Woolrich furniture from SNEWS® booth goes to Peace House in Park City, Utah

SNEWS®, in partnership with Woolrich, donated the couch, chair, ottoman, carpet and light used in the SNEWS® booth at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2006 to Peace House, a safe haven for women and children fleeing domestic violence situations based in Park City.

“When we decided to expand our booth at Summer Market to a 10- by 20-foot space, we felt we wanted to provide a comfortable atmosphere for show attendees to drop in, have a rest, enjoy some conversation, check email, and sip some coffee from our friends at Kinetic Koffee,” said Michael Hodgson, president and co-owner of SNEWS® LLC. “We approached Woolrich about using a couch, and they came back to us with an unbelievable offer, telling us they wanted to set up a living room in our booth, and all they wanted in return was for us to find someone worthy to donate it to after the show.”

SNEWS® decided upon the Peace House to be the recipient of Woolrich’s generous offer. Peace House Inc. is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit organization that operates The Peace House Women’s Shelter. The Peace House’s professionally trained staff offer case management, parenting classes, safety planning, domestic violence education and legal, medical, housing and financial referral services to its clients and women in the community.

“Woolrich continues to seek out and support meaningful causes to offer corporate sponsorship. Women’s shelters play a significant role in today’s society and this opportunity to work with Peace House, SNEWS® and GearTrends® is an important beginning,” said Roz Brayton Jr., president and CEO of Woolrich. “Everyone at Woolrich and our licensees are pleased to be able to make a contribution to the community in which we do business.”

Jane Patton, executive director of Peace House, told SNEWS®, “Because of SNEWS® and Woolrich, we will be able to offer something very special for our clients – a place where they can feel comfortable at a time in their lives when they are making very frightening changes. The room where this furniture will go is now furnished with a collection of used, donated furniture that is functional, but quite tattered.”

Tim Joseph, director of marketing and media for Woolrich, told us that the staff at Woolrich, upon hearing about the Peace House, decided it wanted to give even more than just a couch, chair, ottoman, rug and lamp (retail value of approximately $8,000), so the team went to the warehouse and shuffled through boxes and as a result, brought an additional $500 worth of blankets and $2,000 worth of clothing to the show for the Peace House to pick up.

Eagle Creek, upon hearing about the Peace House from SNEWS®, donated a portion of the used luggage it was collecting at the show for use by homeless shelters.

At an Aug. 11 afternoon get-together with Woolrich executives, members of the SNEWS® team and Patton at the SNEWS® booth, Joseph told us, “This is certainly the highlight of the show for me. I am so inspired by Jane and what Peace House is doing and we are very grateful to be able, with the help of SNEWS®, to put together the perfect winning partnership that benefits everyone.”