Austin CarShare 2nd Birthday Party and FUNdraiser

A good time was had by all who attended the Austin CarShare party last Friday. The atmosphere was made particularly festive by (biodegradable) balloons, twinkle lights, a juggler, acrobatic entertainers and the delightfully fun music of La Strada. People happily nibbled on food donated by Artz Rib House, Texas Honey Ham, Bouldin Creek Coffee House, White Mountain Foods, and Miles of Chocolate and sipped on brew from Live Oak Brewing and root beer from Maine RootDesign Within Reach was a great space for the festivities.

The silent auction was amazing!  Chris Riley, our retiring vice chair, said it was the best he\’d seen in ages.  Special thanks to our big auction donors Mellow Johnny\’s, Bicycle Sport Shop (and also for their generous donation); Habitat Suites Hotel; and Tusa Fitness.

This party got us halfway to our fundraising goal:  we raised about $15,500 of the $30,000 we need to take possession of all six of our new Prius and get them insured, outfitted with onboard computers, logos, and into our reservation system.

We have donations pending from a few more sources, so I expect the tally will still rise. Anyone who wants to do so can make a donation online at www.austincarshare.org/additionaldonation.php.

We couldn\’t have done it without all the wonderful help of Christine Tusa and Elizabeth Hannah, our party co-chairs; my fabulous assistant Christa French, our brilliant interns Morgan Whitney, Tracy Stewart, and Nita Durant; volunteer extraordinaire Douglas Finer; and of course our amazing CarShare Board.

In the process of asking for donations and preparing for the party, we identified a videographer and a donor willing to fund the production of a promotional video for Austin CarShare…more on that soon!

Hopefully this will lead to many more people reevaluating their relationship to their transportation and embracing multimodal transit–including Austin CarShare!

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