Davis Odd Fellows offers community support
Davis Community Meals and Housing will be hosting a dinner on May 5 to promote and raise funds for its programs. The annual fundraising dinner will take place at 5 p.m. at the Odd Fellows Hall on 415 Second Street.
William Pride, the executive director of Davis Community Meals and Housing, mentioned how the fundraiser will benefit its programs, directed at those who are low income or homeless.
“All the money raised from the dinner will support all our programs to low-income homeless individuals and families of Davis,” Pride said. “We got a meals program, [with an] outreach, resource center and various housing programs — the money will support the costs of such programs.”
Lea Rosenberg, a member of the Davis Odd Fellows, noted that the group is supportive of community events. It dedicates a committee toward allowing the community to hold its events called the community support committee.
“We have a community support committee, where we go through the applications that folks of their agencies would like to do a co-hosted event at the lodge, meaning that they get the lodge for their event at no charge,” Rosenberg said. “Obviously, there are other charges like the outside assistance and whatnot, otherwise they get the lodge for free. We have a couple of standards that always apply.”
Rosenberg expressed how the Davis Odd Fellows support Davis Community Meals and Housing, among other community organizations, allowing it to host its dinner at the upper hall.
“Davis Community Meals is one, and we always let them have the upper hall at their chosen date, and they do their big events, which helps them because they don’t have the cost of renting a big building,” Rosenberg said. “They’re one of the agencies that we typically support every year.”
As Davis Community Meals and Housing is dedicated to serving the community, it aligns with the Davis Odd Fellows’ standards, which hope to give back to the community.
“We started as a nonprofit organization back in 1990, and served our first meal to homeless folks on February of 1991,” Pride said.
In addition, the nonprofit noted that it especially has more programs to offer as it now has a foundation to provide housing.
According to Davis Community Meals and Housing’s event page for the dinner, the group is “excited that [their] long-awaited Creekside project broke ground in November 2018 and will be providing permanent supportive housing to 90 individuals and households by early 2020. Modeled after our successful Cesar Chavez Plaza permanent supportive housing project, we anticipate providing safe, stable housing to many homeless individuals from the Davis community.”
The dinner will celebrate these goals, and Pride added that there will be more activities in addition to local chef Jeff Murphy’s preparation for a festive dinner.
“There will be some entertainment, a silent auction — we’re going to be serving Cinco-de-Mayo-themed food and give a presentation by some of the presidents of the programs,” Pride said.
Rosenberg further praised how Davis Community Meals and Housing has hosted successful events, like many others that have partnered with the Davis Odd Fellows with its events at the lodge.
“Some have attended many of these events — they’re very nicely organized, their publicity shows that it’s co-hosted by the Davis Odd Fellows,” Rosenberg said. “And they all do wonderful setup and decorations, it’s really a beautiful event.”
Written by: Stella Tran — city@theaggie.org
