Texas-size island of plastic floats in Pacific Ocean

My roommate and I have decided to make our house a plastic free house, starting today...

At the start of the Academy Award-winning movie "American Beauty," a character videotapes a plastic grocery bag as it drifts into the air, an event he casts as a symbol of life's unpredictable currents, and declares the romantic moment as a "most beautiful thing."

To the eyes of an oceanographer, the image is pure catastrophe.

In reality, the rogue bag would float into a sewer, follow the storm drain to the ocean, then make its way to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists.

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii.

Marcus Eriksen, director of research and education at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, said his group has been monitoring the Garbage Patch for 10 years.

"With the winds blowing in and the currents in the gyre going circular, it's the perfect environment for trapping," Eriksen said. "There's nothing we can do about it now, except do no more harm."

The patch has been growing, along with ocean debris worldwide, tenfold every decade since the 1950s, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

Ocean current patterns may keep the flotsam stashed in a part of the world few will ever see, but the majority of its content is generated onshore, according to a report from Greenpeace last year titled "Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans."

The report found that 80 percent of the oceans' litter originated on land. While ships drop the occasional load of shoes or hockey gloves into the waters (sometimes on purpose and illegally), the vast majority of sea garbage begins its journey as onshore trash.

That's what makes a potentially toxic swamp like the Garbage Patch entirely preventable, Parry said.

"At this point, cleaning it up isn't an option," Parry said. "It's just going to get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues. ... The long-term solution is to stop producing as much plastic products at home and change our consumption habits."

Parry said using canvas bags to cart groceries instead of using plastic bags is a good first step; buying foods that aren't wrapped in plastics is another.

After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors banned the use of plastic grocery bags earlier this year with the problem of ocean debris in mind, a slew of state bills were written to limit bag production, said Sarah Christie, a legislative director with the California Coastal Commission.

But many of the bills failed after meeting strong opposition from plastics industry lobbyists, she said.

Meanwhile, the stew in the ocean continues to grow.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is particularly dangerous for birds and marine life, said Warner Chabot, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group.

Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic. The petroleum-based plastics take decades to break down, and as long as they float on the ocean's surface, they can appear as feeding grounds.

"These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs," Chabot said. "It doesn't pass, and they literally starve to death."

The Greenpeace report found that at least 267 marine species had suffered from some kind of ingestion or entanglement with marine debris.

Chabot said if environmentalists wanted to remove the ocean dump site, it would take a massive international effort that would cost billions.

But that is unlikely, he added, because no one country is likely to step forward and claim the issue as its own responsibility.

Instead, cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is left to the landlubbers.

"What we can do is ban plastic fast food packaging," Chabot said, "or require the substitution of biodegradable materials, increase recycling programs and improve enforcement of litter laws.

"Otherwise, this ever-growing floating continent of trash will be with us for the foreseeable future."

ow to help

You can help to limit the ever-growing patch of garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean. Here are some ways to help:

Limit your use of plastics when possible. Plastic doesn't easily degrade and can kill sea life.

Use a reusable bag when shopping. Throwaway bags can easily blow into the ocean.

Take your trash with you when you leave the beach.

Make sure your trash bins are securely closed. Keep all trash in closed bags.

Trash is also a problem in parts of San Francisco Bay. For an interactive map showing some of the worst locations, go to www.savesfbay.org/baytrash.

- Justin Berton jberton@sfchronicle.com

Break from Blogging

I will be taking a hiatus from blogging for a while. Thanks to all who regularly come to my site to read it. Hopefully I'll have it up and running again sometime in the near future.

Greencards Finish off Wildflower Pavilion series at Planet Bluegrass, Lyons, CO tonight

What do you get when you put two Aussies, a Brit and some Americana music together? New grass at its finest if you’re talking about the Nashville-based bluegrass band, the Greencards. The band, which currently plays live with guitarist Jake Stargel, is bringing back its unique style of traditional bluegrass and to Planet Bluegrass this Saturday, October 18. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the final show in the Wildflower Pavilion Concert Series.

