AlphaLab and Haitian Families First

  • By ShowClix Team | Monday, July 30th, 2012

In this new blog feature, we will showcase some of the exciting events and opportunities that the ShowClix team has been involved with recently around Pittsburgh. We are all proud to be in the ‘Burgh and we love to meet new people, try new places, and see new things! In efforts to spread the love, this blog feature will show readers where the Clixrs have been throughout the city. Sound like fun? Join the team!

Click to read more about our Online Marketing Manager, Alexis Castorina’s busy and bustling (but fun!) Friday last week with AlphaLab and Haitian Families First in our first ShowClix in the City post…

ALPHALAB: Open Coffee Club
The morning started out with the meeting of the minds at AlphaLab, the start-up accelerator, located in Pittsburgh’s South Side, during their Open Coffee Club. A crowd of entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, marketers, developers, and data geeks…not to mention robot-building-Franklin-Regional-high schoolers…all converged to network with like-minded companies and individuals to share ideas and successes, talk about upcoming projects, and eat yummy tacos from the Pittsburgh Taco Truck.

AlphaLab is also sponsoring new Tech Talks, which are free and open to the public. This week, engineers from The Resumator will speak about scaling and solving issues at the awesome AlphaLab office. Interested? You can reserve your spot and get tickets online through ShowClix! AlphaLab is doing great things for the Steel City and our own Josh Dziabiak and Lynsie Campbell are mentors and advisors for those involved. 

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HAITIAN FAMILIES FIRST
The day ended with an appearance at a fundraiser benefiting the Haitian Families First organization at Wigle Whiskey, a hip new distillery in the city’s Strip District. Guests like Pittsburgh Cares, Team Tassy, Airheads Balloon Art and other Pittsburghers joined together to enjoy Wigle Whiskey cocktails, benefiting Haitian Families First, a non-profit organization whose mission is to “preserve and sustain [Haitian] families by helping them to find employment, supply their loved ones’ most basic needs, and provide for their children’s educations and care.”

The organization’s founders, Jamie and Ali McMutrie, who hail from Ben Avon just north of downtown Pittsburgh, both currently live in Haiti full time and come back to the United States only a few times each year to visit with family and attend board meetings for their organization.

Right after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the sisters managed to keep all the children safe at the orphanage in Port-au-Prince that they were operating. “At the same time, they conducted an aggressive social and national media campaign that influenced federal, state, and local government officials to bring 54 orphans, most of whom were already far along in the adoption process, to the United States.” For more information on the organization or to make a donation, visit their official website.

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We look forward to continue working with AlphaLab and following Haitian Families First efforts! Follow them on twitter: @alphalab  and @HaitianFam1st