10th Annual Ugly Sweater Party: Wrapping Warmth Around Children All Year Long
The 2024 ugly sweater party and fundraiser brought together over 100 community members, partners, friends, and family to Bell’s Brewery to bring awareness to the whole child approach of supporting students through Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo (CIS).
With the support of local businesses and organizations, party guests, and donors, this year’s fundraiser raised over $17,700!
During the evening, guests enjoyed jazz music from amazing Western Michigan University Advanced Jazz Ensemble tonight. Directed by Andrew Rathbun, this 7–10-member group is made up of the premiere students from WMU’s jazz studies department. Thank you to the group for joining us for the evening’s entertainment.
The ugly sweater competitors truly outdid themselves with their wild, wacky, and wonderfully “ugly” sweaters. From flashing lights to over-the-top designs, it was an absolute blast seeing everyone’s creativity shine.
The sweater competitors had 2.5 weeks leading up to the event to generate awareness and raise money (aka votes!) for their sweater. Votes calculated were from pre-event funds raised on each sweater, company ticket sales, silent auction donations, matching gifts, and final ballot voting at the event. We are happy to announce the 2024 top fundraising sweater award winners:
1st place – Kalsec, Inc. (raised $3,755)
2nd place – Kalamazoo Public Schools
3rd place – Humphrey Products
In addition to the ugliest sweater award for funds raised, we offered the fan favorite award as determined solely by votes from those present at the event. The 2024 fan favorite went to Kalsec, Inc.
Thank you to our 2024 sponsors and supporters! We couldn’t do this without you. Thank you for supporting the CIS mission of surrounding students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
Tags: Chase, CIS, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo, Edwards Garment, Emerging Leaders for CIS, Fifth Third Bank, Fundraiser, Humphrey Products, Kalamazoo Public Schools, Kalsec, Old National Bank, PNC Bank, Ugly Sweater Party, ugly sweaters, Western Michigan University, WMU Jazz
