White Light Foundation

Frankie’s ready to play some disc golf! Are you? White Light Foundation in partnership with The Dead of Summer Music Festival and Fiddlehead Brewing Company is hosting a family friendly disc golf tournament on July 13, 2024 in Manchester, VT. This is a low key event and all levels are encouraged to play for a good cause! Money raised will support Neighbor to Neighbor and United counseling Service’s new PUCK program, support pediatric mental health. Tell your frends and sign up! Businesses can consider donating $100 to sponsor a disc golf hole and have your logo advertised at the event! Please reach out if interested. Register at the following link: https://www.deadofsummermusicfestival.com

Cara excitedly comes to the White Light Foundation board with a vast background in nonprofit accounting and looks forward to helping the foundation into its next chapter. She is an accountant by day and a music enthusiast by night and many weekends. Her diverse music interests range from electronic music where her first real connection to music began to reggae to the jam band sound where she found her true love, Twiddle to Lespecial that just absolutely mesmerizes you when you listen to their dark beautiful sound. Cara has been on a major growth path these last few years that has had one underlying theme, connection. That’s what she hopes to bring to the White Light Foundation while she serves her time on the board. We have all met some incredible people at Twiddle shows and the connection is still felt so extremely strong in the community. She is looking forward to helping guide the White Light Foundation into its next phase of connection. Cara resides in Vermont with her husband, two sons and her beloved dog Gigi.

We are gearing up for the 3rd annual WLF Hockey Game on October 7th in Burlington, VT at Leddy Park!! If you are interested in playing the sign up form is at the end of this post. This time around for jerseys we decided to go classic Bruins / Rangers. In the past we have ordered a few extra jerseys to raffle off after the game, and we’ll probably still do that, but if you want one of these jerseys we are doing a pre-order now through Monday 9/4 at midnight EST.

If you can pick the jersey up in person at the game, donate $100 to the WLF through paypal and put in the notes what team and what size (2XL – Small). If we need to ship it to you, donate $110 through paypal and let us know in the notes what you want. If you are playing in the game you already donated $50 to play, so like past games, another $50 gets you the jersey. Let us know if you have any questions.

Donate http://paypal.me/wlfdonate

Sign Up To Play: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSe0hKLw76yBsn…/viewform

Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/6510573398965265

The future is what we make it. Just because Twiddle is taking a break, doesn’t mean we won’t continue to spread our White Light. Change is never easy. After Frendsgiving, the White Light Foundation will have to change, too, for the time being. We don’t know what that change will look like yet. We have some ideas. Maybe you do too! If you have an idea, a thought, or an inspiration, please reach out to us. We hope, with support and engagement from this community, we can continue moving forward in our mission to make a positive impact.

“We need to feed the flame that’s deep inside our souls – unleash the Great White Light inside us and let it explode into the world.”

We are very excited to announce the addition of three new board members.

First up, is Lauren Birnbaum! Starting back about 6 years ago, Lauren found the healing music of Twiddle, which was amplified by the loving community surrounding it. Diving deeper, she discovered the White Light Foundation and was instantly drawn to the positive impact the music scene was able to make on local communities. An elementary educator, avid explorer, and innate dancer, it was easy to find a home among the white light emitting from the community. Moving from New England to Colorado and back to New England, the community remained a vibrant, solid support system leading Lauren to some of her best friends. With so much gratitude and excitement, Lauren looks forward to contributing to such a worthy cause while expanding on the possibilities of the White Light Foundation.

Our second newly added Board Member is Brian McGunnigle! We are so lucky to have Brian’s ideas, energy and hard work on our team. Brian moved to southern Vermont in 2012 and found his way to the Twiddle community over the next few years. Prior to Vermont he’s lived in MN, OH, CO, UT, and OR – with the highlight during that time being a whitewater rafting guide on the Colorado River. He has made many great friends through this community and also enjoys introducing the music to old friends. Brian is married with three children, two step children, and has three rescue dogs and two cats. He plays and coaches ice hockey, enjoys running, has served on multiple local boards in a variety of capacities, and was instrumental in coordinating the first two annual White Light Foundation hockey games, which together raised over $6,000 in donations for Vermont based 501c3’s.

