Three finalists at Awesome PEC Pitch Party

Awesome PEC will hear project pitches from three finalists for the May micro-grant award, at a public Pitch Party at 7pm Monday, May 30 in the Picton Library branch.

One of the finalists will walk away with $1,000 cash to help make their community-building idea come to life.

The finalists will each make a live presentation telling why Awesome PEC should fund their idea. Awesome PEC projects are designed to improve the collective experience of County residents and businesses and perhaps leaving a lasting impression on the community.

The three finalists who will make a five-minute live pitch are:

– Matthew T. Sheahan for Art Impact Camp:
An Art camp geared toward lower income families and children. The goal of the camp is to provide children with a free experience in the arts, to allow them to explore their creativity, and provide them with opportunities.

– Troy Morrissey for Camp Horror:
Inspiring creativity though peer-to-peer hands-on education via the fun of producing a short Horror Film. The goal is to increase the visibility and accessibility of local like minded people while networking globally; a welcoming and accessible space for creatures of all shapes and sizes.

– Vicky Verner for the Pet Food Bank:
The PEC Pet Food Bank opened in 2013 to support pet owners in time of short term financial crisis. It is operated by volunteers and supported by donations.

The evening’s participants will also hear from AwesomePEC’s September winner HRI Neil (DJ Ombudsman) who will tell us how he’s used his micro-grant to upgrade equipment and run two workshops teaching local young people the foundations of deejaying and music production.

Awesome PEC plans to award four $1,000 grants per year. Previous recipients of the grant include Glen Wallis, for his Food to Share project that uses local produce and teams of volunteers to stock local food bank freezers; Craig Morrison, with a two-day skateboard-making workshop for County teenagers, and Louise McFaul, who wanted to install 200 whimsical Fairy Doors all over the County.

The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness. The idea started in 2009 in Boston, and now dozens of local chapters of the foundation distribute $1,000 grants to projects and their creators. The money is pooled together from the coffers of 10 or so self-organizing trustees and awarded with no strings attached.