Do you love basketball or other competitive sports? Always wanted to dabble in gambling? Looking for a fun new way to support the Center?
Well, you’re in luck, because the OCRCC has recently partnered with GoodBookey, an app that allows you and your friends to bet on popular sporting events – except instead of the wager being exchanged through individuals, the money you gamble is donated to the winner’s choice nonprofit! As you know, we take basketball seriously here in Orange County, and fortunately, we’ve partnered with GoodBookey just in time for March Madness!
To support the Center through GoodBookey, download the appwith this link on your iOS or Android device, enter your information, and invite your friends to play! If you “lose” your bet, your money will go to the winner’s favorite charity. Your donation is tax deductible, and GoodBookey will send you a receipt! Whether you’re new to betting or an old hat, your donation is sure to make a difference in Orange County.
BONUS FOR THE CENTER! Right now GoodBookey is pledging to donate $1 for every donor who uses our link to download AND register for the app, up to $1,000 dollars! All you have to do is click here, and you will be taken to the app store to download this simple app. To make sure we get the dollar, please register! No purchase is necessary, but we hope you’ll play in our honor. By being represented on GoodBookey we have the opportunity to reach new audiences while giving loyal donors like you, a new and fun way to support our mission.
So get going! Click here or on the image above to get started.
As Cupcakes & Cocktails rapidly approaches, we are excited to announce the panel of judges for this year’s cupcake contest. With a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, we can’t wait to hear their feedback as they sample the scrumptious sweets available this Sunday!
Sera Cuni
Sera Cuni grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut, with a family of self-taught cooks who enthusiastically embraced their Italian and Czech heritages. After attending Green Mountain College in Vermont on a soccer scholarship, Sera took her passion for food and cooking back to Connecticut, where she graduated from culinary school. Over the course of her career, Sera has worked at the Fearrington House Inn and Nordstrom’s Café. In 2006, Sara Foster hired her as a chef and kitchen manager for the Foster’s Market Chapel Hill restaurant. Since then, she and her wife Susan have purchased the Chapel Hill location and continue to abide by Sara Foster’s primary food ethic—that great food doesn’t have to be fancy. These days, you can catch Sera working away as co-owner and chef at The Root Cellar Cafe & Catering.
Yelena Etten
Yelena Etten has been interested in baking for as long as she has loved sugar. She remembers helping her mother make yeast rolls at the tender age of 3. Once her family moved from Russia in 1992, she signed up for her first cake decorating class and was the youngest student in the class. She has been making cakes for the last 20+ years, perfecting her technique and flavor combinations. She was the Cupcake Champion for the Center’s Cupcakes & Cocktails in 2014 and is looking forward to helping judge all of the yummy cupcakes this year.
Bill Smith
Bill Smith hails from the town of New Bern on the North Carolina coast. An accomplished chef and writer, his food writing has been featured in well-known publications like the New York Times, and his cooking has twice earned him a vote into the final five for James Beard’s Regional Best Chef award. Bill currently creates interesting spins on classic Southern dishes at Crook’s Corner, which was named one of “America’s Classics” by the James Beard Foundation. After 22 years at Crook’s Corner, he continues to interpret heirloom recipes, often resulting in iconic dishes. There’s talk across the nation about his Atlantic Beach Pie, but locals know that it’s the decadent Honeysuckle Sorbet – available only briefly each May – that’s worth the annual wait.
Molly Stillman
Molly Stillman has been sharing her likes, dislikes, and a piece of her mind with the internet for nearly a decade as a life and style blogger. On her blog, Still Being Molly, she writes daily about fashion and beauty, some of her favorite recipes, her DIY and home decor projects, essential oils, photography, product reviews, and life as a wife and mother, and even about money. She’s basically your best friend and a Jane-of-all-trades. Her main passion is entertaining and inspiring others through empowering women to look and feel confident in the skin God gave them. Molly currently resides in Durham with her husband John, their daughter Lilly, and their two dogs, Audrey Hepburn and Tater.
