Pulling your weight (and more) to save sight (Guest post)

Pulling Your Weight (and More!) to Save Sight

It’s not often that my professional passion (PR and communications) and my personal life collide. But happily, they have, and I’m grateful to Raul for giving me the opportunity to let you know what I’m doing and why it’s important to me.

I was fortunate to land a small PR gig to help generate buzz around a rather unique fundraising event on May 15^th. ORBIS Canada, part of ORBIS International, is launching a national Pull for Sight campaign in Vancouver to raise money to fund the development of Kids Sight Centres in developing countries around the world. That’s just one of the manyinitiatives that ORBIS has undertaken over the past 28 years.

Picture this, people. Brave teams of 20 people are going to literally PULL a 73 ton FedEx cargo plane 12 feet. The team that pulls the plane in the fastest time will be declared the winner. Is that neat or what? It’s a great cause to rally around your friends, family, co-workers, customers – anyone who is enthusiastic and (obviously) healthy – to support ORBIS’ efforts. But these teams need to donate at least $1000 to the campaign – that’s $50 per team member. That’s not something every potential team has at their disposal, and we don’t want to lose anyone who wants to pull for the cause. We need local businesses and corporations to help, which is why I’m reaching out here.

Why do I care? Why has this become more than a contract and more personal? That’s pretty straightforward. I’ve been legally blind since birth. I’ve been lucky to grow up in Canada and have access to wonderful ophthalmologists all my life. I know first-hand how precious sight is.

Why should you care? According to the World Health Organization, almost half a million kids go blind every year. That’s just about one child every minute. And much of that can be prevented. ORBIS’ focus with this plane pull is on restoring sight and preventing blindness in children in countries that are too poor to do either. And every year, 40 Canadian ophthalmologists, nurses and other medical personnel volunteer for these sight-saving missions. They deserve our respect, and support.

So, sign up as a team or team sponsor now, come out on May 15^th(it’s free, but donations are welcome) and cheer everyone on. It will definitely be quite a sight.

Here are the details.

When: The ORBIS Pull for Sight will be held Saturday, May 15^th, 2010, 10 am-1 pm (rain or shine)

Where: FedEx Apron at Vancouver International Airport, 3151 Aylmer Road, in Richmond, BC. There is ample free parking on the FedEx Apron grounds, and complimentary shuttle bus service, provided by Vancouver International Airport, will be available to and from the Templeton Skytrain Station.

This post was contributed by Cathy Browne (Cathy is a friend of mine and was the Public Relations and Media Concierge for Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2009 and will be again for 2010)

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