Rounding out the 3 new Board Members is our frend, Alexandra Michalka. Alex has been a fan of twiddle since her first Frendly Gathering in 2015. Moving from the northeast to Colorado, and back to Vermont where she currently lives, she’s been grounded in her journey by the healing power of Twiddle’s music and the community that always surrounds her. She managed a sustainability education nonprofit for several years and has helped with installations and education at festivals such as Arise, Shangri-la, and Frendly Gathering. She is currently a farmer in Lamoille South County of Vermont growing food for the local school cafeterias. She’s excited to bring her unique set of experiences to the WLF and help spread the white light near and far.

Please join us – both in welcoming our new board members!!

We are excited to announce the nonprofits who will receive donations from Twiddle‘s $1 per ticket program at the Levitt Pavilion!!

Friday, July 21, the beneficiary is none other than the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts, Westport!! Carleigh and her team have worked so hard to offer free music concerts all summer long. This would not be possible with our donations and community support.

Saturday, July 22, the beneficiary is Homes with Hope! We were given an eye opening tour last summer of the emergency shelter right in the heart of Westport, by CEO Helen McAlinden. This amazing organization provides shelter, permanent house, food and mentoring to those in need.

The flooding that occurred in parts of Vermont has been devastating to the community, farmers and businesses. Vermont is our home and we want to do whatever we can to help rebuild the towns and farms that have been destroyed. As you are buying your tickets at on sale today for the 10/7 show in Burlington, please consider signing up for our 3rd annual WLF Hockey game, with ALL of the proceeds benefitting the VT Flood Relief effort.

Let’s play some hockey, eh??

Sign Up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0hKLw76yBsn3qlAGS64eBMMLDGfiMIWhPXppK_QrphkE7JA/viewform

FB Event https://www.facebook.com/events/6510573398965265

We are excited to announce the nonprofits who received donations from Twiddle‘s $1 per ticket program for April 2023 on the Distance Makes The Heart Tour! The WLF board chose to support organizations who are involved with food insecurity in the communities where Twiddle is playing. We have researched and taken your suggestions to find these amazing organizations we are proud to support. Thank you!

Plattsburg, NY – Stop DV – $1,000
New Haven, CT – Community Soup Kitchen – $2,000
Boston, MA – Project Bread – $2,000
New York, NY – NY Common Pantry – $2,000
Baltimore, MD – Fishes and Loaves – $750
Harrisbugh, PA – The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank – $500

Such an amazing night in Rutland Saturday evening at the Casey Grant Memorial event held at the Rutland Moose Lodge to raise money for the Turning Point Center of Rutland and the White Light Foundation. The Doctor Jones Orchestra, Rick Redington & the Luv, and the Robert Banks Trio played. The event raised over $35,000 and was spearheaded by WLF board member Phil Fernandez.

Love Relentlessly

We are excited to announce the nonprofits who received donations from Twiddle‘s $1 per ticket program for the first part of 2023 on the Distance Makes The Heart Tour! The WLF board chose to support organizations who are involved with food insecurity in the communities where Twiddle is playing. We have researched and taken your suggestions to find these amazing organizations we are proud to support. Thank you!

Tempe, AZ – Tempe Action Community Center – $500
Tuscon, AZ – The Tucson Neighborhood Food Pantry – $400
San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Food Bank – $400
San Diego, CA – Feeding San Diego – $750
Los Anglels, CA – Project Angel Food – $500
San Fransisco, CA – Leah’s Pantry – $750
Crystal Bay, NV – Slow Food – $400
Portland, OR – St. John’s Food Share – $400
Seattle, WA – Ballard Food Bank – $500
Bend, OR – The Giving Plate – $500
Boise, ID – Idaho Food Bank – $500
Bozeman, MT – Gallatin Valley Food Bank – $1,200
Salt Lake City, UT – Crossroad Urban Center – $750
Aspen, CO – LIFT-UP Aspen – $750
Denver, CO – Food For Thought – $1,500
Denver, CO – Metro Caring – $1,500
Frisco, CO – Food for All F&IRC – $750