Pring Fling
Promoter rallies community for LGBT volunteer fair
If the gayest corners of D.C. seem a little quiet next Thursday evening, Jacob Nathaniel Pring might be to blame. The promoter behind Jacob Pring Events has been going gangbusters lately pulling together ”DC’s 1st Annual LGBT Volunteer Fair,” set for May 19 at Adams Morgan’s District nightclub.
”It’s going to be insane,” Pring promises. ”District holds 800 people. There are 60 co-sponsors. Every single group who uses volunteers will be there.”
And then some.
While Pring says he’s motivated by his own history of volunteerism, both in D.C. and during years spent in New York City, this upcoming event is as much about volunteering as it is about simply bringing the community together.
”I’m just an innovator,” he explains. ”I create things.”
To that end, he’s been working nonstop at bringing in participants from all walks of LGBT Washington. There are Pring’s fellow promoters, small businesses, entertainers, nonprofits and on and on. Even Burgundy Crescent Volunteers, the local group synonymous with LGBT volunteerism, has jumped on Pring’s volunteer bandwagon. Notably, the same goes for Metro Weekly. What might have been a competing event, the monthly Homo Hotel Happy Hour, has joined as an ancillary event at One Washington Circle Hotel.
But over at District, aside from an opportunity to mix and mingle with a rainbow of LGBT entities, the venue and Truck Stop – Pring’s Sunday party at District – are sponsoring an open bar. DJ David Merrill will be spinning. The Other Pages has printed up commemorative T-shirts for the first 150 people through the door. Nellie’s is throwing in some finger food.
While attendees are nearly guaranteed a pleasant perch in the form of District’s roof deck, thanks to mid-May weather, Pring says he hopes to make a permanent move to April next year to coincide with National Volunteer Week. And he’s got no doubts that there will indeed be a volunteer fair in 2012.
”I was able to get everyone to come together. It’s already a success, just with everyone working together in the community,” Pring says. ”It’s important for people to know that this is a community outreach project to make our community stronger.
DC’s 1st Annual LGBT Volunteer Fair runs from 7 to 10 p.m., Thursday, May 19, at District, 2473 18th St. NW. For more information or updates, visit the fair’s public event page on Facebook.
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