mr. Nwokeji said he would remain indebted to the university where he had been awarded a board of governors scholarship.
"For four years, I never had to pay for anything," he said.
Mr. Nwokeji is a planner with the Allegheny County Urban Redevelopment Authority who also has begun SAVVY, a company that has marketed events for local Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom and for local college fraternities.
Mr. Betterson, meanwhile, is the founder of Never Let You Down, which markets wristbands inscribed with inspirational messages to college students. He also handles regional marketing for Kashi Kicks shoes.
Having used the Boardwalk Entertainment Complex in the Strip for corporate events, Mr. Betterson leaned on the owners to offer their venue for the Light of Life dinner. He didn't have to lean all that hard, he said, meaning that the Boardwalk owners' generosity translated into that much more money for the mission.
Once the pair settled on an event and venue, they began to spread the word among their friends.
What they found, Mr. Betterson said, was that there's plenty of 20-somethings who were happy to hang out for a good cause.
"It doesn't feel like work, either. A lot of people don't know who to give back to, so we're kind of a liaison for that," Mr. Betterson said.
As for the Light of Life officials, he said, "They loved the idea. They couldn't believe that a couple of young professionals would help out.
"We didn't take a dime from them. They asked if we needed anything but we wanted to do it on our own."
Not that Mr. Rosenberger didn't worry, particularly since all of the correspondence had been handled by phone or e-mail. He didn't meet either of his benefactors until the night of the fund raiser.
"I had my doubts at first," Mr. Rosenberger allowed, especially when things got off to a slow start. After 10 minutes there were all of three people there, prompting him to say to himself, "Oh my goodness, this isn't going to be too good an event."
But things began to pick up and Mr. Rosenberger said he realized that the young crowd was on college time -- the later, the better.
By 9 p.m., he said "There were at least 50 people and Najeh Davenport came and put his name behind it. It was really a wonderful event."
Thanks to a first-time success that raised $300 for Light of Life, the fund raising pair starts 2008 with a 1-0 record and a pledge of more events to come.
"Everything went very well," said Mr. Rosenberger, who was particularly pleased when he heard Mr. Betterson at the dinner refer to it as being their "first annual event."
"Well, James," he remembered saying, "I hope you're going to keep on inviting us back for this.
"When we hear of young people taking steps like this, it's quite remarkable."
First Published January 6, 2008 12:00 am