Dorothy Tong
Dorothy Tong is The Cupcake Princess and a champion from the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” She was a proprietor of Cupcake & Cookie, her innovative bakery located in the heart of Los Angeles, California, until she moved to Durham in pursuit of her MBA at Duke University. With her passion for extraordinary desserts, Dorothy’s Cupcake & Cookie specialized in cupcake-filled cookies, cookie-filled cupcakes, and liquid truffles.
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Get your tickets for Cupcakes & Cocktails at ocrcc.org/cupcakes for only $40 through April 10. After that, a limited number of tickets will be available at the door for $50. See you on Sunday!
As the last guests trickled out the doors and into the night, staff and volunteers looked around the room with awe. We had just pulled off our very first Cupcakes & Cocktails fundraiser! Equal parts exhausted and sugar-facilitated enthused, we began to clean up and discuss the highlights of the event.
For some, it was the spirit of competition brought on by the cupcake contest. For others, it was the warm conversation shared with community members. For me, it was the incredible spread of cupcakes. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, and baked goods don’t generally excite me. The spread at Cupcakes & Cocktails, however, was different. Every table seemed illuminated with expertly-applied frosting, inventive flavors, and on occasion, the option of a vegan treat. To my left, cardamom cream cheese frosting sat gallantly atop carrot cake while on my right, rich ganache seemed to smother the Black Forest cupcake. Needless to say, by the time we were announcing the winner for the evening, I was experiencing a full-fledged sugar high.
After finally coming down (read: crashing) from all the sugar, I began to worry about my own baking talent, or lack thereof. Fortunately, the cupcake contestants were generous enough to provide us with their recipes so that we can attempt to recreate the magic in our own kitchens.
As the second annual Cupcakes & Cocktails approaches, consider entering this year’s cupcake contest! The event is on April 12, and competition entries are due April 1. If you need some inspiration to get the creative juices flowing, check out this recipe for the Fuzzy Navel Cupcake, runner-up of last year’s competition, by Nancee Merritt…
We are very excited for our upcoming 27th Annual Holiday Auction, which will be on Sunday, November 23, at the Sheraton. Our offices are overflowing with unique auction items that will be up for bid next Sunday — check out our auction page for a sneak preview of select items. With a silent and live auction, live music, dinner, our signature dessert auction, and more, it’s going to be a lot of fun — and all for a great cause.
In addition to all the usual excitement, this Auction falls during our 40th anniversary. We have a few surprises up our sleeves to commemorate 40 years of providing help, hope, and healing in our community: We will unveil special artwork commissioned by Durham artist and activist Franco, and we will debut an amazingly beautiful and inspiring video by Ora about the work we do.
We also can’t wait to meet this year’s Auction guests! New York Times Bestselling Author Sarah Dessen will be our keynote speaker, Ron Stutts of WCHL’s Morning Show will be our auctioneer, and Matt Phillips will provide live music. Read below for more information about our guests, and visit our auction page to purchase admission tickets and enter our drawing to win A Night on the Town.
Alex Stewart receives her third punk cut at the annual Punk Cuts to End Rape 2014.
If there is one thing that has remained consistent about me over the years, it’s that I am always concocting some controversial haircut (kindly referred to as my “five-year hair plan”). Last month marked the third year I participated in Punk Cuts to End Rape for the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, and I couldn’t have been more excited to shear my mane for the summer. As the Administrative Services Coordinator for the Center, I feel it is both an honor and a privilege to sport a “punk cut” as I greet newcomers to the office.
Watching the Punk Cuts fundraiser advance, and foster more attention from the community, has left me inspired by the generosity and support of the area. What started off as a disordered house party, with haphazard haircuts, has transformed in merely two years, to a crowd-packed gathering, in a public venue brimming with supporters, professional hairstylists, a craft bazaar, and a total of seventeen shaved heads!
Our 26th Annual Holiday Auction was another huge success, thanks to you! Thank you for all your support for the Auction: attending the event, donating items, bidding on items, entering our drawing, and more.
We are so excited about the records you set this year! The Auction had over 320 community members in attendance and raised more than $93,000! We are blown away by your generosity. These extra funds will go a long way toward making up for the $60,000 loss we had in government funding this year. Thank you for providing help, hope, and healing to our community!
