Monday evening, I went to a birthday party for Mark Masselli and Jennifer Alexander. Mark is the president and CEO of Community Health Center, Inc, where I work, and his wife Jennifer is a co-founder of Kid City in Middletown. They billed the event as their 105th birthday party, combining the age of the two of them.

The event took place at Eli Cannon’s in Middletown and was well attended by friends from work, various political figures that I knew and numerous other people whom I didn’t know or whom I was meeting for the first time.

In many ways, it was not really all that different from so many big birthday parties that I’ve attended. However, there was one thing in particular that set the event apart. Not only did they encourage attendees to donate to local non-profit organizations, but they pledge to match the gifts with a donation of their own to a local non-profit.

One of the nonprofits that benefited from this is Oddfellows Playhouse which lost 36 years worth of props and costumes when the building they were stored in collapsed earlier this year.

Another nonprofit benefitting from the support is The Buttonwood Tree. This is the music venue where I went to see Harpeth Rising during their Connecticut tour.

All in all, it was a great event, and hopefully others will be inspired to have similar parties with a purpose.