Thank you so much to everyone that came out to our Celebration of 120 Years of GMCC!

On Saturday, June 7th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, GMCC had our second annual summer celebration to commemorate 120 years. Everybody in the community was invited, from staff to partners, volunteers, program participants, and neighbors passing by on the street. Healing Circles facilitator Raj did some advertising down the street to get more people to come check out the event.

 GMCC Resource Navigator Paulina Rivera & Raj advertising the event on Lake Street (photo by @pradactivity on IG)

Donor & Relationship Manager Vanessa Harrison was the main organizer of the event for the second year in a row. Leading up to June 7th, Vanessa and the team spent time calling donors & supporters, sending out mailers, and handing out flyers in the community to get the word out. Vanessa reflects: “The process for this years’ celebration had a good flow to it. We started planning for it in March of this year, leaving more time to pay attention to logistics and details. This allowed for a more enjoyable experience for everyone, even the set up and take down of the event was fun!”

GMCC Donor & Relationship Manager Vanessa Harrison

“The event is focused on community relationship building between our clients that we serve, our partners, neighbors, donors, stakeholders, board members and anyone that is supportive of building a positive community,” says Vanessa. “This translated into an event that was easy going, focusing on good food, music, karaoke and games and allowed for our guests to come in, relax, have a good time while making core memories with each other.”

T.O.U.C.H. Outreach volunteers

The one challenge we faced was setting up our new, giant event tents, which became a 12 person job. We couldn’t have done it without all the amazing team members and volunteers of GMCC, the No Pressure Security Team, our partners at CRC Minneapolis, and T.O.U.C.H. Outreach, who volunteered to help run the event.

Catering from GetUAVickey

Everyone enjoyed the delicious food from GetUAVickey catering, which included jollof rice, salad, and chicken. Other highlights included bubbles, music, karaoke, and games like cornhole & giant jenga.

A mother and daughter posing in their matching outfits

We had a great turnout of 125 people. Lots of families came by with kids of all ages. There were many familiar faces as well as new ones in the crowd. It was great to bring together all kinds of people: GMCC board members, guests from our Friday Drop-in Services, Recovery Care clients, partners from Sanctuary Supply Depot, and more!

Guests eating under our decorated event tents

When asked what her favorite part of the event was, Vanessa said, “The decorations! They came out so pretty! Also that Raj literally was out in the street on the day of the event, advertising our event to get more guests to take part in the festivities”. The team enjoyed decorating the tents with lanterns, paper pineapples, and blowing up lots of balloons.

GMCC full-time & part-time staff and partners from Sanctuary Supply Depot & CRC

With our slogan of “Cultivate Collaborative Communities”, community-building has been a key part of GMCC’s mission since it was founded in 1905. Although we separate our programs into the buckets of food, youth, and wellbeing, there is so much overlap in our different services and the communities we serve.

 

An Access Healing Center client and staff member who volunteer with GMCC

With events like this, we hope to continue our role in the community of bringing people together regardless of age, background, racial, religious, & cultural differences. We hope to keep providing people with basic needs like food and supplies, while also providing joy, laughter, and a place to relax & have fun.

Community members at the celebration

“My hope is that beautiful memories were made for everyone regarding a great kickoff to summer that took place in the Phillips community. I also hope that it further solidified for our guests that the GMCC team truly wants to create safe spaces for our community, especially our most vulnerable members, without expecting anything in return.” – Vanessa

GMCC Resource Navigator Mason Persons blowing bubbles

In terms of future GMCC events, Vanessa is in the process of planning a back-to-school pizza party at the end of our LakeStreet Youth Labs STEAM Summer Camp.

Access Healing Center Executive Director Hibat Sharif & GMCC Operations Director Megan Young-Black

For next year’s summer event, we hope to have a bouncy house and even more fun offerings. We hope to see you there!