WE HAVE A WINNER!

Our 2025 $1000 Referral Reward prize goes to…

As of the end of 2024 the Tom Dwyer Referral Reward Program had donated $40,871.47 to hundreds of organizations large and small chosen by our clients.  This year we added another $2,727.13 to the total for a new total of $43,598.60, but there was still another $1000 on the table and that’s where YOU came in with your year-end voting.

185 people voted this year, and of the 44 groups our clients donated to through the year 83% of them received at least one vote in the final run.  Voting was neck-in-neck with changing leaders and one-vote margins throughout, and it came right down to the wire with the last few votes trickling in late Friday afternoon.  But despite truly incredible last-minute surges from Tivnu, Pink Lemonade Project, Adult & Teen Challenge PacWest, Oregon Dog Rescue, and Blanchett House we did have a single winner.  By just TWO VOTES, our 2026 $1000 Referral Reward goes to a group that’s become particularly relevant over the past year…

Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition

From their website:  “At PIRC, we respond flexibly and quickly to the needs of communities facing detention and deportation through our statewide hotline. We train allied communities to support their neighbors. We show up each day to hold immigration agents accountable. And we are building an immigrant-justice community across the state of Oregon.”

We could tell you more about PIRC but a great way to see what they do, the impact they make, the motivations behind their work, and the challenges they face, we recommend this 14-minute interview with PIRC Coordinator Alyssa Walker Keller on OPB, broadcast Monday, Oct. 27. (Audio and transcript are both available at the link).