SEATTLE — On a warm Wednesday evening people are lining up to get inside one of Seattle’s best spots for Filipino food.
"Hood Famous Cafe and Bar is a Filipino cafe in Chinatown International District. We're an all-day café, we do all-day breakfast. You can find a lot of our house-made pastries in here," said Hoods Famous co-owner Chera Amlag.
But before Hood Famous became famous, co-owner Geo Quibuyen served up music as part of the hip-hop duo, Blue Scholars.
"Did our thing on the local circuit. Had the opportunity to tour, put out three albums," said Quibuyen. "Most recently I'm a fill-in DJ at KEXP and you can also find me DJing here."
That connection to music and their small business is why they and others are participating in, "Music's in our Blood" - a campaign partnering Bloodworks Northwest and the online small business advocate site, Intentionalist.
"We were so incredibly excited for the opportunity to participate in 'Music's In Our Blood' because we immediately started thinking about all of the small business owners we've gotten to know for whom music has been or is a focal part of who they are,” said Laura Clise, CEO of Intentionalist.
After downloading a pass, participants will receive special discounts at 12 small businesses. All the places taking part want to help spread the word for greater awareness of the life-saving impact of blood donation.
"It's just so amazing to see community members using their platform, their resources, their talents to go out and support the need for donating blood," said Bloodworks Northwest’s Ron Limb.
"When she first asked us about partnering, she didn't know this at the time, but I actually ran the rare donor blood drives when I was in college at the UW, Go Huskies. So, for me it just made a lot of sense," Amlag said.
"I'm very familiar with using music as a medium to get a message out to make connections and community to show what is important," Quibuyen said.
Local shops for a good cause - the "Music's In Our Blood" small business pass hits all the right notes.
If you donate at Bloodworks Northwest between now and August 31 you can enter to win tickets to see pop icon Taylor Swift when she performs in Vancouver in December!
Sponsored by Bloodworks Northwest.
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