A bar crawl in Annandale Dec. 20 will support a local nonprofit

The community is invited to a bar crawl on Saturday, Dec. 20, at four locations in Annandale.

The event is a fundraiser for Me & You, a nonprofit organization that supports projects at nine schools in the metropolitan D.C. area, including Braddock Elementary School in Annandale.

The Home for the Holidays Bar Crawl features four bars along Columbia Pike, all within walking distance: Cue Club Café, Rumba Bar & Grill (formerly Da In), 1943 Classic, and Café Tu Ah. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Cue Club. RSVP at [email protected].

For a $40 donation, participants get a complimentary drink at each bar, a commemorative T-shirt, and a chance to win prizes at each bar and a grand prize at the final stop donated by local businesses. All proceeds will support students and families.

Me & You supports students

The event commemorates the 10th anniversary of Me & You. “Local businesses, longtime friends, and community partners came together and helped us become what we are now. This is a big thank you to them for the generously donated raffle prizes to make this bar crawl possible,” says Me & You co-founder Kim Ha.  

Ha, an Annandale resident, was moonlighting as a bartender at Da In when she and Ivana Lee came up with the idea to create an organization to raise money for schools and support local businesses.

“We wanted to help kids in underprivileged communities, so we connected with Title I schools in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia,” Ha says. They reached out to administrators to find out what the schools needed.

Me & You started raising money by hosting pop-up events at Da In and The Block, where they sold items made by volunteers with the organization.  

The group’s SOS program focuses on providing personal care items and warm clothes to students so they can focus on their schoolwork.

Experiences beyond the classroom

Another program, “Experience Matters,” is based on the idea “that every kid should have experiences beyond the classroom,” Ha says. Me & You has funded a rock-climbing class, bowling and ice skating outings, tickets to NBA games, and even provided an educational scholarship to send a D.C. student on a field trip to Costa Rica.

Me & You provided plants and supplies for the community garden and classrooms at Braddock Elementary School.

“We wanted to help kids learn how to grow vegetables, and the school wanted to promote healthy food,” Ha says. Most food giveaway programs concentrate on canned goods, so they wanted to teach children how to grow herbs and vegetables at home.

This year, Me & You is supporting a field trip to the National Aquarium and a Lunar New Year festival at a school in Maryland or D.C.

The organization’s third program, “Love in Action,” started on Valentine’s Day in 2015, when they gave out toiletry packages to homeless people in D.C.

Pop-up shops

Last year, the organization raised $70,000 through fundraising efforts, grants, contributions from businesses and individuals, in-kind donations, and sales of T-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts designed and made by volunteers. They’ve sold those items at pop-up shops at places like The Block, Cue Club, Caboose Commons, other breweries, and larger markets in D.C.

This year, Me & You has committed $40,000 to its projects. They already received a $10,000 grant from the Van Metre Family Foundation, and last week, they collected $1,000 worth of toiletries at a community event in Baltimore hosted by Baltimore Yelpers.

Me & You is starting a new program this year. They’re going to help students buy books from the Scholastic Book Fairs hosted by schools. Ha remembers when she was in elementary school and saw all those shiny new books for sale, but her parents couldn’t afford to buy anything.

Most of the volunteers on the Me & You core team are first-generation Asian Americans, whose parents struggled to adjust to life in the U.S. and worked long to support their families.

Ha sees Me & You as “a way to celebrate us and our past lives and celebrate our community.”