What should people expect from a Greencards show? Carol Young’s voice is like a drop of honey on the tongue, especially when it accompanies Kym Warner’s mandolin playing and Eamon McLoughlin’s fiddle tunes. And when McLoughlin or Warner throw their accent-laden harmonies into the mix, the result, though certainly dissimilar from the Osborne Brothers, is equally as satisfying. The music includes traditional bluegrass songs and instruments, but the band takes a different approach to lyrics and song arrangements. Bands such as Newgrass Revival, Nickel Creek and Old Crow Medicine Show paved the way for their style of music, Young says.

“We are always mindful to be respectful,” Young says of traditional bluegrass. “We do bring some traditional elements into our songs when we feel there is a place for it. But we still try to make sure our music is true to the Greencards at the same time.”

They must be doing something right. They recently toured with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson; they have played to wildly appreciative crowds at both RockyGrass and the Telluride Bluegrass festival; they were named the best new/emerging artist at the Americana Awards; and they’ve recorded three albums, including one that sported the Grammy-nominated track, “Mucky the Duck.” Not bad for three people who didn’t grow up rooted in the bluegrass scene. In fact, Warner says, “I thought it would be a little more difficult because of where we’re from, but people have embraced us more than they have been negative.”

The Greencards got started when Young and Warner set off from their home country in 2001 and headed to Texas in order to delve into America’s bluegrass community. Along the way they found McLoughlin. The threesome is currently working on their fourth album, slated for release spring 2009.

Though they are doing a “floating festival” on the Caribbean with Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin and others, their main focus, says Young, is the new album, entitled “Fascination,” which they are releasing under the independent label Sugar Hill Records. However, she adds, the band looks forward to their visit to Colorado, a state they return to two or three times each year.

“The Rockies always blow me away,” Young explains. “The [Colorado] crowds are very enthusiastic; they always make us feel welcome.” Plus, she adds, “It’s an enormous honor for us to be invited to such a great music series that is spoke of very highly in the acoustic music circles.”

For more information, visit www.bluegrass.com. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at the door.

Cutline
Photo courtesy of the Greencards
From left to right: Kym Warner (mandolin/song writing), Carol Young (bass/vocals) and Eamon McLoughlin (fiddle/viola).

The skinny on what taxes you'll pay depending on who you vote for

How Much Would You Pay in Taxes?

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain both say they’ll cut federal taxes if elected. Here’s what their proposals would mean for you.
--------------------------------Obama-----------McCain
If you make...
--------------------------------you'd save-------you'd save...
less than $19,000------------------ $567-------------$21
$19,000-$37,600------------------ $892-------------$118
$37,600-$66,400 -----------------$1118-------------$325
$66,400-$111,600---------------- $1264-------------$994
$111,600-$161,000----------------$2135------------$2584
$161,000-$227,000---------------- $2796-----------$4437

If you're in the top 5% of earners...
------------------------------- you'd pay--------you'd save...
$227,000-$603,400--------------$121---------- $8159
$603,400-$2.87 million----------$93,709-------$48,862
more than $2.87 million----------$542,882-------$290,708

*Source: Tax Policy Center. Numbers have been rounded. For complete details, go to TaxPolicyCenter.org.

From an outdoorsman and gun lover to the average American

I found this letter compelling.

Outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen of America,

On Election Day, November 4, 2008 we have a historic chance to break with the past and cast a vote for the American outdoor lifestyle.

Do you like sunrise with a duck call in your hand and do you like watching sunset from a tree stand in deer country? Do you love the leap of a wild rainbow trout? Do you love the smell of firewood that you cut yourself? Do you hike on Public lands? Do you farm or ranch? If so consider our future as outdoors men and women.

What follows is one man’s fiercely independent look at where America is headed. I am not being paid to write this, no political action committee put me up to this. My qualifications are as a middle aged outdoorsman with much more outdoor mileage than most politicians, who have mileage walking the halls of congress with the lobbyists. The only elected position I’ve held was to the Alaska Fish and Game Advisory board and I wasn’t elected to represent Republican hunters or Democratic trappers, rather I was elected to represent rural Alaskans who used fish and wildlife. I remain independent when it comes to my views on America’s outdoor lifestyle!

Lots of you know me as the owner of one of Alaska’s last great independent wilderness guide companies. I haven’t sold out to one of the catalog or box store “safari” outfitters. For those who haven’t met me yet, I’ll look forward to meeting you someday hunting, or fishing, rafting, or camping. I have earned a living through these past five decades entirely in the American outdoors by ranching, guiding, trapping, commercial fishing, logging, mining, and firefighting among other livelihoods.

