01/06/2016
Hello Luispalooa friends! Some of you may not be on our Newsletter. If you would like to be, just shoot us a message and we will add you! Here is our Newsletter that went out today with everything that went on during our 2015 year, and currently.
We thank you for taking the time to read it.
"DEAREST FRIENDS AND FAMILY,
It is with great joy we are able to wish you all a very happy New Year. 2015 is done and over with and we are proud to state that we, as an organization, made some leaps and bounds last year that we hope to take with us into 2016.
We wanted to take the time to share with you all that LUISPALOOZA was able to help out with during the 2015 year.
In June 2015, we held the Summer FUNdraiser for The Good Shepherd Shelter (the focus of our 2014 Luispalooza Festival) and helped to raise $10,000 for the children at the Shelter to provide them with a two week long summer camp, the focus of which was utilizing performance art to help children share their emotions and work through their problems.
In August 2015, we held our annual LUISPALOOZA FESTIVAL! Team Luispalooza was blessed last year to meet the staff and some patients of the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Health Center, specifically, the Post Traumatic Stress Unit led by Leslie Martin and her team of dedicated staff. We joined forces with The TOI Soldier Project (www.toisoldierproject.com), and the always talented and beautiful Pin Ups for Vets (www.pinupsforvets.com), so that we could have a well balanced, informative Luispalooza Festival. Our 2015 Festival helped to raise $5,000 for our Veterans living with post traumatic stress at the West Los Angeles VA. We followed up with Lesley who informed us that the money helped to buy workbooks for the Veterans and start on a meditation room as part of their therapy. She was truly grateful for the money we were able to raise, so thank you all!
Along with offering up Luispalooza's services for small fundraisers throughout the year for individuals in need, during the 2015 Holiday Season, we helped with additional small events/causes. First, we had the Backyard Brew Comedy Night and helped raise $1,370 for the Christmas Dinners for Homeless Veterans organization so that they could provide a delicious meal this year to our valued Veterans (a special thank you to Justin Wood!). Second, to end the 2015 year charitably, LUISPALOOZA raised donations and money enough to make 200+ sack lunches and pass them out to the homeless on Christmas Eve.
To say the least, we are proud of our accomplishments during 2015....but we aren't done yet.
As you know, we try to inspire people to make changes in their community for the better. So when individuals or groups reach out for our help, we are more than willing and able to provide what we can with the resources that we have to help give them a boost. This year is no different.
One individual who caught our attention is a little girl named Anabel Mastrobuono, whom at 9 years old, and already conscious enough to know that the world needs help. More importantly, she has the ability, power and willingness to help in whatever way she can. This is something LUISPALOOZA definitely wanted to get behind. We couldn't wait to donate the rest of our supplies from our sack lunch project to her so that she could pick-up the proverbial "torch" and run with it. With these materials she and her mother are going to make their own sack lunches and survival kits of love to hand out to homeless people in need around the Union Station downtown L.A area, but that's not all....we will let Anabel describe the rest.
"Hello, my name is Anabel Mastrobuono. I am 9 years old. I am in third grade. I am working on a passion project at school. The driving question is: How Can I Help People in Need? I am focusing on homeless children and I found a great organization in my community called Union Station Homeless Services. I wrote this book (I Wish I Had a Playdate) to try to show how children that are homeless are just like you and me but have very challenging and scary things in their life that make simple kid things hard. The book was illustrated by my grandmother, Dinah Mastrobuono."
"I will donate any money I get from this campaign directly to Union Station or to supplies to help people that are homeless. You can look at the book here online by scrolling through the pictures (PICTURES LOOK BEST ON A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP-MOBILE VIEWING CUTS OFF SOME OF THE WORDS) or I can mail you a copy if you send me your address."
http://www.crowdrise.com/iwishihadaplaydateab/fundraiser/anabelmastrobuono (Please copy and paste the link if the hyperlink is not working).
I hope you like it.
Thank you!
-Anabel
Anabel has already raised almost 100% of her projected amount, but we think we can help her exceed her expectations with your help. Any amount will help, $1's and $5's are all we are asking for, but if you can give more, please do.
We thank you again to all our family and friends for helping to make Luispalooza's 2015 year the biggest and best so far! We look forward to what 2016 will bring and look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely,
Team LUISPALOOZA!
