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EDWARDSVILLE - On Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, In Crowd hosted their fundraiser “Blooming Where We Are Planted” to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
In Crowd is a professional development organization that aims to connect professionals throughout the Riverbend community. They decided to sponsor a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, and all proceeds from the brunch, 50/50 raffle and live and silent auctions will help fund the organization’s tenth build starting in the spring.
“In Crowd reached a point where they’re really wanting to impact the community and they just reached out and said, ‘Hey, we want to do this for you. This is how we decided we wanted to impact the local community,’” explained Marc Gibbs, president of the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Habitat for Humanity chapter. “And it just got us on this journey of just having conversations, planning this event, starting here and then kind of seeing where it goes from here for years to come.”
The fundraiser invited people to enjoy a dueling piano performance with Mike Sonderegger and food from local restaurants, including 1818 Chophouse, Big Daddy’s, Blue Violet, Cafe Birdie, Crepe Soirée, Edison’s, Mio Osteria and Sgt. Pepper’s Cafe. Community partners donated auction items, from pickleball sets to hotel stays.
All proceeds went to the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon chapter of Habitat for Humanity, which provides housing at an affordable rate for families in the area. Gibbs explained how Habitat for Humanity connects families with sponsors and volunteers so they can move into a new home with a mortgage rate that is typically lower than a traditional mortgage.
“I like to tell people that we’re matchmakers,” Gibbs added. “So we find a family that needs a hand-up to be able to have a stable home in a great community, then we match them with funding from sponsors and volunteer labor to be able to produce and build a house that has an affordable mortgage. We are primarily funded only through donations and sponsorships, so this is our lifeblood. We get to do what we do because people like In Crowd have fundraisers like this and do what they do. It’s a really humbling experience to see this event come together after months of planning.”
For co-founder Sam Fink, the decision to sponsor a fundraiser for Habitat was an easy one to make. He explained that In Crowd has grown as a professional development organization, and it was clear that their next goal was community service.
“When we started In Crowd, it started because we felt like there was a void in true connection, true relationship-building amongst professionals in the area,” Fink said. “So as we started to build as a group, started to meet some incredible people within the group, a natural next step for us was, how can we give back to our community together? No matter what group you’re a part of, no matter what you’re doing, I feel it’s always important to give back to the community that you’re in. Habitat is an incredible organization that loves our community so well, and it’s an honor to be able to come alongside them in this event.”
This was In Crowd’s first major fundraising event, but they hope it will be the start of an annual tradition. For more information about In Crowd, visit their official website at WelcomeToTheInCrowd.com. To get involved with local Habitat for Humanity chapters, visit the Lewis & Clark Habitat for Humanity website at LCHabitat.org.
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