The following is a republished press release and NOT written by the Ithaca Voice … click here to submit community announcements directly to The Voice, or contact us at tips@ithacavoice.com.
ITHACA, NY – On Sunday, July 30, 2017 from 5:00 to 9:00 PM Agava Restaurant will host the 5th annual Just Be Cause Party. The Just Be Cause Party is a fundraiser to help raise money for the Just Be Cause Center which provides office and meeting space to many not-for-profit groups in our area. Additionally, each year proceeds are also shared with a different local cause.
This year’s event will benefit The Village at Ithaca. The Village at Ithaca is also celebrating 15 years of advocating for excellence and equity in Ithaca’s public schools by developing strategic community relationships, programs, and services to ensure that students, particularly Black, Latino, and low-income students, consistently meet or exceed local and New York State standards of achievement.
Tickets for the Party are available at a cost of $50 each which includes dinner provided by Agava and dancing with music provided by Jorge T. Cuevas & The Caribe Jazz Allstars Band.
Tickets are available online at www.jbccenter.com, at Agava Restaurant or at C.S.P. Management located at 407 W. Seneca St.
The Just Be Cause Center, located at 1013 W. State Street, has office spaces, a conference room, and two multi-purpose activity rooms for use by local non-profits.
“The building is dedicated to Judy Dietz, to honor the spirit of how she lived her life: caring for other people and always working to make sure the community is the best place it can possibly be,” said Jerry Dietz of his late wife. The Just Be Cause Center, itself a not-for-profit venture is managed by Dietz’s company, C.S.P. Management, LLC.
Eight local not-for-profits rent dedicated office space for below market rate. Numerous other community organizations also book time in the conference and activity rooms.
The goal, says Dietz, “is for the Just Be Cause Center to allow organizations to come together and draw energy from each other and operate more effectively because of that synergy.”
Current tenants at The Center includes, The Friendship Donations Network (FDN) which collects perishable but still useable food from area grocery stores and redistributes it to food pantries; Ithaca Public Education Initiative (I.P.E.I.) which facilitates community connections and support for students and teachers of the Ithaca City School District through engagement, collaboration, gifts, and grants; Running to Places (R2P), a youth theater company that brings together middle & high school students from across the area; Ithaca Children’s Garden, which offers a wide range of educational programs for children, teens, families, schools, and the community; Woods Earth/Youth Farm Project, which runs a community-style garden where children are taught to raise food, which is then sold for use in school lunch and snack programs; The Coalition for Healthy School Foods which offer nutrition education in ICSD schools.