Tag Archives: Union Project

Soup N'at Union Project

Soup N’at: Eat Soup & Support Pittsburgh Artists

[tl;dr: $10 gets you some soup from awesome Pittsburgh chefs and the $ goes to local artists.]

Soup N'at Union Project

Soup N’At is back! Great to see this event continue. Soup N’at is the Pittsburgh version of the Sunday Soup crowdfunding. Check out some of our past posts on Soup N’at here.

How does Soup N’at work?

  • Each guest donates $10 in cash at the door
  • Guests eat soup donated by Pittsburgh restaurants, usually accompanied by delicious bread
  • Local artists present their projects
  • Each guest casts a vote for their favorite project.
  • The winning project takes home all of the $ that was collected at the door.

Soup N’at – Sunday, February 25, 2018

Location: The Union Project

Time: 6-8pm

Menu:

For more information about the dinner and the artists check out the Soup N’at Facebook event here and the Soup N’at website.

Pittsburgh Volunteer Fair

Learn about great Pittsburgh Places to Volunteer at the Help or High Water Party

This is one of those events that highlights some of the best of Pittsburgh. Hosted by Pittsburgh Cares, a non-profit organization that matches people who want to volunteer with organizations that need volunteers, this party is a chance to find out more about where you can volunteer your time. Pittsburgh Cares is a great organization and they are bring together over 35 other amazing organizations for a big awesome volunteer party at the Union Project. (The Union Project is a perfect spot for a Pittsburgh volunteer fair because most of the remodeling of the building was done by, you guessed it, volunteers.)

If you are looking to get more involved in your community, meet some other civic minded folks or just find out more about what these organizations do everyday, stop by the Union Project on Thursday night for Help or High Water II.

Help or High Water II: A Volunteer Fair

Thursday, September 21, 2017
6-10pm
The Union Project

Here are the details from the Help or High Water II: A Volunteer Fair (and a birthday party!) Facebook Event:

Pittsburgh Volunteer Fair

The first “Help or High Water” event in January was such a success — hundreds of volunteers, dozens of nonprofit agencies in attendance — that Pittsburgh Cares is organizing another to help us commemorate our 25th year of serving the Pittsburgh region.

In other words, happy birthday to us!

We’re celebrating with food trucks, beer from Full Pint Brewing, wine from J&D Cellars, Maggie’s Farm Rum, Red Star Kombucha, celebrity bartenders, and more. Bring your friends, bring your wallets (suggested $5 at the door), and bring your willingness to improve your community by supporting one (or more) of Pittsburgh’s many worthy charities and service agencies.

While you’re here, get to know a bit more about the evening’s beneficiary, Pittsburgh Cares, which works to advance a culture of volunteerism and civic engagement in the region. Pittsburgh Cares matches non-profits with volunteers of all ages, and organizes one-time and recurring volunteer activities.

This volunteer fair is open to all ages, all abilities, anyone and everyone who wants to get active and give back, but is unsure where to start. Come out to the Union Project on Sept. 21, have a drink, and start building a more vibrant city by meeting amazing people from:

  1. 412 Food Rescue @412FoodRescue
  2. ACLU of Pennsylvania @aclupa
  3. All for All
  4. Amachi Pittsburgh
  5. Assemble
  6. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh
  7. Bike Pittsburgh
  8. Book’Em (Pittsburgh’s Books To Prisoners)
  9. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  10. Casa San Jose
  11. CeaseFirePA
  12. Community Human Services Corporation
  13. Coro Pittsburgh
  14. Dress for Success Pittsburgh
  15. Engineers Without Borders Pittsburgh Professional Chapter
  16. Focus On Renewal
  17. GASP
  18. GLCC of Pittsburgh
  19. Girls Rock! Pittsburgh
  20. Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council – GPLC
  21. Homeless Children’s Education Fund
  22. Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Pittsburgh-Refugee & Immigrant Services
  23. Just Harvest
  24. Keys Service Corps AmeriCorps
  25. Lawrenceville United
  26. Mattress Factory – Museum of Contemporary Art
  27. Northern Area Multi-Service Center – Landmark Home Health-Refugee Resettlement
  28. One Pennsylvania
  29. PennFuture
  30. Pennsylvania Resources Council
  31. Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse
  32. PULSE – Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience
  33. PPWP–Planned Parenthood of Western PA
  34. Proud Haven
  35. Wesley Family Services-In Service of Seniors
  36. YNPN Pittsburgh

March Madness and April PULSEations

Back in March, a group of Pittsburgh bloggers organized a March Madness bracket challenge – we all agreed that each blog would write a post about the winning bloggers favorite nonprofit organization.

