San Francisco is a town of celebrations. On any given night, people will be out regaling someone's first day at a job, last day at a job, engagement, breakup, birthday or even San Franniversary. This city just lends itself well to fêtes. And next week, it will be a stop on a multi-city birthday tour led by Mindshare's Doug Campbell and The Cosmopolitan's Sloane Berrent.
The concept is simple: Hold seven birthday parties in seven different cities (Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, Chicago, and Miami) IN SEVEN DAYS. Our heads - and livers- ache just thinking about it! But these aren't your typical debaucherous parties, though we're sure that too will ensue, but instead a project to drive awareness and raise money to help prevent malaria.
The idea came about when Campbell and Berrent realized they were both turning 30 within a few days of each other. They both not only wanted to celebrate, but also wanted to add a charitable component to the festivities. This wasn't new ground for either of them; in 2007 Campbell completed a multi-city tour raising money for nonprofits called The Tuxedo Travels, and Berrent just returned from a three-month fellowship with micro-lending nonprofit Kiva. And so they joined forces to form the seven-day celebration known as CauseItsMyBirthday.com
Their goals are lofty - raising $70,000 - and they've enlisted family and friends in the various US cities to help organize and throw the parties. Every penny of the money they raise goes directly to purchase malaria nets to be distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa. And the facts are staggering: nearly 1-3 Million people die annually from malaria, and one out of twenty African children die from the disease before the age of five. Because malaria-biting mosquitoes only bite at night, having a net to sleep under dramatically cuts the rate of malaria.
But you can help by attending one of the parties. The celebrations kick off tomorrow in New York City, and the traveling party heads to San Francisco next Thursday, October 8th,
at the appropriately named SLOANE nightclub. It's $15 to attend, the price to
purchase three malaria nets, but you can always donate more, whether you can
attend or not.
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