I want to encourage all of you to vote in your upcoming state and federal elections. Nothing you do as an outdoors person (except take your kids outdoors) this year will be as important as making your voice heard through the representatives you send to office.

Bear down on this question of how to cast your vote in the upcoming elections with me. Ask yourself: “As an outdoorsman am I better off today than I was 10 years ago? Twenty, Forty?”

If you’ll consider what is at stake for a moment; I want to explain why I have chosen to break with the historic past and support Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president instead of John McCain, the Republican nominee. I well know that elected Republicans have traditionally represented the interests of outdoors people, and rural, working class, independent farming, and ranching Americans. Not any more!

For those of you wondering which candidates will best represent your interests I want to pass along some observations that I have made along the trail. The trail I’m referring to is not the campaign trail where promises are cheap. The trails I mean are the game trails etched across a vast American landscape, the trails by creeks that once were full of trout and smallmouth bass, and the trails chosen by husbands and wives bringing up sons and daughters to love and live with nature.

I have logged well more than 15,000 miles on foot, on horseback, by paddle, and oar in the last 30 years in the American outdoors. Ten years ago I left a multi decade career in Alaskan Natural Resource management to start and run the best guiding company on the great salmon, Rainbow Trout, and Arctic Grayling streams of the Bristol Bay of Alaska. Today some of those salmon streams are in dire danger as a result of “out of control development pressure” by Alaska governor Sarah Palin and by the Washington DC Republicans who line their own pockets as they preside over the destruction of our resources and heritage.

As gun owners many of you know that as a young man I lived through each year waiting impatiently for hunting season and that I raised my children eating wild game. I joke that since I have carried a .44 magnum in a shoulder holster in Alaska for more than 30 years that my left shoulder hangs an inch below my right. I am no stranger to the issues of gun control and wildlife conservation.

When I worked as a State of Alaska forestry technician I worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations. I watched both administrations sell every stick of timber they could, right down to the banks of Grayling and Salmon rivers of Alaska when they could get away with it. I am not making this up; I laid out some of those timber sales.

Sarah Palin has a lot going for her, but mark my words. “She will sell you down the river in a heartbeat” if you get in the path of her “Missionary” zeal to develop the wild country of Alaska and soon the entire United States. She sells her pro-development agenda as “energy policy” when in fact it is policy that will enrich a very few corporate executives and deprive the vast majority of outdoors people of more and more public land! Palin is a “stand in” for the policies of oil and gas development that made Dick Cheney a fortune. In fact, when I really focus on the politics of the American outdoors, the entire pro-development platform of the Republican Party has never made me one dime but instead has cost me the wild land I hunted on as a teenager, and the streams I where caught my first salmon are now destroyed.

Frankly I’m disgusted, as a pro business man, who owns and runs a successful business. I have lived to see my retirement gutted, my savings depleted, and my mother’s fixed income reduced. The policies that we were told would help Americans have destroyed our wild lands, our rivers, and our forests, and now destroy our life savings and business opportunities. I’d scream “Throw the bastards out” if this wasn’t a polite discussion.

Are you lucky enough to have a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican” running in your state race who really understands that conservatives actually “conserve” and not merely sell our public resources to line their pockets? Well if you do, then by all means vote for that man or woman. But if you don’t trust the Republicans after what they have done to squander the resources and treasury of America then for the love of god, please, please, please, help defeat them!

Do you want your children and grandchildren to have a life in the American outdoors? Or do you want them to live their life as a “greeter” in a box store, built on the land that you grew up hunting? What good is your fishing rod if there is no clean water to fish? What good is your hunting rifle if there is no place left to hunt? What good is your bank account when the money is gone?

So please don’t vote for members of Congress or state offices who strip mine your heritage as an American outdoors person. Vote for a Democrat or an old time “Roosevelt Republican” but please don’t send the same people back to work for us who sold us down the river!

Good luck afield,

Mark

Mark Rutherford
Owner. Wild River Guide Company
www.wildriverfish.com

Photos from the International Climber's Meet, Indian Creek, Utah

Here's my first batch of International Climber's Meet Photos. More to come in a few days as soon as I have time to photoshop the vertical ones.
View across from Fin Wall

Chris Hensen drinking beer

Bridger Jacks

Chris and Julia from South Africa

Sarah Hueniken, Senja Palonen and Jason Kruk from Canada, with Clinton from South Africa behind.

