This weekend sees the first Firefly class vessel of the CSTS season leave the Independents’ base – the Utah Browncoats with their Salt Lake City event.

They are holding a daytime screening event at a cinema pub. Since they could not get a longer time slot from the cinema pub, they had to get a little creative so within the same area as the theater, there is a sports bar and grill, and they were able to secure a donated time slot in the VIP room to be able to hold the raffle, costume contest, and live and silent auctions.

Organisers Halo and Anastasia say their motivation for getting involved with CSTS is that they wanted to make a difference. Halo has a lot of experience with organising events for non-profit groups so when she became a Browncoat she says she “wanted to put that experience to use so that we could become a greater force for good.”

Anastasia adds “I wanted to make a difference and help others, what better way to do that than being a Browncoat?”

Although the Utah Browncoats have been around a good long while as a loosely organised group. they didn’t have a structure for serious fundraising, and so at the start of 2015 they formed a non-profit corporation that then became an official 501 (c)3.

All of this allowed them to raise significantly more money for charity in 2015 than for any year prior! In total, they were able to raise over $11K, with nearly $8K going directly to Equality Now and the rest to Kids Need to Read and some local charities.

One local charity they recently supported was the construction of a new homeless teen shelter that is being built in Salt Lake City. Until now, there has not been an overnight shelter available for this highly vulnerable population, so the Utah Browncoats were thrilled to be able to contribute almost 2.5K.

This year’s CSTS event is being held to support Equality Now and Kids Need to Read.Check out their Facebook page for more information.

We’re sure you will all join us in wishing the Utah Browncoats every success with their event and we look forward to hearing all about it once the dust settles!