Thank You for a Record 2025 Donation!
At this year’s PECAA Annual Meeting in Orlando, members, strategic vendor partners, industry leaders and employees came together to donate more than $41,000 to local youth literacy program Page 15 through PECAA Gives.
What made the donation even more memorable was that the incredible generosity of the PECAA community amounted to the largest donation given to a recipient as the charitable giving program celebrates its 10th anniversary this year of supporting nonprofits in the cities that host PECAA’s signature event.
To date, PECAA Gives has provided over a quarter of a million dollars to 10 local, youth-based organizations in 10 different cities across the country!
PECAA President Jonathan Worrall said, “For the last decade, the PECAA community has shown up to give back to local nonprofits through donations at the Annual Meeting because we believe in supporting the cities that support us. It’s efforts like these that demonstrate the compassion of our members and vendor partners and how they use their collective scale to benefit communities in need across the country.”
“This incredible donation supports our mission to empower young writers,” said Page 15 Executive Director Julia Young. “We thank PECAA members and their vendor partners for ‘seeing’ the power in every young voice.”
A History of Giving
With community at the core of PECAA’s values, leaving a positive imprint in host cities that welcome the PECAA Annual Meeting has long been a priority. PECAA Gives launched in 2016 when the Annual Meeting visited New Orleans and donated to the Edna Karr High School Marching Band. The event was unforgettably marked by attendees parading through the streets of the Crescent City, despite there being a downpour, led by the powerful and festive sound of the band.
Since then, PECAA Gives has continued to donate to youth-centered nonprofits that uplift children experiencing hardship or managing an illness or impairment through music, art and daily necessities like shoes and bags, including: Goodie Two Shoes (2024); My Bag, My Story (2023); Academy of Musical Performance (2022); Indiana Blind Children’s Foundation (2021); Art from Ashes (2020); Anthropos Arts (2019); Beads of Courage (2018); and the W.O. Smith Music School (2017).
Beads of Courage Chief Mission Officer Jean Gribbon, PhD, RN, recently said, “The 2018 PECAA Annual Meeting was transformational for our organization because we were able to share our mission with so many people and raise the funds that we needed to help provide more beads for children coping with cancer and other serious illnesses. As a small organization with a big mission, having a captive audience to share what we do and why it matters was a real gift. Thank you for giving us the stage to share her story of courage as we seek to help more kids coping with cancer record, tell and own their stories of courage! Congratulations on 10 years of making a difference in the lives of others through PECAA Gives!
“PECAA Gives was created organically after our site visit to New Orleans in 2016 ahead of the Annual Meeting,” said PECAA Gives Program Manager Jenny Wiley. “We fell in love with the community and envisioned a way to say, ‘thank you’ and leave the city a little better off than we found it, and PECAA Gives was born. For 10 years, we’ve been extremely honored to play a small part in helping local organizations serve their neighbors in need.”
Giving Together for Good
Ten years down and many more to go as PECAA Gives continues the tradition of empowering positive change! Learn more about the beneficiaries of the program and how it enables members to make a difference in communities across the country at the PECAA Annual Meeting here.