Girls’ Night Out raises $12,399 for Food For Thought

On Wednesday, Dec. 12, Proffitt PR held its fifth Girls’ Night Out event, a holiday soiree, at Marlin Grill in The Village of Baytowne Wharf.

Beginning strictly as a holiday party for local women of the area just one year ago, GNO soon cultivated into a larger get together each time held at venues including Harbor Docks, Tuscany Italian Bistro, and onboard the Solaris yacht. GNO quickly garnered a loyal following of 300+ ladies. With such a significant growth of the event, Proffitt PR began to incorporate a beneficiary to raise money for charity.

For GNO at Marlin Grill, Proffitt PR partnered with local charity, Food For Thought Outreach, Inc. whose mission is to support the children in our community. Based in Santa Rosa Beach, Food For Thought provides healthy, easy to prepare food weekly to elementary aged children who might not otherwise have enough to eat. By providing weekly support to these children from our local school system, Food For Thought helps support their physical, mental and emotional development.

“Everyone at Food For Thought feels so blessed for the opportunity to be a part of such a special event,” said Tiffanie Shelton, Food For Thought executive director. “The money raised at GNO will go directly to feeding the children in our community. We raised enough money to feed 150 children in our program for one year. We are so grateful for this support as our program continues to grow and reach more children in need.”

The evening featured photos with Santa, raffle prizes, a silent auction, vacation giveaways, local vendors, and a sell-out crowd of moe than 300 leading ladies of the Emerald Coast in attendance.

For a $30 donation to attend, guests enjoyed heavy hors d’oeuvres, wine and spirits which included a specialty drink with $1 of each sold going towards the cause in exchange for a chance to win a vacation stay donated by Blue Marlin Realty Group.

One fundamental aspect of GNO was sponsorship from local businesses through silent auction, raffle, and giveaways. Attendees browsed the array of silent auction items including a ladies’ pink Bote Board, a Justin Gaffrey painting, plastic surgery and more. Raffle prizes covered the second floor of the restaurant where ladies purchased tickets to those items they wished to win.  

 Through GNO’s efforts, $4,682.38 was raised last September for a restricted breast cancer fund for underserved women at the Oncology unit at Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast. $4,483 was raised last April for an international charity, Planting Peace that dewormed and saved 298,866 children around the world. To date, Proffitt PR’s Girls’ Night Out events have raised $21,564.38 for charity in just one year.

“Being able to gather hundreds of the most incredible women in our area into one place on one night is so amazing,” said Jessica Proffitt. “The power and confidence of the women in the room exudes throughout. It has been such a blessing to be able to create an outing for women to enjoy themselves, network and have a good time all while giving back to a worthy cause.”