August 25, 2020 | Vicki Whisenhunt

Our Move-A-Thon Was A Groovin’ Success!

“Pivot and adjust” has been our mantra here at Cottonwood Institute (CI) for the last few months! From figuring out how to interact with our students virtually, and shifting our programs online to coming up with creative ways to hold our events, we have been busy adjusting to the current conditions and finding ways to thrive. Our latest event, our first ever Move-A-Thon, was just another practice in seeing how we can shift on the fly to continue engaging our wonderful network of supporters, and raise critical funding for our programs.

If you missed it, The Move-A-Thon was a month-long campaign we dreamed up to get people outside and moving, and to help us raise some money in light of cancelling our in person Throwdown charity cornhole tournament. The idea was simple: choose a movement, see how many miles you can go, and tell all your friends and family about it in hopes that they would donate to help support CI programs this fall.

We didn’t know what to expect but were completely blown away by the incredible amount of supporters and sponsors that helped us to raise close to $45,000! This is critical for CI as we navigate the fall and the COVID-19 crisis.

We ended the month of moving with an amazing virtual party, complete with a groovin’ DJ spinning all the best 70’s tunes from 5280 Mobile DJ, a phenomenal cocktail lesson with Sean Kenyon from Williams & Graham, and awarded our top movers with some amazing prizes!

Katie Vega, our CI Program Director, presented CI students, Anayansi Martinez & Sawyer Wilson, with our 2020 Ripple Effect Award Winners and we watched video clips of their acceptance speeches. We also heard from Rob and Susie Guthrie who presented Anayansi and Sawyer with the Lauren Guthrie Legacy Scholarship to attend an Avid4 Adventure backpacking trip next summer. This was an an inspiring and touching way to honor their daughter Lauren, while providing an adventurous opportunity for our Ripple Effect Award Winners to continue to develop their outdoor leadership skills.

Our amazing auctioneer Andy Seth brought excitement to our virtual live auction, and we ended the evening with a 70s dance party! It was the perfect way to end our month of moving and grooving! Click here to re-live the magic of the Move-A-Thon Virtual Party.

And we want to give a shout out to our new friends at We Ride 4, a new cycling club in Denver. Wow, did they show up big for the Move-A-Thon! We Ride 4 members rode over 3,000 miles for the Move-A-Thon and helped raise over $15,000 to support our students and programs this fall. Click here to learn more about We Ride 4 and how to become a member.

Finally, CI is committed to building an ecosystem of supporters who are all committed to each other’s long term sustainability and success. Please support the following companies that helped make the Move-A-Thon possible: