9th Annual Ugly Sweater Party: The sweaters stole the show!
The 2023 ugly sweater party and fundraiser brought together 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).
CIS Board President, Linnaea Thomas, served as host. She did an amazing job interviewing the award contestants on the red carpet and guiding us through the night’s festivities. Not only did guests enjoy walking the red carpet themselves, but they were accompanied by the smooth sounds of Yolonda Lavender and The Crew, the evening’s musical entertainment.
Photo Credit: Nikki Elise
With the support of local businesses and organizations, party guests, and donors, this year’s fundraiser raised over $16,000!
Thank you to our 2023 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.
“It’s always inspiring to see the time, effort, and energy that our sponsors put into their sweaters. Even more inspiring is that they do it all for kids!”
Kimberly Nemire, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo Director of Development
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 2023 top fundraising sweater award winners:
1st place – Kalsec, Inc. (raised $3,400)
2nd place – Humphrey Products (raised $1,020)
3rd place – The Emerging Leaders for CIS (raised $945)
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 2023 fan favorite went to Chase Bank.
Thank you to Celebration Cinema Crossroads for helping us create our red carpet experience.
Thank you to the 2023 sweater sponsors: Chase, Edwards Garment, Kalamazoo Orthodontics, Humphrey Products, Kalsec, Inc., Old National Bank, PNC Bank, and Unifab Corporation.
Tags: Chase Bank, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo, Edwards Garment, Emerging Leaders for CIS, Humphrey Products, Kalamazoo Orthodontics, Kalsec, Old National Bank, PNC, Soul Artistry, Ugly, Ugly Sweater Party, Unifab Corporation, USP, Yolonda Lavender and The Crew