Kate Stoltzfus (aka the brains behind the blog Yinzpiration) had the winning bracket and her nonprofit of choice is PULSE.  I am more than happy to write about PULSE as I think this is one nonprofit that has been quietly making a big impact on some Pittsburgh neighborhoods and is well positioned to continue to do more for the city.

PULSE stands for Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience.  Each year PULSE takes a group of college graduates, gives them a place to live and matches each person with a Pittsburgh nonprofit.  To provide housing for the participatns, PULSE has been rehabbing and improving homes in different Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

From the PULSE website:

We have a three-pronged model for accomplishing this purpose:

  • NONPROFIT WORK PLACEMENT – Invite talented, university graduates to partner with nonprofits for a year of service and leadership
  • COMMUNITY LIVING – Cultivate community by having participants live together and share meals, household tasks, finances and learning experiences.
  • TRAINING/DEVELOPMENT – Train and equip participants to become servant leaders in Pittsburgh by providing regular, personal and professional development opportunities.

I’ve learned more about PULSE because some of my favorite Pittsburgh things have a link to PULSE.  The Union Project – yep, that was the idea of some of the PULSE participants.  Have you checked out Kate’s blog Yinzpiration?  Kate came to Pittsburgh to participate in PULSE, now she writes great interviews with Pittsburghers at Yinzpiration and she is one of the founders of Propelle.  You can read some of the other PULSE alumni stories here.

If you would like to learn more about PULSE or support the PULSE programming you are in luck.  This Friday, April 12, 2013 is their annual fundraiser PULSEations which will be held at the Union Project from 7-10pm.

I have been wanting to share the invite to PULSEations – I kind of wish this could be the logo for IheartPGH, city skyline.

The event features food, drink, fun and an auction which includes:

  • Cooking Class/Lunch with Kevin Sousa at NaCl
  • Weekend in Chautauqua from John and Milonica Stahl-Wert
  • Weekend in Myrtle Beach from Chris and Kelly Cooke

More info about the auction is available here.  I will be there and I would love to see you there too!

But you don’t have to take my word for it.  Here is what others are saying about PULSEations on Twitter…

e2 Kickstarter Project – Support a Local Eatery

So one of the things that I am secretly happy about in light of the recent recession is that there has been an amazing shift in supporting local businesses in Pittsburgh.  I think that it is interesting that some of the larger businesses have left town and some of those spaces have been filled by locally owned businesses.  Take Walnut Street in Shadyside – Pottery Barn left and Max and Erma’s closed – the Max and Erma’s location has become the new home of the Elbow Room and the folks who own the Elbow Room have opened a new place, The 1947 Tavern, where the Elbow Room used to be located on Ellsworth Street. (The Elbow Room folks are great Pittsburgh lovers too – I was luck enough to sit next to one of them at a wedding recently).

Another little business area that has been growing over the past few years is on Bryant Street in Highland Park.  What once was home to a little market and a few other shops – now has 3 restaurants and more development coming.

We often refer to supporting local businesses here on this blog – it isn’t just about supporting Pittsburgh businesses but it is about supporting businesses that are supporting the entire Pittsburgh community.

I can’t say enough good things about e2 – I first met chef Kate Romane when she was running the Union Project cafe a few years ago.  e2 started out small – they first opened for soup during snowmageddon and over the past 2 years have continued to expand their hours and offerings.  The food is wonderful – if you haven’t been there – you should go.  Check out what others have to say about e2 on E2 on Urbanspoon Kate and the entire staff at e2 could not be nicer and more welcoming.

Kate couldn’t be a nicer person and she has kindly answered many MANY questions from me over the years (I like to ask ALOT of questions). Last year, I asked Kate to help me with food for a bridal shower – and everything was perfect – this was especially important because I have been known to struggle with food preparation.  Kate helped me pick out items that would be easy to keep warm and serve a few hours later.

e2 is located in a building that has been used as a restaurant for many year – currently they serve food upstairs but there is a big event space in the basement – that I think was an india restaurant a few years ago.  The basement is functional but needs a few updates – and they are asking for  your help to turn this into a space for events of all different sizes.

Watch this video to learn more about e2 and the project

The e2 Kickstarter campaign is great for a few reasons…

Number 1 – Pittsburgh NEEDS more flex spaces  – just yesterday I received an email from someone who was desperate to find a space to host a meeting for 25 that had wifi access.  Right now the choices are the conference rooms at Panera or an expensive hotel conference room rental.  Yes, e2 is first and foremost a restaurant – but I have no doubt that this space will be used as a place to bring community together

Number 2 – Delicious rewards – Kickstarter is awesome – because when you give to a project – you get something in return.  Kate and e2 have put together a whole list of awards for supporting this project.