Despite the tragic events at the Boston Marathon New Generation Energy will still be hosting the Mint Party on April 20th at Trade. NGE’s mission has always revolved around strengthening our city. Boston is at its strongest when we come together as a community, in times of joy or in times of crisis. The Mint Party is a celebration of Boston and all of the things that Boston does best – it’s a celebration of a city that gets better every day. In light of Monday’s tragedy, New Generation Energy will be donating 50% of every ticket purchased from now until Saturday, April 20th, to the American Red Cross. We want to continue to help Boston and think this is the best way to do it.

Also, if anyone is interested in helping out but does not live in Boston, they should feel free to purchase a ticket in honor of a friend or community member. 50% of the proceeds will still be sent to the American Red Cross, and the ticket can be given to someone in our community who may not be able to purchase a ticket themselves. Buying a ticket allows us to invite members of our community, of the nonprofits we work with, to the event. It is a great way to give back right now.

Beyond monetary donations to the Red Cross, NGE is exploring other ways we can be involved with the healing process of Boston. As we’ve already seen since Monday’s horrible events, the people of Boston are giving back to their fellow citizens in record numbers. Giving blood, offering shelter, providing food, etc. NGE feels it is incredibly important to do our part. We are currently exploring volunteer projects to help the City of Boston. If anyone is looking for a way to help during this time, they should feel free to reach out to our staff at Joffe@newgenerationenergy.org or sign up to receive our e-mails here: http://newgenerationenergy.org/.

NGE’s mission has always been two-fold. First, and most obviously, we are helping build energy efficient, sustainable nonprofits. What is sometimes initially overlooked is that an equally important part of our work is community building. We hold a fundamental belief that strong nonprofits, strong organizations in general, build great communities. Community development and involvement is a core value of ours, and that is what the Marathon represents to us. The Marathon is Boston at its best – a perfect example of our community. It represents strength, togetherness, camaraderie, achieving a seemingly impossible dream. These things are what make the Marathon great; these things are what make Boston great. When we decided to still host the Mint Party on Saturday, we thought about all of these things. We want Saturday to be a place for our community to come together. NGE thinks it is so important to stand strong as a community right now. We don’t want this event to be exclusionary because of a price tag. So, if anyone is interested in coming to the event, but is not sure if they can afford it, they should reach out to us at Joffe@newgenerationenergy.org.

The other 50% of proceeds from this event go directly to Local & Green, NGE’s new program to help nonprofits raise impact by reducing their carbon footprint. Local & Green provides hands-on support for energy efficiency projects in our community. For one year, NGE helps selected regional nonprofits become more sustainable, designing and implementing projects to help nonprofits save money and increase their impact. From project design to 100% funding, Local & Green is our 360° approach to powering sustainable communities.

To learn more, visit http://newgenerationenergy.org/

We are thrilled to welcome The Longfellow Club to our network.  Although I’ve never been to this Wayland, MA based athletic club, I hope to get down there soon to sharpen my tennis skills (and maybe we could have a network-wide round robin?!). Laury has created an impressive establishment that any business owner can learn a lot from.

The Club has eight indoor tennis courts, a full fitness facility, swimming pools and so much more- they have healthy fitness options for people of all ages and abilities. The Longfellow Club has eight core values which together create healthy minds, bodies and Planet. These values are: Community, Gratitude, Knowledge, Sparkle, Happiness, Health, Service and (our favorite) Sustainability. They have joined 1% for the Planet as a way to help share their giving story and to play a key role in New England, as one of our region’s largest members. We look forward to working with Laury and everyone at The Longfellow Club!

Don’t miss the Boston premiere of Jeremy Jones’ Further!

1% FTP member and award winning producer, Teton Gravity Research is pleased to announce the production of Further, the second installment in the Jeremy Jones trilogy, Deeper, Further, Higher presented by O’Neill, Clif Bar, Jones Snowboards and others. Further will explore some of the world’s most remote terrain while continuing Jones’ mission to camp deep in the backcountry and on the summits of unridden lines to access nearly vertical spines and wide open powder fields.

Jeremy Jones founded one of our largest nonprofit partners, Protect Our Winters, who works “to engage and mobilize the winter sports community to lead the fight against climate change.” Not only is Jones an amazing snowboarder and advocate, but he was recently nominated as National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year- so make sure to show your support and vote for him! Staff from TGR will be at the film and there will be awesome opportunities to win some swag.

The film will be shown in the IMAX theater at the New England Aquarium at both 7PM & 9PM on Thursday & Friday nights! Hope you can attend- and if not, click here to find another showing!