Funds raised will help buy new home for displaced caretaker
Albuquerque, NM – October 17, 2014 STC.UNM’s special crowdfunding project to help raise funds for a worthy cause has met with success! The Sonny Project reached its goal to raise $5,000 to help Noon Day Ministries buy a used camper for their displaced caretaker, Sonny.
Noon Day Ministries’ Noon Day Center is part of the First Baptist Church property recently purchased by UNM’s economic development organization, STC.UNM (STC), as the new site for Innovate ABQ, UNM and the City of Albuquerque’s community effort to build an innovation district downtown. For several years now, Noon Day has relied on a homeless client named Sonny as their security person for the buildings on the property. Sonny has done a good job but, now that ownership of the church has changed hands, he can no longer live at the church. STC decided that it would help Noon Day raise funds to purchase a used camper for Sonny to live in at Noon Day’s new facility, where he will continue his duties as their security guard.
With days left to meet our fundraising deadline, a very community-minded donor has helped us meet our goal. STC extends a huge and sincere thank you to the Credit Union Association of New Mexico for its generous donation. STC CEO Lisa Kuuttila stated: “We are extremely grateful to the credit union for helping us do the right thing in coming to the aid of a member of our community. We want to see everyone have the opportunity to thrive. This is an example of partnerships between individuals and business members that do make a difference. It takes a community to solve these problems.”
On behalf of the organization, President & CEO Paul Stull added: “Credit unions help people get into homes every day. We understand the need for growing business in Albuquerque too, and are behind economic development and creating new jobs, but we don’t believe it should come at the cost of another person on the street. We are happy to help.” The credit union will donate the artwork it received from Artists ‘Round Town, who graciously donated artworks that were available as rewards to donors who made a minimum pledge. The credit union’s artwork will be given to Sonny and Noon Day Ministries to display in their new homes!
STC also extends a heartfelt thank you to Marshall Neel and his Main Street Crowd website for hosting the project and providing countless hours of assistance and commitment to the cause. We also wish to thank Artists ‘Round Town, a cooperative of professional artists from Albuquerque and the surrounding vicinity, for donating their beautiful art to the fundraiser. There were also many donors among STC staff, board members, individuals involved in the Innovate ABQ project, and the business community – a big thanks to all of you too!
About the Credit Union Association of New Mexico
The Credit Union Association of New Mexico is a trade organization that helps credit unions address member needs through services, products, education and advocacy. First established in 1958, CUANM has been helping credit unions help their members for more than 50 years. Visit their website at http://www.cuanm.org.
About STC.UNM
As the technology-transfer and economic-development arm of the University of New Mexico, STC.UNM (STC) protects and commercializes technologies developed at UNM by filing patents and copyrights and transferring these technologies to the marketplace. We connect the business community (companies, entrepreneurs and investors) to these UNM technologies for licensing opportunities and the creation of start-up companies. STC’s vision is to play a vital role in New Mexico’s economic development and to be a leader in technology commercialization. Under the leadership of CEO Lisa Kuuttila, STC is substantially growing its program using the Rainforest model to develop an innovation economy in New Mexico. In 2013, STC was tasked by UNM with implementing its economic-development initiatives. To learn more about us, visit our website at http://www.stc.unm.edu.
About Noon Day Ministries
Noon Day Ministry, a nonprofit community program established in 1982 to meet the needs of homeless individuals and families through its feeding program, the largest such program in New Mexico. Visit their website at http://noondayministries.org.
About Main Street Crowd
Main Street Crowd founders, Anthony Edwards and Marshall Neel, have been instrumental in shaping equity crowdfunding and the regulations that govern it. While helping to steer this new avenue of funding for growing and startup businesses, they set their sights on developing a better way to deliver crowdfunding of all types to communities. From their varied careers and experience in finance, they knew instinctively that crowdfinance is just one piece of the puzzle and that a successful economic development platform must bring all the pieces together in a way that works in every community. From that, Main Street Crowd was born to connect all the human networks involved in business and community development, in every community, every day. Through Main Street Crowd, community organizations involved in various aspects of economic development can host their own websites free of charge. Visit their website at https://mainstreetcrowd.com.
Source: STC.UNM
For more information, contact:
Denise Bissell
(505) 272-7310
dbissell@stc.unm.edu