The smell of roasting chicken wafted on the breeze while people danced, ate and chatted away Friday afternoon at Opportunity Enterprises’ first annual Summer Fest. The block party style celebration of summer included Nelson’s chicken available for purchase, ice cream supplied by Valpo Velvet, and root beer donated by Figure 8 Brewing Company.
All proceeds from the event went toward funding Opportunity Enterprises’ mission of working to maximize self-sufficiency and enrich the quality of life for people with disabilities in Northwest Indiana.
“Summer Fest is really fun because we got a chance for participants to come and hang out. We got a chance for community members to come out and support Opportunity Enterprises by purchasing popcorn and our art from our art department, and Nelson’s chicken,” said Lindsay Ellis, Development Associate at Opportunity Enterprises and event organizer. “It was a beautiful day for it, and I think it was a huge success!”
OE participants joyfully danced to tunes played by a DJ, enjoyed Valpo Velvet ice cream, and soaked in the sunshine.
“Summer Fest was a huge success,” said David Stupay, CEO of Opportunity Enterprises. “We had a number of people from the community out here as well as our participants. It’s been a great party. There’s great chicken and a great partnership with Valpo Velvet. So we had a blast.”
Members of the community enjoyed their chicken dinners while seeing first hand how OE works to enrich the lives of their participants. Participants displayed their artwork and sold creatively flavored popcorn created in the Simply Amazing market.
“Everyone had fun!” said Liz Metts, OE Development Manager. “We had a lot of community members stop by while our folks were out here partying. It was some really cool integration.”
“It was great having the participants come out and party with us,” added Ellis.
