The show must go on: NPI’s 2020 Spring Gala migrates online amidst COVID-19 pandemic

This has been a spring like no oth­er in recent memory.

A few weeks ago, pub­lic health author­i­ties advised that to pro­tect our­selves and our neigh­bors from the threat of SARS-CoV­‑2, also known as the nov­el coro­n­avirus, we need­ed to come togeth­er by stay­ing apart.

And so the gov­er­nors of the Pacif­ic North­west — Jay Inslee, Kate Brown, and Brad Lit­tle — have issued a series of “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” orders intend­ed to pre­vent the worst out­break of dis­ease in mod­ern his­to­ry from get­ting any worse.

Even before those orders were issued last month, our team at the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute had already con­clud­ed that it would not be respon­si­ble to move for­ward with plans to hold our 2020 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala in Renton.

Rather than post­pone or can­cel the gala, how­ev­er, we decid­ed to use our tech­no­log­i­cal exper­tise to trans­form it into a vir­tu­al event. We may not be able to safe­ly gath­er in per­son right now, but that does­n’t mean we can’t hold events. At NPI, we believe in phys­i­cal dis­tanc­ing, not social dis­tanc­ing, which is a misnomer.

It is cur­rent­ly 6:50 PM Pacif­ic Time. In a few min­utes, we will begin record­ing NPI’s 2020 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala at our head­quar­ters in down­town Red­mond. How­ev­er, it’s not too late to buy a tick­et! Go here to buy either a Vir­tu­al Gala Access Pass for $25 or a com­bi­na­tion tick­et to the Vir­tu­al Gala and FallFest, the event where we antic­i­pate con­tin­u­ing our in-per­son gala traditions.

Whether or not you buy a tick­et, you’re wel­come to fol­low along here on the Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate with me as the gala unfolds. I’ll be shar­ing high­lights at reg­u­lar inter­vals for the dura­tion of the speak­ing program.

Thanks to every­one who has sup­port­ed this impor­tant event and NPI’s work. We deeply appre­ci­ate your con­tri­bu­tions and encouragement!

Highlights from the recording of the Virtual Gala