Seattle Mart Partners with Gift for Life in Support of World Central Kitchen

Furniture World News Desk on 7/7/2022

Gift for Life and 17 Seattle Mart showrooms are joining forces to host “Seattle Mart Gives Back”, a summer market fundraising campaign supporting World Central Kitchen (WCK) and its efforts to provide meals in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises. The fundraiser, which runs July 10-23, has a set an overall goal of $5,000 to help communities in need.

“The Seattle Mart is small but mighty!” said Nikki Creveling, principal of Ritz Sisters and organizer of the Seattle Mart Gives Back initiative. “We are delighted to rally our showrooms, sales agencies, vendors and retailers to join in industry-wide efforts to raise funds for World Central Kitchen.”

Participating showrooms will raise funds in several ways, including donations of $1 for each confirmed order placed during the summer market; vendor contributions, direct donations from retailers; and percentage of sales from sample sales. The link to donate is https://donate.wck.org/Seattle2022.

To date, participating showrooms are: Accessories the Showroom (#304); Arlene Oom & Co. (#215); The Barron Collection/Keena Co. (#201); Cards & Gifts NW (#100); DandyLines (#105); Fine Lines (#213); Kinfetti (#204); Haversack Ssales (#207); Monkey Business (#310); Nolita Home & Beauty (#212); Palladium Inc. (#309); Ritz Sisters (#202): Scarlett (#208); Stack & Company (#209); Sugar B (#211); Suzie Gildea Group (#205); and Toyology (#203).

“The Seattle Mart has supported Gift for Life since 1992 when Diana Park organized its first Holiday Sample Sale benefiting Gift for Life,” said Cole Daugherty, Gift for Life Chair. “We’re grateful that this support continues today, and look forward to working with this enthusiastic group of Seattle Mart showrooms to help World Central Kitchen address food insecurity around the globe.”

For more information about Seattle Mart or the upcoming market, visit https://seattlemart.com/.  To make a general donation towards the Seattle Mart’s Gives Back campaign for WCK, visit: https://donate.wck.org/Seattle2022.

If you’d like to host your own fundraiser for World Central Kitchen, click HERE or contact a member of the Gift for Life board.

About World Central Kitchen (WCK)

Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) uses the power of food to nourish communities and strengthen economies in times of crisis and beyond. In 2020, with COVID-19 straining traditional food security safety nets like school feeding programs, city services and food banks, WCK pivoted to safely distribute individually packaged, fresh meals in communities that needed support and launched the Restaurants for the People program to scale nationwide. Fast forward to 2022 and the escalating crisis in Ukraine and at home. When disaster strikes, WCK’s Chef Relief Team mobilizes to the front lines making sure there is always a warm meal, an encouraging word, and a helping hand. World Central Kitchen has provided tens of millions of fresh, nourishing meals for communities around the world. Donations will be used to support emergency food relief efforts and resilience programs. For information, visit www.wck.org.

About Gift for Life

Gift for Life was founded by Peter Schauben of Appleman Schauben in 1992 in response to the tragic loss of industry lives to AIDS. The organization’s first meeting at the National Stationery Show brought together a cross-section of the industry’s leading publishers, market centers, sales reps, manufacturers, and retailers – all willing to convene and work together towards a common goal. Since that time, Gift for Life has raised nearly $6 million for AIDS research, education, treatment and care through nationwide at-market events, cause marketing programs and direct donations. With COVID-19 temporarily causing cancelation of in-person events at industry markets, Gift for Life pivoted towards online digital events with a specific emphasis on COVID-related hunger relief. As Gift for Life celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022, the all-volunteer organization will continue to support programs that address hunger relief. More information is available at www.giftforlife.org.