Sixth Annual Azalea Awards

Please save the date of Saturday, May 15th for Takoma’s very special Azalea Awards!    Join us to witness eleven of Takoma’s volunteer sheroes and heroes as they find out if they got the biggest vote of THANKS by their neighbors and friends.  We’ll gather in the Community Center’s newly-refurbished Auditorium at 6:30 pm after a community pizza party from 5:30-6:30 pm.  

You’ll also find out more about the Takoma Foundation’s latest grants and about the Takoma Voice, the co-sponsors of the awards.

And first, please vote for ten volunteers who go “beyond the call” to help our community.  
The categories are Takoma: Spirit, Community Activist, Coach, Arts, Green, School Activist, Superhero, Business, Educator, and Mentor.  You’ll see on the Voice website the description of each category and each nominee on THE 2010 BALLOT:  at www.takomavoice.com

Votes received by midnight on May 10th will be counted.  The winners' names will be sealed in the envelopes until that evening at the Awards on May 15th!

Dust off your tuxedos and gowns and come join us for the fun!

For more information, click here.

Music at this year's Azalea Awards will be by the famous U-Liners, led by Joe Uehlein, singing and playing selections from a variety of music in the roots-rock and Americana genres, with the special blend of hope, peace, justice, the environment, and worker’s rights themes. They truly do make the world a better place, as do all of our Azalea nominees! www.uliners.com

Beer, Rain and Friends Make Potent Brew

The Takoma Foundation’s first Beer Tasting was a huge success!  Thanks to more than 120 people who came to the Historic Cady Lee Mansion on a cold and windy afternoon on October 17.  We raised more than $4,000.  Given the hugely positive reception and results, the Foundation hopes to make the Beer Tasting an annual event.  To view a few photos from the event, click here.

Visitors to the Beer Tasting enjoyed organic beers from local brewers Capitol City Brewing, Gordon Biersch, and Wolaver’s, and food donated by Olive Lounge.  Beer expert Chris O'Brien told the overflow crowd that they were part of the revolution against corporate beer-making.  “It’s about the taste…and making beer as a social activity,” said the author of Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World.

The Foundation extends its appreciation to the numerous individuals and corporate supporters who made cash and/or in-kind contributions: musicians John Relph and Eric Vesper; sound engineers Dave Eisner and Art Isaacs; The Forum for Youth Investment and Galen Irby; Long & Foster realtors Robbi Kimball, Arelis A. Perez, Meg Finn, and Dan Metcalf; Ivan’s Painters; Fenwick Beer and Wine; and local law firms Andalman & Flynn PC and Luxenberg, Johnson & Dickens PC. 

With the funds raised at the Beer Tasting, the Foundation is pleased to announce that we will open a new grants cycle in early 2010.

Commemorative Bricks are Back!

The Takoma Foundation is again offering commemorative bricks for $150.  The bricks have been one of the Foundation's most popular fundraising programs, and they are an opportunity to display your support for your hometown.

The bricks will be installed in front of the Community Center and can be inscribed with up to two lines of 14 letters and spaces each.  For more information, click here.