Conference attendees ask every year how they can contribute to the AHEAD Conference. Here are some ways that AHEAD members can make a difference for our colleagues inside the Convention Center and those outside it. Thank you in advance for your contributions to the conference and our host city!
Looking for Conference Volunteers!
To make a successful conference every year, AHEAD relies on our wonderful volunteers and session moderators. And this year, you could be one of them!
- Session moderators are generally responsible for giving presenters an AHEAD mug thank-you gift, welcoming people to the session by number and title, and signing CEU forms.
- Other volunteer responsibilities vary, including greeting attendees at the registration tables, setting up for banquets, monitoring the 'Silent Auction', acting as 'traffic control' to guide guests in the right directions, and more.
Through June 16, please consider signing up as a volunteer and/or session moderator. It's a great way to get involved and meet new people. Even if you only have one or two hours to spare, AHEAD appreciates your time and energy. After the signup closes in mid-June, volunteers will be contacted with specific information.
Silent Auction to benefit AHEAD Academic Scholarship Programs
Each year AHEAD awards scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities nominated by AHEAD members, and to AHEAD members to advance their own academic study. These $1000 scholarships are funded annually through fundraising activities, the most significant of which is the annual Silent Auction. Since 2002 AHEAD members have raised, and AHEAD has provided, over $65,000.00 in scholarships!
AHEAD members and Conference attendees are asked to donate items to be bid on during the Conference (see examples below). The proceeds from this silent auction are used exclusively for student and member scholarships. We encourage your contributions to continue to make the Silent Auction a success! Silent auction items can be hand delivered or mailed in advance.
For more information, and to participate, please use this form. For questions or additional information, please contact the local co-chairs of this year's AHEAD Annual Conference: Jewls Griesmeyer-Krentz (griesmej@oregonstate.edu) and Jen Dugger Spalding (jen.dugger@pdx.edu).
The AHEAD Giveback (TAG): Win an All-Expenses Paid Trip to AHEAD’s 2024 Conference, While Making a Difference in Our Host City!
#TAG: Portland, You’re It!
In January 2023, Portland, Oregon, declared a homelessness state of emergency due to a 50.4% increase in people experiencing homelessness between 2017 and 2022. The causes are multifaceted: addiction, domestic violence, unemployment and underemployment, mental illness, foreclosure…and the list goes on. While visiting this beautiful and engaging city, attendees may find themselves confronted by just how visible the reality of life for the unhoused is around them.
Spurred by AHEAD members Michael Southern (University of Cincinnati) and Chris Stone (Washington University in St. Louis), who approached AHEAD with the idea that conference attendees could positively impact the cities hosting the conference, this year AHEAD is launching “The AHEAD Giveback (#TAG)” to support Portland-area non-profit organizations whose primary mission is to help address the shelter, food, and health needs of our unhoused neighbors in Portland.
To participate:
- Make a monetary donation of any size to a Portland nonprofit focused on supporting the unhoused, then
- Complete a short card at the registration desk letting us know that you donated.
- At the banquet on Friday evening, one card will be drawn from the bowl, and that attendee will win:
· Free admission to the 2024 AHEAD Conference in Baltimore
· Airfare to Baltimore to attend the conference
· Hotel stay in Baltimore during the conference
· Three days of $75 per diem ($225 total) to cover meals and other expenses at the conference
Potential organizations to make your donation of any amount (no donation is too small!):
#TAG: Portland, You’re It!