Sarah H

Jason

Chris, Clinton and Julia

Chris on Swede and Ringle, a sweet 5.12- on Battle of the Bulge wall

Climbers hanging out after a day at the Fin Wall

Pretty trees on the road to Monticello

Sara Garlick and Madaleine Sorkin

Senja

Sarah's hand

Chris and Lizzy

Lizzy Scully's Resume

December 2008

Lizzy Scully
PO Box 853
Lyons, CO 80540
303-903-2768
lizzy@lizzyscully.com

Education:

1996: BA from University of Utah in Psychology
2003: MS from Utah State University in Journalism/Communications
• Was awarded USU JCOM Grad Student of the Year in 2000

Work experience:

March 2008—August 2008
Berthoud Recorder: Managing Editor, temporary contract position
• Oversaw a complete redesign of the newspaper
• Managed the editorial side of paper, including freelance and full-time writers, photographers, and editors

March 2005—September 2007
FindYourSpot.com: Managing Editor, full time
• Managed a staff of three
• Researched, edited, and wrote copy for Web site, marketing materials, Ezine
• Copy edited all materials for the parent company, Market Crossings
• Marketing/PR, including SEO and SEM, garnering earned media.
• Successes: Got one article in the Washington Post, three in U.S. News and World Report, and dozens of others in local newspapers, Web sites, and magazines

November 2006—now
Girls Education International: Co-founder, part-time, volunteer
• Fund raising event organizer for six events
• Project Coordinator for Liberia Scholarship Program
• Marketing/PR
• Successes: Implemented two projects: scholarships for two Nepalese girls in Kathmandu; scholarships for 47 Liberian girls; applied for and received a $5,000 grant, which will pay for the Liberia program; have garnered earned media in local radio stations and news papers and on national Web sites. (See: www.girlsed.org or www.girlseducationinternational.blogspot.com for more information.)

February 2007—June 2007
HERA Climb4Life: Public Relations Director, part-time volunteer
• Marketing/PR
• Organized volunteers for marketing/PR
• Successes: Got placement for PR materials in nearly two dozen newspapers, online sources, and magazines, started blog to keep track of all PR events (www.theherafoundation.blogspot.com)

February 2002—February 2005
She Sends magazine: Publisher, Founder, Editor, full time
• Managed volunteers, freelance writers, designers, and small staff
• Researched, edited, and wrote copy for magazine
• Marketing/PR
• Ad sales
• Distribution
• Fund raising event organizer for a dozen events for The HERA Foundation and the dZi Foundation
• Successes: Published seven issues, got the magazine into all EMS stores and distributed throughout North America

January 2004—now
Rock & Ice magazine. Senior Contributing Editor, part-time contract
• Researched and wrote articles
• Successes: first female senior contributing editor for a climbing publication in the United States

July 2001—July 2003
Estes Park Trail-Gazette: Features editor.
• Brainstormed story ideas and creative direction of weekly paper with staff
• Researched and wrote articles for news and features sections
• Copy edited the entire paper

January 2000
I have published articles of all kinds in dozens of publications, including but not limited to: Rocky Mountain Sports, The Mountain Hardwear catalog, Climbing, Utah Outdoors, Women’s Adventure, Alternative Medicine, Homepower, and Mountain Flyer. I also regularly write PR/marketing materials for Forte Creatives, a public relations firm.

Skills:
• Excellent writing, research and editing skills
• Solid PR/Marketing skills, including writing and disseminating press releases and garnering earned media.
• Good interpersonal skills
• Fluent in Quark, Photoshop, Excel and Word
• Solid grasp of AP Style
• Excellent blogging skills
• Am able to develop, implement, and follow through with the creation of: a publication, a strategic business plan, a strategic marketing/PR plans, or a fundraising event
• I speak Spanish

Other Activities:
I’ve traveled extensively and have spent months at a time in various countries—Pakistan, South America, Mexico, Europe, etc—on rock sponsored climbing expeditions and for writing assignments. I have also volunteered for many years at various different organizations. I taught English to immigrants for a year at the Estes Park Center for Language and Cultural Exchange, in addition to the above-mentioned organizations.

