We have an incredible update on Blazer’s Edge Night, our annual charity event where we send children and youth from underserved areas to see the Portland Trail Blazers play at the Moda Center in person. We hold this event every year. Teachers and coaches—and plenty of other people who work with underprivileged kids—write in to ask if we have the ability to send their classes and teams. We try to say yes to everyone! Seeing a game in person is an experience most of us take for granted, but it’s an amazing,
community-building opportunity when you never get to go otherwise!
The way this event works is simple. Our readers and people from the Portland area donate tickets, buying them directly from the Blazers. The franchise puts those tickets in a pool for us. The people who write in get to pick them up directly from the team…no fuss, no muss, everyone is happy!
As most of you know, though, we had an update last week that we were about a thousand tickets short of projections this year. People are having a hard time out there. We understand that. Still, it meant that with a week to go, we were going to have to make decisions about who gets to go and who doesn’t this year.
Throughout the week we made that need known to you. We got some help from the good folks at Por Que No Taqueria, from Chad Doing on the radio, from our friend and actor Kelly AuCoin, the folks at SBNation, and others. We all decided, what the heck…we’ll give it our best shot and see what happens.
We got an email from the Blazers today. Now we know what happened.
Somehow, some way, in one week, our donations went up from 1000, soared well past the hoped-for 2000 mark, and up to 2617 tickets. That’s going to make this, beyond all expectations, the biggest Blazer’s Edge Night there’s ever been in the near-20-year history of the event.
I don’t know how we did this. I don’t know who you are out there. All I know is that I just went from a knot in my stomach the size of Donovan Clingan’s shoe to the biggest whoop of joy imaginable. Not only are we about to tell all the kids (and adults who work with them) that they can go, we’re going to be able to invite more than we thought we could! In one week, you have turned a headache into an absolute miracle.
THANK YOU to every one of you who bought even a single ticket, let alone more. You are the best, most amazing people ever. You have changed the year, the classroom, and the climate for so many young people around you. There isn’t enough gratitude possible for you.
Blessings! We’ll see you all on March 10th against the Charlotte Hornets with 2,617 of your friends and neighbors whom YOU sent to this game! Thank you and Go Blazers!!!
