Kris' Krew

Okay, now envision that with Seattle sports logos and the Kris’ Krew logo, bringing disabled vets and others in the ADA community to events across the Seattle area.

Now imagine that same thing, but in other cities around the North America. Got that picture in your head? Now you are starting to think like we’ve been for the past year!

But it has to start somewhere. We need the funds to get our first Krewser, customize it and keep it going. Even a used paratransit bus costs over $30,000, and that’s just the beginning of the costs.

Now that we are a 501c3 charitable organization (WE ARE LEGIT KREW), we are hoping the donations can really start to roll in.

If you want to make an individual donation, great! Head over to our Donate page for all the different ways you can donate. If you know of a foundation that might be interested in our work, or a corporation that might want to sponsor us, let us know at donate@kriskrew.com and/or send them here to this site to learn more about us.

We received our letter from the IRS approving our status for 501c3 non-profit! This is a huge step. Now we can apply for the One Roof Foundation’s Kraken Unity Fund.

This status opens up so many new doors for us, and gets us a critical step forward to a crucial part of our solution: our own vehicle! Renting a customized vehicle has proven to not only be expensive, but a bit of a nightmnare if anything goes wrong, so in order to be able to count on reliable transportation, we really need to have our own.

To make that happen, we will need much more funding. This new status makes it much more likely that we can get corporate donations as well as grants from foundations.

But this doesn’t mean the efforts of the individuals out there aren’t still critical. We’ve done everything we have through individual donations, and that isn’t going to change. What will is the fact that you will be able to deduct the donation on your income tax! Also, many corporations offer to match donations to charities. If yours is one of those (ask your HR department if you aren’t sure), contact us at donate@kriskrew.com for details.

Finally, if you are willing, it would mean so much to us if you could take the time to nominate Kris for the “Hero of the Deep” award, which is awarded at every Kraken home game, and comes with a $32,000 donation to Kris’ Krew. Here’s the link: https://seattlekraken.formstack.com/forms/kraken_unity_fund_nomination_form

Wow! Kris won a special event at a charity auction: Kraken practice and lunch with Ron Francis, General Manager of the Seattle Kraken! Kris graciously invited some other Krew folks to join him, and we were like kids in a candy store! It started with viewing Kraken practice from a special platform reserved for team brass. What a great view!

Then things got even better when Tod Liewicke, President and CEO stopped by. Kris got a chance to tell them all about what Kris’ Krew is all about, which can only yield great fruit later on.

We got to ask Ron lots of questions about how practice is run, what an average day is like, what he looks for during practice, how things are different from when he used to play, and much more. We chewed his ear off, but still left so many questions unasked.

When practice was done, we all headed to the 32 Bar and Grill for lunch with Ron, where we got to continue the discussion. And when we were almost done, we got a surprise visit from Yanni Gourde! Kris had hoped we would be able to meet the team, but we were told that this close to the playoff push, we wouldn’t be able to. But after hearing Kris’ story and how Yanni was Kris’ favorite player (not only because of his playing ability, but the Quebec connection they share), Ron texted Yanni and he came by to say hello.

What a fantastic guy he (Yanni) is. Full of smiles, and made it seem like he was just as excited to meet us as we were him. He signed a few jerseys, took a bunch of selfies and even gave Kris a hug.

What a great day. It was super-special to be able to have the full attention of some very important Kraken personnel. Tod Liewicke even remembered Todd from a mere elevator ride, so let’s hope we made a big impression about what Kris’ Krew is all about!

What if we told you that you could donate to Kris’ Krew by buying something for yourself, your family or your friends? Well, we have become an affiliate with Fanatics, so if you click the link below to begin your shopping, we will receive a commission. So, you get some new gear and we get some cash to help disabled vets get to Kraken games.

Here’s the link:

https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/AobW91

If you want to find other ways to donate, check out our Donate page.

Kris, Ryan and Todd will be hanging out at the Queen Anne Beer Hall this Sunday from 2-5pm before heading over to the greenhouse for the Canucks vs. Firebirds game. Rumors are Nick and Kristine will make appearances too.

We will have a silent auction for a few Kraken-related items, and $2 from every Sky Kraken sold at the Beer Hall will be donated to Kris’ Krew!

Come by and say hello, learn more about what we are doing, and what’s next for us.

Kris, Ryan and Todd are going to be attending the Champions of Change Celebrity Basketball event on June 26 at 3pm in Climate Pledge Arena.

If you can’t make it to the event itself, maybe meet us at the Queen Anne Beerhall beforehand. We will be there between 11am (opening) until about 2:30.

Information about the event:
https://championsofchange.org/events/champions-of-change-celebrity-basketball/

Get tickets (we will be at the top of section 7):
https://www.ticketmaster.com/champions-of-change-seattle-washington-06-26-2022/event/0F005C61C6D7742B

Queen Anne Beerhall:
http://www.queenannebeerhall.com/

Check out our new website! Things are moving fast, here at Kris’ Krew. We are making big plans for next season, including officially becoming a 501c3 foundation and partnering with other foundations to bring lots of disabled vets to not only Kraken games, but other sports as well. Keep checking back here for more posts and follow our social media accounts (links below).