PROJECT DECK
Frances McGrath
First Date
Looking for a place to go?
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MOODBOARD
Sometimes, a lot of the time, we just want to get dressed up and go somewhere. Meet up with friends, meet someone new. But if you’re sober, that could be hard. What if everywhere you want to go is filled with booze and noise?
WHY
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I want to create a place, a space, a functioning location, where people can go, at night, that doesn’t force anything on them. No need for beers and booze and noise, just a place to meet and talk and feel out.
WHAT
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One thing that’s special about this town is the community, and the recovery community in particular. I’d love to help support that community, of which I am a member, by providing a space to meet and gather and feel, for lack of a better word, normal.
HOW
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I have struggled with this, with wanting to do something on a Friday or a Saturday night, get drinks after work or meet up with friends or make new friends, just as I used to. But there is no place where I can do that and also feel comfortable and that I am safe.
I don’t think I am the only one.
I want to create that space/place.
HOW
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I don’t believe I am the only one.
I want to create that special and safe space/place.
I want to find a space downtown and take it over, a few nights a month to start, and see if I can start something. See if I can carve out a social space for members of the sober community, and show other community members that there is fun to be had without booze.
HOW
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This project is for these people:
FOR WHO
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I am uniquely able to create this project, as I’ve had:
- 14 months of sobriety
- service industry experience
- I have recently rejoined my home community
- a solid team (Betsy & Mary Adair, Blake & Ali, La Donna & Kristen & Lissy & Night Shift!
BY WHO
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FIRST - I realized that I missed so much about the ritual of ‘going out’ almost as much as I missed the alcohol.
THEN - I learned more and more about different ‘dry’ locations through Listen Bar, Instagram, and Night Shift.
NOW - I’ve got a plan and I’ve got concrete support. I’m solid in my sobriety, I am ready to spread that word, and I’ve become increasingly aware of the sober community in my area.
NEXT - I want to secure my location and start to do more research on funding and partners who could help get this off the ground.
STORY
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YOUR DREAM HEADLINE IN PRESS
“Local brings nightlife back to a sober community. Dry doesn’t mean boring!”�- The Hartford Courant
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Willimantic has struggled with its own substance abuse problems for a long time. What I have learned, from personal experience and Night Shift anecdotes, is the more substance abuse there is in a community, the more of a recovery community there is, too. I want to showcase that side of Willimantic, and I want to reward the people who work to stay clean in the face of great challenges.
WHY IT’S INSPIRING
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I want to bring normalcy to sobriety. I want to make people who have made that choice to cut alcohol out of their life to not feel like they have to say goodbye to every fun aspect of their lives, or put themselves at risk just to see friends and meet people. I want these things for myself, and if there is one thing I’ve learned in my time in the sober community, I am not alone.
WHY IT’S IMPACTFUL
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For my birthday last year, at three months sober, I threw a ‘Booze-Free B-Day.’ It was big, it was a success, everyone had a great time. The best part of the party was how many times I heard hard-drinking friends say ‘wow, this party is fun,’ absolutely incredulous that they could have a good time sober.
It’s all in the environment created.
WHY IT’S INNOVATIVE
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I would put it towards throwing a one-night event to showcase what First Date is all about. This showcase would demonstrate the vision I have for First Date, establish a following, open a dialogue, and solicit feedback. I would take all I learned from that experience to move forward and establish First Date as something real.
I have the space picked out and inexpensive access to it, I just need the funding for supplies and marketing.
IF WE WIN $1,000
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FINAL WORDS
Help me show this struggling community that there is power, and joy, in being sober.
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