Pay it forward.

That’s the reminder that appears on Lori Armiger’s calendar every Friday.

On occasion, she’d go to the Cookie Company (12th and P) and give them a handful of cash to pay for the next customer. One time she even brought flowers to a hospital and asked the front desk volunteer to give them to a patient that needed to know someone was thinking of them.

These random acts of kindness were a passion of Lori’s, but time and money constraints wouldn’t always allow her to do them regularly. She wanted to find a way to continue her philanthropic endeavors in a manner that was both timely and affordable.

Working in downtown Lincoln, Lori enjoys attending happy hour with her colleagues after work. She saw the opportunity to weave the camaraderie she experienced at happy hour with her love of altruism, and consequently, she sparked the creation of her charitable event group Giving Spirits.

Every third Thursday of the month, Giving Spirits designates a downtown nightspot to host a happy hour from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Admission to the event is $10, all of which goes directly to a local charitable organization, and includes a free donated drink from the establishment.

“I ran the idea by my sister and some good friends,” Lori said. “I got really great feedback and each of them have been instrumental in getting Giving Spirits off the ground and have been huge supporters.”

The first event was held at Zen’s Lounge on Thursday, August 25, and benefited the Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach Program. MTKO serves two meals a day, every day of the year for men, women and children who are homeless or on the brink of homelessness and also provide various education and outreach services.

“The inaugural event was a huge success! 76 people came out to Zen’s and $760 was donated to MTKO. There was a lot of encouragement and people were excited to participate in the launch of this movement.”

The next Giving Spirits event will be held at Doc’s Place (8th and P) in the Haymarket this Thursday, September 15 from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm and will benefit the Food Bank of Lincoln’s BackPack Program. The program targets children of low-income families in southeast Nebraska who often rely on their school’s breakfast and lunch meals to get their nutrition for the day and provides them with a backpack full of food at the end of the week so that they’ll have food for the weekend. The program currently sends over 2,000 children home with backpacks full of food every Friday.

“Giving Spirits is a network of socially conscious individuals who choose to be altruistic while they enjoy adult beverages. The goal of GS is to create a regular social gathering that will draw attention to the needs of both local charitable organizations and Lincoln’s nightlife venues.”

On October 20th, Main Street Café (14th and O) will host the third Giving Spirits event from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, benefitting CenterPointe, an organization founded in 1973 that provides treatment and rehabilitation for youths and adults who suffer from substance use problems and/or have mental health issues.

“The more people that know and participate, the more fun to be had, and the bigger impact to be made in Lincoln! A huge thank you to Zen’s Lounge and Doc’s Place for hosting the first couple events, to dSy designs for the awesome logo, and to all of our supporters that have been in since the beginning!”

Raise awareness. Raise spirits. Join GS each month in their endeavor to advocate for local charitable organizations that help make the Lincoln community a more accommodating and benevolent place to live.
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For more information, visit Giving Spirits on Facebook.
To RSVP, visit the Giving Spirits Event Page.

Email them at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).