The It’s A Match EXperience at North Avenue Market was a night to remember, especially for me. After over a year of working for Ex Fabula, I finally took the stage to tell my first story, and it was a great experience, but we will get to those details in a little bit.

First, I want to talk about the awesome new-to-us venue North Avenue Market. This bright and welcoming space had at least four different restaurants and a beautiful bar space run by Bitter Cube. Attendees were able to order a wide variety of delicious food and cocktails to bring with them downstairs into the event space. Downstairs, there was even more to explore, with a specialty cocktail bar hosted in the old bank vault and lots of fun board and yard games!

As for us, we had our own game to play. A scavenger hunt was passed out as attendees arrived which included wandering the entire venue looking for clues. The walls of North Avenue Market hold interesting U.S. and Milwaukee history facts, and this scavenger hunt was a great way to get familiar with the space.

Once we settled in, emcee and Programs Director, Alea McHatten, welcomed to the stage the first teller of the night, North Avenue Market owner Chris Morse. Chris shared that despite knowing that Milwaukee is the most segregated city, he and his white husband decided to make a home and create a business here. After a difficult life of living on his own at 16 and regularly being hurt by those he thought cared about him, Chris struggled to decide what he wanted to do once he got to Milwaukee. But in trusting his husband and taking a leap of faith to do what makes him happy, he decided to open North Avenue Market and create a thriving community space to inspire change.

Our next featured storyteller was Jill Haas. Jill is a long time Ex Fabula volunteer, but she is also a long time participant in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Jill’s first match with a little sister didn’t work out, but her second match she was determined to make work even though it seemed at first that they had little in common. Jill’s little sister loved sports, and she didn’t know the first thing about them. Jill took it as an opportunity to grow herself, but one day stands out as a big learning experience for both of them. Jill was taking her little sister to a friend’s house to make cookies when she realized the friend had a dog and her little sister was terrified of them. They ended up taking it at the little sister’s pace, slowly introducing them, and by the end of the day, they were inseparable. To this day, Jill’s match with her little sister brings her joy and continues to enrich both of their lives.

The last featured teller of the night was Tim Farley. Tim told a story of how he wanted to donate a kidney for a friend but ended up not being a match. He decided to do a swap where he would donate to someone else whose donor would be a match for his friend. Unfortunately, after going almost all the way through the process, they found out he wasn’t a match again. Finally, they did a three-way trade, and despite almost not being able to donate that time because he had COVID right before, everything went to plan, and he became a kidney donor.

After a break to finish our scavenger hunt, we heard from three audience members. First, Jillian Beaster told of her close relationship with her brother, then Mark Weinberg told of finding his wife 23 years ago, and I told about how a bad roommate match led to finding my perfect match and future wife!

Overall it was a night of moving stories, laughter, and community. I hope you will join us at the next EXperience on the theme of “Night Out” on February 7th, 2024.