Local Restaurateur Billy Dec hosts a social media anniversary party to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s efforts to fight hunger

check out my avatar coming to life in this video to make fun of me! haha.. just trying to get engage people in new ways to not only enjoy our 2 year anniversary party for my art, culture, trends & entertainment blog but more importantly, to help a really good cause!

it will be an awesome event, cool people, great music, signature food, specialty drinks & more! do not miss this! full press release below- its only a small $20 donation (or more) to help the 36% increase in poor people simply needing food due to the recession, from the greater chicago food depository. limited space- click here to reserve your spot!

special shoutout to all the local artists who helped create this amazing video! Director/Editor: Catherine Lynch, Cinematographer: Adam Dick, Sound: Sam Fell, Avatar Lead: James Pawula, Animation: Ian Beckman & Ari Flesch, Texturing: Arwa Dabbakeh, Modeling: Whit Alexander, Music: Don Meyer, Underground Music: DJ Kane, Make-Up: Brenda Arelano, Equipment: Zacuto, Invites: M13 Graphics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 19, 2011

2 years, 20,000 followers, 678,000 Chicagoans in need:

Local Restaurateur Billy Dec hosts a social media anniversary party to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s efforts to fight hunger

Chicago, IL—   After two years of writing his popular Chicago entertainment, arts & culture blog aChicagoThing.com, with a rapidly growing number of friends & followers on Facebook & Twitter (about 20,000 combined), Rockit Ranch Productions CEO Billy Dec is not only throwing a huge two year anniversary bash for all who have supported him online thus far, but he is recruiting this dynamic and dedicated social media network to help him feed the dramatically increasing numbers of poor & hungry, by making his blog anniversary party benefit The Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Guests of the “aChicagoThing.com Anniversary Party” to benefit The Greater Chicago Food Depository will enjoy signature food items from Dec’s award winning restaurants Sunda & Rockit, and creative cocktails by Underground & Grey Goose Vodka. In typical fashion, Dec’s guest list is sure to be a who’s who party mix of the most dynamic personalities in the city’s arts, entertainment, social media & philanthropic scene.

Dec explains the idea behind his event: “during the last couple years of our brutal recession, a 36% increase of an additional 178,000 people have gone hungry and needed food desperately from The Greater Chicago Food Depository alone.  In my yearly effort to support them, post holidays when donations are at their lowest, I’m excited to bring my new social network together to make a bigger impact.”

The event will take place on Thursday, February 3^rd from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. at Dec’s restaurant Rockit Bar & Grill (22 W. Hubbard).  A limited number of advanced tickets will be available online at aChicagoThing.com for $20, and available at the door for $40.  There will also be a limited number of “VIP Supporter” tickets which includes access to a reserved area at the party, these tickets can be purchased for $100 in advance online at aChicagoThing.com or at the door for $200.  100% of ticket proceeds go towards benefiting The Greater Chicago Food Depository.  (http://bit.ly/h36SIk)

As for other social media related events and fundraising efforts, Dec is hosting a party for his first 10,000 twitter followers that he promised them on Saturday, February 19^th from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. at Rockit Bar & Grill.  There will be live performance by emerging artists from the Chicago Blues Beautillion, a young blues mentoring project that pairs established artists with young emerging blues musicians to help keep Blues in Chicago alive and thriving! There will be $20 donation requested to support the Chicago Blues Beautillion’s efforts, advanced tickets can be found below. (There is also a Blackhawks viewing party on 2/24.  For more info, Billy can be tweeted at @BD.)

— To purchase tickets to AChicagoThing.com Anniversary Party Benefiting The Greater Chicago Food Depository on February 3rd, visit their site here –  http://bit.ly/h36SIk. —

— To purchase tickets to Blues Night benefiting The Blues Beautillion on February 19th, enter your information below —

Billy Dec is an Emmy Award Winning Entrepreneur, Attorney & CEO/Founder of Rockit Ranch Productions, Chicago’s premier restaurant and entertainment development company, specializing in the creation, marketing and management of some of the city’s top venues including its latest concept, the New Asian restaurant Sunda, as well as the Underground and the ever-popular Rockit Bar & Grill (with locations in River North and Wrigleyville).

Dec is an alum of Chicago-Kent College of Law & The Harvard Business School. He has received numerous awards including “Operator of the Year,” “Asian-American Excellence in Business Award” from the State of Illinois, the Asian American Hall of Fame Award and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Asian Pacific American Community Leadership Award and is actively involved in various committees and boards for non-profit organizations in Chicago including The Chicago Children’s Advocacy Committee, The American Cancer Society, The Lookingglass Theatre Company, After School Matters and served as the Director of Cultural Relation for the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee.  Dec writes his own blog on www.aChicagoThing.com about Chicago and its culturally rich entertainment landscape, where his contact info, celebrity interviews & ever popular twitter feed is also located. To purchase tickets

About Rockit Ranch Productions

Rockit Ranch Productions is a Chicago-based restaurant and entertainment development and management company specializing in marketing, promotions, branding, public relations and operations.  Owned by partners Dec, Brad Young and Arturo Gomez, Rockit Ranch Productions operates some of Chicago’s most popular venues, Rockit Bar & Grill, a comfortable, stylish bar and grill offering elevated-yet-casual American cuisine with two locations in River North and Wrigleyville, The Underground, Chicago’s premiere, upscale, cutting-edge nightclub where every guest is a VIP and Sunda, Chicago’s comfortably stylish New Asian restaurant servingcontemporary interpretations of traditional dishes from Japan, China and theSoutheast Asian Island region. For more information on these venues and other projects, please visit www.rockitranch.com, www.rockitbarandgrill.com, www.theundergroundchicago.com & www.sundachicago.com.

About The Greater Chicago Food Depository

The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 678,000 adults and children in Cook County every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed 66 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of 135,000 meals every day. The Food Depository’s programs and services for children, older adults and the unemployed and underemployed address the root causes of hunger. For more information, log onto www.chicagosfoodbank.org or call 773-247-FOOD.

For more information on all of the above please contact [email protected] / 310-270-3054