Team Tassy Blackjack Spectacular This Week

We're pleased to be hosting the second annual Team Tassy Blackjack Spectacular on Thursday, October 22.  The VIP session starts at 5:30 p.m. and the General Admission session starts at 6:30 p.m.  The evening will feature  plenty of blackjack play (12 tables worth!), a roulette table for non blackjack players, live music by the Beth James Express, Haitian themed food stations and cocktails, and a chance to win some great prizes.  It’s a fun night for a great cause.  VIP tickets are $100 per person, and include a special "learn to play" cocktail hour, as well as open bar,  General Admission tickets include two drink tickets.  To purchase tickets from Showclix, click here.

“Team Tassy”  is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which helps families in the poorest slums of Port au Prince, Haiti get on their feet by providing them with health care, educational support, job training  and assistance with finding jobs.  The ultimate goal is to get families to a point where they have broken free of the cycle of poverty and are sustaining themselves. I have, with our daughter Laura, traveled to Haiti on several occasions, and we are consistently blown away by the graciousness and friendliness of the families Team Tassy is helping, and by the strides those families are making with Team Tassy’s assistance.  

Team Tassy was founded by former Survivor finalist Ian Rosenberger after he had ventured to Port au Prince after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake. While there, he met Tassy Fils Aime, a teenage boy with a huge, life threatening tumor on his jaw.  Ian promised Tassy that he would bring him to the U.S. to treat the tumor, and after months of fundraising was able to do just that.  In late 2010, Tassy underwent successful surgery at Allegheny General Hospital to remove the tumor, and is now a student at LaRoche College here in Pittsburgh.  Read more about Tassy and Ian here.   But Ian and his team also knew that the work was not done – that there were many people in Haiti continuing to suffer, and the root cause of that suffering is poverty.  So Team Tassy was founded to help families in the poorest slums in Haiti to break the cycle of poverty.  So far, Team Tassy has assisted hundreds of people stabilize their families, and helped place many family members into jobs which will, hopefully, permanently put them on the road a healthy and prosperous future.    

New Deutschtown Video

Here's a great new video on our neighborhood, Deutschtown, in the heart of Pittsburgh's North Side. The video shows just what's great about this historic neighborhood, and also showcases opportunities for moving here or locating a business.  The video was produced by the North Side Leadership Conference and funded by One Northside, a project of the Buhl Foundation.  Kudos to all who were involved.  It's a beautiful piece of work!

The video also features some great shots of our Priory Hotel courtyard, our Grand Hall, and our Priory Fine Pastries.  You'll also see me in there briefly.

See the video here.

Interesting Art Exhibition

Here's an interesting art exhibition scheduled for tonight at the 21st Street Coffee & Tea Company in the Strip District.  The display features approximately 60 pieces of art from teens and young adults who are experiencing homelessness in the City of Pittsburgh.  The exhibition was organized by Susy Robison of the Homeless Children's Education Fund, a non-profit organization whose aim is to even out educational outcomes for children and young adults experiencing homelessness in Allegheny County.  It's my privilege to serve on the board of this great organization, and to have a chance to work with inspiring people like Susy whose mission in life is to lift the spirits of others.

For a Post-Gazette story on the Exhibition, see here.