Fort Wayne Urban League Sneaker Ball | Living Local 15

Urban League Fort Wayne empowers communities changes lives enables African-Americans and other under served Urban residents to secure economic self-reliance parody power and civil rights and joining me today to share about their upcoming sneaker ball is their president and CEO Aisha Arrington good morning good morning how are you doing good thank you for having me yes okay so first off the Urban League has been doing really exciting exting things congratulations on hitting two years of being over this organization yes so just start off by kind of giving us an overview of the Urban League just in case someone has not heard about your organization sure well I should say that the Urban League has been here in Fort Wayne for 105 years um so that's a long time to be in a community uh we're all about um empowering um our community members to live their best life so Urban League is all about education and Community Development and economics anything that lifts someone up into a better place yeah which is great and so throughout the year you all have different activities events and ways to really bring the members and communities together so can you share what kind of takes place throughout the year sure well this summer we had our Ruby Bridges uh Rock Trail we collected over 600 painted rocks from various youth groups in the city and laid that trail right down in Fort Wayne Urban League um so that was really exciting uh we just kicked off our second uh band Book campaign passed out 200 band book titles at the Magnificent Fest at McMillan we have our meet the candidates night coming up to help uh support voting uh we're also uh partnering with Metro human relations and have an unwelcomed exhibit from the Indie um office to just talk about uh disparities and housing and what we all can do to make sure that everyone um is in a place where they can buy a home and create a home for themselves yes absolutely because support for every Community is so important we all need representation so that sounds great that you all are kicking those things off this year and then you have this big sneaker ball yes I'm so excited um so yes it's a way for us to bring the Urban League Gayla back to the community which we're known for but in a new twist with a sneaker ball so that's going to kick off September 7th at Parkview Miro uh tickets are on sale now but you better get them because they're running out um we have VIP reception at 5:45 and then general admission tickets are starting at 6:30 6:30 p.m. okay awesome when I heard sneaker ball I'm like how exciting to not wear Hills and I'm thrilled to be mcing this event so you will see me there and let's talk about what people can expect throughout the night well first of all it's going to be a show up and showout event so you better come dressed um you know to sleigh with your sneakers on uh we want it to be fun uh we're so glad that we're partnering with uh DJ Crazy K is going to be our DJ uh Philip Sanchez is setting up a 3D photo booth um I just heard from uh Jessica Henry Johnson that her husband Nate Johnson is donating a sneaker ice sculpture for the event so there's going to be a lot of things going on and then of course we've got our painted sneakers that are going to be on um display and our silent auction will open for them right so let's talk about this because this is all about supporting local artists yes well Carrington Thompson is the artist that painted Air Force Ones and I think he just did a beautiful job uh but we worked with four local artists um who each painted a pair of Air Force ones they've been on tour around the city so they went to Sweetwater uh they went to the art museum now they're at the Impact Center they're going to come back to Urban League before they head to uh Muro but this was a really fun project that is really great and um how should people prepare like for the event when they come I mean we all have been to the park you know miral Center but really just how can people best prepare to enjoy the night well you know what if you don't know what to wear there's Pinterest and there's you know Google so make sure that you're confident with your look because sneaker ball is a look that you're going for where you're just dressing up glamorous uh but you've got your sneakers on uh we do have a couple of Facebook reels out uh one for the women and one for the men that just kind of gives you um a a an example of what a sneer ball outfit looks like so you want your outfit together like us on Fort Wayne Urban League's Facebook page so you can see those reals to just give you some inspiration and then while it's all about fun um it is a fundraiser for Fort Wayne Urban League and so in order for us to execute our mission in the community we need money um so it's going to be um sharing our mission uh with those in the room and encouraging and inspiring all of us um to give what we can to make sure that urbanly can stay in the community um and have impact on the lives and of all the people that we serve yeah that is great and where can people go to get tickets yeah tickets are easy they just go to www.f w.org soon as you go to our website you're going to see the sneaker ball right there and just click and and pay for your tickets sign up and we'll have you all registered but like I said tickets are going fast so if you want to go they need to get them now yes for sure awesome well thank you so much Aisha it was a pleasure to speak with you you and if you would like to go to the sneaker ball you have to follow the link below to get your tickets this is an amazing opportunity to dress up glamorous to wear sneakers and support a good cause as I said I will be mcing so I will see you there and probably on the dance floor and we'll be right back