A Collision of Passions

As young professionals, we are always looking for ways to make our work more meaningful: methods to channel our passion into a career path, tools to make our volunteer work more impactful, a plan to align our goals with our day-to-day reality. And while this is certainly a life-long pursuit, every once in a while, disparate pieces collide and fall into your lap. This is what happened to me when I realized my two passion projects had a perfect synergy.

Quick background: by day I work in business development for energy consulting, and the analytical, deadline driven work keeps me firing on all cylinders, and keeps my bills all in the green. But on weekends, I transform to a bit of a Bob Ross, leading groups of adults through acrylic paintings at their favorite bars and restaurants through the Paint Nite franchise (paintnite.com). Passion Number Two is volunteer work for a local food access organization called Rachel's Table (rachelstable.org).

A sample of the seasonal images Paint Nite has scheduled

Rachel's Table is always seeking donations, and Paint Nite is always looking for more ways to give back and get involved in our community. And what better time to merge these two missions than during the Season of Giving? So throughout the month of December and into the New Year, every Paint Nite event will also double as a mini food drive. All customers have to do is bring a non-perishable food item, and Rachel's Table will ensure it gets delivered to a local family in need.

My favorite thing about this operation is its simplicity. The pieces of the puzzle were all under my nose, we just had to put them together, then tell everyone about it. Why didn't I think of this sooner?