Earlier this April, GDM teamed up with TK Productions & DJhere for our first Autism Awareness Pub Crawl & after party! This entertaining and interactive Sunday event took place on 4/3 at various venues in the Gaslamp. The proceeds raised from pub crawl registration fees, donations and food/beverage specials at the venues went to San Diego nonprofit, Include Autism.
The GDM We Rise charitable giving program chose Include Autism to be the recipient of our fundraising efforts due in large part to the organization’s mission and message. In addition to increasing awareness of autism within our community, Include Autism’s various programs promote inclusion and offer Autism Spectrum individuals the opportunity to thrive within society. These are such important priorities as more and more ASD individuals enter adulthood and the workforce.
On that beautiful, Sunday afternoon 70+ pub crawlers converged upon the Gaslmap wearing blue, Autism Awareness t-shirts. The Crawl started at noon, and our first stop was Taste & Thirst. The casual, neighborhood bar offered crawlers a complementary welcome drink while also donating to Include Autism a portion of all food & drink purchases from 9am up to the time the crawl left. Around 1pm we arrived at our 2nd destination, Florent Restaurant & Lounge where we were greeted with a welcome drink. Florent was a great stop to order some food, so we could continue to drink without an empty stomach! Gaslamp staple, Henry's Pub was stop #3 along the Autism Awareness crawl. All participants received a welcome drink and Henry’s offered $4 drafts, wines, wells & Jamo! Next up, we arrived at Parq around 3pm and crashed their Sunday Wonderland brunch! We were greeted with blue shots [the color of autism awareness], and entertained by characters in Wonderland costume. Though we were remiss to leave such a cool brunch event, we still had one last stop to get to!
The Autism Awareness Pub Crawl’s final destination was Blush Ice Bar + East-West Kitchen. In addition to receiving our complementary first drink, there were raffles and games [putt-putt golf!], blue blushies and Padres burgers! A DJ played beats to keep the energy going while crawlers mixed and mingled with restaurant diners. Some of the folks from Include Autism crawled with us and had an information booth at Blush to share with patrons all of the great services the organization offers. Through the month of April, Blush will be donating a portion of the sales from all Padres burgers and Autism Blue Blushies to Include Autism.
TK Productions owner/operator, Brandon Thomason, remarked on how excited he was to work together on this for such a great cause. For him, the Pub Crawl experience was a refreshing one as it was a chance to spend time with both industry and non-industry friends outside of the club environment; being able to talk to and get to know people. Pub crawler, Lance Growth felt energized by both the vibe of the event and by devotion to the cause by attendees. Per Lance, attendees were drinking, fraternizing and overall having a great time. It was a sight, seeing that sea of blue shirts walking through the Gaslamp. And it got non-attendees asking questions, enabling us to share our message to the public at large.
Seeing all these organizations and people come together to support both Include Autism and GDM We Rise was both humbling and inspiring. GDM We Rise met our goal of raising $2500 to support Include Autism. We would like to thank all of our participating restaurants, bars and partners as well as their amazing staff members who made it all look so easy. We would also like to thank our participants for making this event such a great success, and we look forward to making the Autism Awareness Pub Crawl even bigger next year!
GDM - We Rise by Lifting Others