Candles welcomed guests from Figueroa Street up to Tony’s home, where they were welcomed with local food and drinks, live music and good company. A seed bomb-production lab gave everyone a chance to try their hand at guerrilla-beautification. A resource wall that Jasmin made displayed the many assets our Summer of Solutions program is proud to have, and allowed guests to contribute their own resources, knowledge, skills and connections to the effort.

Everyone came wanting to know more about this new program and how they could learn more and get involved.

This was LA CAUSA Summer of Solutions’ premiere event. Our hello to the world. It was Friday, March 16th, 2012. Over the course of the night, upwards of two hundred people layered long sleeves and jackets to spend their evening celebrating and networking on a small patio overlooking downtown Los Angeles.

As one of the five organizers who comprise the LA SOS leadership team, I couldn’t be happier about the event. While an oncoming flu tempered my outward excitement, on the inside I was glowing as I watched new faces interacting with familiar ones. Partying with a conscience. Here were powerful connections being made; friendships that could mean the start of new ventures and collaboration on existing ones.

So I venture: why can’t we do this every weekend? If we’re going to drop a few bucks on a given weekend on some drinks and food, why not have it directly support a program that will give young people the skills and connections that will support them making change in their communities? Or any cause for that matter. I’ll take the warmth and curiosity of the people surrounding me last Friday over a glammed-out club–where I can’t hear anyone anyway–any day. Moreover, I had the honor to entertain with my band, Dylan Trees, and our partners in music for the night, The Withers.

Sharing music, raising some dough for a good cause, meeting new and interesting people–can a Friday night get much better? Not really. I’m excited for the next party. It’s not official, but yeah, we want this to happen again. And next time, it won’t be five people organizing, it will be a larger group of people all working together to organize, promote, set up, cover, take down, and move on to the next steps. All in an effort to bring a new program to Los Angeles that will continue to grow and help shape the future of this region.

Photos by Alex Kinnan.

We made a lot of seed bombs on Friday. Over the next few weeks, they’ll be tossed into vacant lots and fields around Los Angeles and start sprouting into beautiful fields of wild flowers. What I didn’t realize is that our event itself was a seed bomb. We threw in all the right ingredients, packed it into a condensed space, and now we grow. Glad to have you on board.

– Casey Wojtalewicz