And when you have a free minute, help us make our Auction the best it can be by sharing your feedback on our short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7PW3GG3. We appreciate your input!
Many thanks to all our supporters, including our event sponsors:
Now that we’re past Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, it’s time for… Giving Tuesday!
We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. This year help us create #GivingTuesday. A new day for giving back. On Tuesday, December 3, 2013, global charities, families, businesses, community centers, students and more will come together to create #GivingTuesday.
It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company, or your organization to come together to give something more. Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Be a part of a national celebration of our great tradition of generosity.
Here’s a few ways you can support the Center this holiday season:
Donate to our Year-End Campaign! From now until the end of 2013, your gift of $100 or more will be matched (up to $2,100).
Join us for our 26th Annual Holiday Auction on Sunday, December 8! We’ll have keynote speaker Frank Stasio from WUNC’s The State of Things, live music from Morning Brigade, awesome items in our silent and live auctions, delicious sweets in our signature dessert auction, and more!
Enter our drawing to win A Night on the Town: drinks at The Crunkleton, dinner at Lantern, and a night at The Carolina Inn. Tickets are only $5 each, and 100% of proceeds benefit the Center.
Visit Twig through December 5th. Mention the Orange County Rape Crisis Center at checkout to donate 20% of your purchase.
Donate your used cell phones and other items on our wishlist.
Thank you so much for your generosity! Your gift makes a safer community for us all.
Use all 3 certificates for one awesome night, or use them separately to make the fun last. You could even give someone you love an awesome holiday gift!
How to Enter:
Purchase tickets here. Increase your chances: Buy 5, get 1 free! Buy 10, get 4 free!
Earn TWO Free Entries!
The Center has joined Pinterest! One of the web’s fastest-growing social media platforms, we’re excited to share and connect with you in a new way.
Until November 30, follow us on Pinterest and get a chance to win a Night on the Town! Share our Night on the Town pin (the picture on this post) and earn an additional entry!
That’s it! You get one free entry for following us on Pinterest and one additional entry if you share our pin. The Google form must be completed and submitted by November 30. Good luck!
We will announce the winner of the Night on the Town drawing prize at our Holiday Auction on Sunday, December 8, at 5pm, at the Sheraton Chapel Hill Hotel. Though you don’t have to be present to win, we would love for you to join us! We’ll have keynote speaker Frank Stasio from WUNC’s The State of Things, live music from Morning Brigade, awesome items in our silent and live auctions, delicious sweets in our signature dessert auction, and more! Find out more and purchase tickets at ocrcc.org/auction. We’ll see you there!
A year ago on a warm night in June 2012, folks assembled into the house of the bold and brave Rachel Valentine to donate to the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. When the number of donors reached a total of 50, Rachel’s friends brought out the clippers and gave Rachel a punk cut to remember. This past weekend, the tradition lived on.
Arriving at Orange County Social Club on Saturday night, I was taken aback at how many people had gathered inside to support the Center. I pulled out my camera just in time to capture the first cut: the brave Amado, the son of Board Secretary Lydia Perez. Others joined in and soon, the room filled with applause and punk spikes supported by hair gel. The amazing stylists from Mina’s Studio provided an array of fresh styles to our team, including Rape Prevention Education Coordinator Rachel Valentine, Rebecca Honeycutt (wife of Crisis Response Coordinator Joey Honeycutt), Education & Finance Coordinator Alexis Kralic’s family, StartStrong Intern Amanda Baldiga, the Ruiz-Perez family, and Heather Wegerzyn.
In accordance with the punk DIY mentality, the night became more unceremonious as the gifted stylists left, leaving Rachel and myself with a pair of buzzing clippers and a flock of nervous volunteers. Community members began an impromptu “live auction,” offering to shave their heads for funds raised on the spot for the Center. The punk cuts performed by yours truly turned out “just fine” even if a little sloppy, and I was even able to get my own hair all punked out by Rachel. It felt incredible, not only to feel the summer breeze on the sides of my head, but also to feel the overflowing sense of love and gratitude among all the folks involved.
We are very excited for our upcoming 
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