Grow Good – Provo Cottages Spring Fling

The Spring Fling Fundraiser was born out of the desire of the Provo and Provo Student Cottages  to grow something good from the #metoo campaign. We wanted to take the awareness #metoo has brought to the issue of sexual violence and reframe it, to find a positive and generative solution in our community. We chose to raise money for our local domestic violence shelter and rape recovery clinic, The Center for Women and Children in Crisis.

We put together a committee of cottage members six months before the event to begin planning and worked with community partners to plan the event. We were overwhelmed by the generous outpouring from individuals and local businesses in the community, everything from food, to the venue, to auction items and decorations were donated to the cause!

The event itself consisted of an art auction and a dance party. The art auction took place a week prior to the dance party, where we auctioned off art donated by local artists.  A week later at the dance party, we had a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor speak, as well as a keynote address by a local social media influencer. After the speakers, guests enjoyed food, a braid bar, self-defense demonstrations, a silent auction, drawing prizes, and dancing! We filled 170 seats and consider the events a great success! Overall, we had nearly 260 people participate in the fundraiser and raised over $6,000 for The Center. Most importantly, we brought women in our community together, in a positive way, around an issue that really matters to us.

We hope each of you will find ways, big and small, to reframe the issues you face in your communities and continue to grow good where ever you are!

Bergen Hyde-Provo Cottage President
Sasha Smith-Provo Student Cottage President