Africa-Bound

I’m embarking on two exciting projects this summer and invite you to follow me on my brand new blog, 3000 for Africa! First, I am heading to Cape Town, South Africa this summer for a research project on HIV vaccines. This will be my first time to Africa and I will be going by myself (but feel free to come visit!). So this blog is in part to keep you all updated on what I’m doing as well as to make sure that I am alive and well. I’ll be updating the blog at least once a week. And keep a look out for awesome pics, videos, and prize giveaways from South Africa!

Second, I am excited to be raising money this year for an incredible organization, Grassroot Soccer, while training for my FIRST ever marathon, the ING NYC Marathon on November 6^th, 2011! Over the years I have worked towards eradicating HIV both here in the US and around the world, and Grassroots Soccer’s mission to use the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV meshes perfectly with the work I have been doing.

We all remember the amazing World Cup last year in South Africa, but you may not have known that an estimated 330,000 kids are living with HIV in South Africa alone – that’s about the population of Honolulu, Hawaii or Tampa, Florida. Grassroots Soccer wants to educate 1 million youth about HIV by 2014, in time for the World Cup in Brazil, and they’ve reached 400,000 kids to date. However, 7,000 people become infected with HIV each day, and 45% of those infections occur among young people between the ages of 15-24. We need to educate these youths to combat the spread of HIV, and your donations will help in this fight.

Did you know it only costs $25 to educate 1 youth? You can’t even buy 2 movie tickets in NYC for that much! My goal is to raise at least $3,000 this year for Grassroots Soccer so that they can continue to educate children about HIV – enough support for 120 kids. Your contributions will help me reach that goal and help me cross that finish line in Central Park on November 6^th (hope to see you there if you can make it!). Please consider donating as much as you can, whether it is $10, $25, $100, or more (fingers crossed!). And as extra incentives to donate, I'll detail some cool prizes in a later post that you can get for your donations!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or words of support you may have as I explore Cape Town and train for the NYC marathon.

Thanks!
John