References:
Brent Eskew, Founder FindYourSpot.com, beskew@wilanddirect.com
Gary Wamsley, Berthoud Recorder, publisher: publisher@berthoudrecorder.com
Alison Osius, Rock & Ice executive editor: aosius@bigstonepub.com
Matt Samet, Climbing senior editor: msamet@comcast.net

Samples of my press releases:
http://theherafoundation.blogspot.com/2007/06/disabled-iraq-vets-climb-for-life.html
http://theherafoundation.blogspot.com/2007/06/hera-climb4life-boulderdenver-to-be.html
http://girlseducationinternational.blogspot.com/2008/10/heidi-wirtz-inspiring-soles.html

Freelance article samples:
http://www.eons.com/money/feature/realestate/6059
http://lizzyscully.blogspot.com/2008/04/rocky-mountain-sports-article-on-majka.html
http://www.homepower.com/article/?file=HP103_pg42_Scully
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lizzy_Scully

If the world's population was reduced to just 100 people, then...

If the world's population was reduced to 100 people, there would be: 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Americans and 8 Africans.

There would be: 52 women, 48 men, 30 caucasians and 70 non-caucasians, 30 Christians and 70 non-Christians, 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals.

80 of the people would live in poverty;
70 would be illiterate;
50 would suffer from hunger or malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 would own a computer
1 would have a university degree

500 million people suffer from war, prison or torture or are close to death because of starvation.

3 billion people cannot go to their place of worship without fear of being attacked or killed.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet or change anywhere at home, you are one of the 8 privileged few people in the group of 100.

Article on Community Cycles in Rocky Mountain Sports

I've just had an article on Community Cycles published in Rocky Mountain Sports. Unfortunately, much of the end of the article was cut out. I'm hoping they put the full version on the Web site. If not, here it is in its entirety.

Community Cycles
Nonprofit organization turns trashed bikes into commuter cycles and Earn-A-Biker volunteers into bike mechanics.
By Lizzy Scully
Within minutes of walking into Boulder’s Community Cycles, Shop Manager Gary Gingras said, “Use the tools in the shop, and take this bike apart,” as he pointed to a dirty but tidy counter covered with wrenches, screwdrivers and countless doodads I’d never seen before. He then scurried off to help one of the other dozen people in the bustling building.
“OK,” I thought to myself, examining each part of the colorless, rust-encrusted bicycle. Nuts, bolts, wheels—at least I knew what those were.
Through this nonprofit’s Earn-A-Bike (EAB) program, I would be spending 15 hours learning about bike maintenance through hands on experience, and then I would build a bike with parts donated by Community Cycles. Volunteers and a few paid staffers would help me and the 20 to 30 other aspiring mechanics who participate weekly.
Through the Earn-A-Bike program, we try hard to show and teach people that riding a bike is healthy and sustainable,” Gringas explained. “We try to help people be confident should they ever need to fix a flat or adjust the brakes. Taking that knowledge with them, we hope to keep them riding and help them to become more of a commuter.”
Community Cycles’ official mission is to educate and advocate the safe use of bicycles for transportation and enjoyment. That goal permeates every aspect of the organization, from the outreach programs it promotes in local, regional and even international communities to the feeling of solidarity fostered in the shop.
Plus, it brings together people from all walks of life, added board member Wanda Pelegrina Caldas, “Our venue exposes people to other situations, languages, cultures, and biking styles on a daily basis. We do not isolate any particular group; rather everyone works together under one roof, and there is social interaction without necessarily pointing out differences. Love of bikes ties us all together.”
She added that some people with the least amount of experience have become the organization’s most fervent volunteers. “Several of our volunteers are homeless, disabled and/or dealing with serious illness,” she said. “I have heard and witnessed their stories of survival and their comments on how Community Cycles gives them a sense of purpose, belonging, ownership and hope.”

Longtime volunteer Peter Allen suffered from a debilitating disease that caused him to lose feeling from his knees down and left him holed up in his house for a few years. After he relearned how to ride on a bike donated by Community Cycles, his life changed. Not only did he find “camaraderie” at the shop, but he also became “addicted to working on bikes. I’m there just about every day now,” he said.

