The 2017 First Light Gala will be Saturday, May 6, 2017, at Haven.  The theme is Light Up the Night to celebrate the way that First Light brightens the lives of the homeless women and children it serves. 

First Light, Inc., has held a Gala for the past eighteen years. Proceeds benefit First Light’s emergency shelter for homeless women and their children. 

Lisa Moose and Barbara Saurer are the co-chairs of this exciting event. There will be great food catered by Tre Luna, live music by StreetKar, silent and live auctions and many novel and entertaining ways to have fun while supporting the only emergency shelter in our community accessible to homeless women and their children 24 hours a day. 

First Light’s mission is to work with homeless women and their children to create hospitality in a safe and nurturing community, to encourage them to maintain dignity, to find hope, to seek opportunity, and to grow spiritually, thereby achieving their full potential. 

First Light started as a makeshift shelter in the basement of a church when volunteers would not turn a blind eye to the suffering of women sleeping on the street.   First Light became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1998 and, with the generous support of the community, renovated the old Granada Hotel at 2230 Fourth Avenue North to serve as an emergency shelter for homeless women and children.  First Light has also developed permanent supportive housing programs for disabled and chronically homeless women, a transitional supportive housing program for victims of domestic violence, and a new rapid-rehousing program for homeless women with children.    Last year 978 homeless women and children found safety, hospitality and hope at First Light.

Volunteers continue to be the light that makes First Light shine.  More than 1,000 volunteers donate more than 10,000 hours each year at First Light—dramatically reducing expenses while reassuring guests they are part of a caring community. 

First Light is 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and gifts to First Light are tax deductible.