According to Caldas, “volunteers come from all walks of life and they, bring with them everything from advanced mechanic skills to customer service to fundraising to grant writing.” But more so, they bring community, teamwork and warmth to the shop.

“We certainly could not do without them,” Gingras said. “I cannot express enough how much the core group does to help us.”

Gingras, who worked for a similar program back east, said volunteers participate because they really feel like they are giving back. He actually changed his career because he felt so strongly about being more engaged in all aspects of the bicycle world. Because of the hard work of Gingras and others, Community Cycles continues to successfully advocate for more bike lanes and parking, and to make cycling a “more accepted mode of transport”; and they work with other bike co-ops (there are 100 nationwide) to brainstorm ways to “engage all riders to come together for more events,” among other things. Plus, they keep people on bikes that were headed for the landfill.

“This is really cool; it’s like bike recycling,” said “EABiker” Dan Furlani. For Furlani, a tech guy who assembles hard drives, building a bike was “only natural” and working at Community Cycles was an enjoyable experience. Others who participated the week I was there felt similarly appreciative. A Japanese woman from New Zealand learned bike maintenance in order fix the commuter bike offered to her by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a fellow from the Boulder County Jails work release program took various bikes apart.

I was there because I wanted a road and commuter bike so I wouldn’t have to drive as much, and I wanted the skills to take care of it. Though I flailed that first day – most of the first bike I worked on saw the recycle bin – after just one week I learned how to change “shifters,” replace brake cable, align wheels by adjusting the spokes, and change tires, among other things. I walked out of Community Cycles the proud owner of a Bianchi Eros.

“It’s great to see someone who has not been on a bike for so long getting on a reliable, tuned bike,” Gringas told me. “We are creating bikers who may not have spent the higher money on a bike initially, but who now are able to really get into it. I’m really proud and joyful that I get to work in a field I really love that has a purpose I really believe in.”

For more information, visit: www.communitycycles.org.

International Climber's Meet

I just returned from a wonderful week working as a host climber at the International Climber's Meet in Indian Creek, Utah. More than 40 people from 23 countries, plus 30 American hosts and a bevy of volunteers attended this well-organized and super fun event. After driving from Golden to Utah, most climbers spent five days in a row ascending the splitters of Indian Creek and/or doing one of the Bridger Jack towers on "rest days." By day five, my group was exhausted, but still getting as much as they could out of the day. I spent the last few days climbing with some fantastic South Africans and Canadians, plus a fellow from France. Lucky for me, more than half of my groups all three days were strong female climbers, which was very inspiring for me. I will write more and include photographs Monday morning.

Girls Education International Fund Raiser

Heidi has organized a fund raising party for October 9. Please come on down! The press release for the event is pasted below.

Tomorrow morning at 5a.m. I am driving a bunch of international climbers to Indian Creek for the International Climber's Meet. I'm looking forward to spending a week in Indian Creek, even if I do have to take two days off for driving and another two days off climbing to work. Woe is me. :)

September 25, 2008—Climber-run nonprofit to hold benefit dance party at the b Side Lounge in Boulder, Colo.
Girls Education International, a nonprofit organization founded by The North Face athlete Heidi Wirtz and Rock & Ice senior contributing editor Lizzy Scully, will be hosting a late-night dance party fundraiser at the hippest new club on the Front Range, the b Side Lounge Restaurant in Boulder, Colo., 13th street between Pearl and Spruce, on Thursday, October 9, from 9:30 p.m. to 1:45 a.m.
The fundraiser includes goodie bags for the first 25 people through the door, a wine tasting provided by Redwood Creek Winery, FREE beer and hors d’oeuvres until 10:15 p.m., $5 Grey Goose Cosmos all night, and a tiered raffle for everything from artwork to quality outdoor goods. Live VJs will keep the beat going until 1:45 a.m. Music by: Jayce, Dirt Monkey, 1KONOKL4ST, Super Tuesday, along with a performance by the Kaivalya Hoopers. All proceeds will benefit GEI’s projects in Nepal, Liberia and Pakistan.
Because GEI is staffed entirely by volunteers, it is able to give 90% of its funding directly to the girls and schools it supports. Money goes for school renovation assessments, scholarships, books and uniforms.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
Lizzy Scully
303-903-2768
girlsed@gmail.com