One of my beloved's very good friends died from Leukemia while they were in college as such the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are right up there with the Alzheimer's Association. So I'm happy to share the press release I got for a benefit at Flame Run on April 26, 2008 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Flame Run contemporary art glass studio is hosting a Glass Extravaganza on April 26 to raise money for the Kentucky and Southern Indiana chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The public is invited.

About 20 pieces made by Flame Run artists will be sold at auction or given away through raffles from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Some of the pieces will be made during the evening of the event by Flame Run artists. Attendees will buy raffle tickets at the door for $10, $15 and $50. Refreshments will be served.

Flame Run co-owner Susie Slabaugh White planned the event after she was nominated as a candidate for Woman of the Year by the Kentucky and Southern Indiana chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She is one of 13 business and community leaders competing for the titles in honor of the Boy and Girl of the Year - local children who have survived blood cancer. The winners are judged solely on a philanthropic basis - the male and female candidates raising the most funds win. Last year's events raised $132,000, according to Carolyn Harper, who is coordinating the campaign for the society.

"I am honored to be given this opportunity to raise awareness about leukemia and lymphoma," said White, whose grandmother died of lymphoma about 10 years ago.

Flame Run
828 East Market Street
Louisville, KY

Seriously? Yes, seriously. On Thursday, April 17, 2008 you'll be able to combine your extreme love of Sweet Surrender's offerings with your desire to do good in our community. It's almost too good to be true.

Sweet Surrender Dessert Café will host "A Sweet Night: A Benefit for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society." From 6 PM to 10 PM, a sampling of desserts will be offered for $12 per person. A portion of the event's proceeds will be given to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Whole cakes and other prizes will be raffled off throughout the evening. Tickets for the raffle can be purchased for $1.00 each. All of the proceeds from the raffle will go directly to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Donations for raffle prizes are still being accepted.

In addition to great desserts and great prizes, great music will be played by Jason Hasch at 8 PM.

"The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a wonderful organization," said owner, Jessica Haskell. "They were a big help to me during my own battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I want to return the favor."

Haskell, age 29, is a three time survivor of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Originally diagnosed in May of 2000, she battled through recurrences in 2003 and 2004. After undergoing chemo, radiation and a stem cell transplant, she has been cancer free for three years.

As I know I've mentioned before the Alzheimer's Association is an organization near and dear to me. Each fall I work as hard as I can to raise money for the annual Memory Walk. That's a not so subtle way of letting you know I'll be harassing you to donate come August. I want to raise more money that ever for the Memory Walk this year and I sincerely hope you'll give me your support. In addition to supporting me in the Memory Walk here is another cool way you can support our local branch of the Alzheimer's Association:

Local film production company Hart-Lunsford Pictures helped produce the independent film "Diminished Capacity." The film stars Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, and Virginia Madsen. In the film Alan Alda plays a man with Alzheimer's. On Sunday April 13, 2008 a local premier of the film including a Q&A with screenwriter Sherwood Kiraly is being held as a fundraiser for the Kentucky-Southern Indiana chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

Tickets are $50 and include a wine/beer/ hors d'oeuvres reception, film viewing and the Q&A. The entire $50 ticket price will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association.

Tickets must be purchased through the Center for The Arts. They can be purchased online starting today at www.kentuckycenter.com or over the phone at 502-584-7777.

Sunday April 13, 2008
6:00PM
Kentucky Center for the Arts

Amy Wheeler of Tallulah Cosmetics sent me this information about a fundraiser for Blessings in a Backpack, a program "designed to help meet the nutritional needs of children over weekends." On Friday April 4, 2008 YPAL and Junior League of Louisville will be throwing a "Backpack and Donation Drive."

On April 4, 2008 the Junior League of Louisville (JLL) and the Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL) are joining forces to raise awareness about child hunger in our community and other communities. The event will be held at 4th St Live and will feature a presentation from Stan Curtis (the groups founder), Chris Spalding (YPAL President), Melissa Marvel Buddeke (JLL President) and others about the program, how it helps the community, and how more individuals can become involved. Volunteers from both organizations (YPAL and JLL) will be handing out fliers about the program and representatives from Blessings in a Backpack will be on hand to answer questions and take donations (monetary, backpacks, and can goods). In addition, businesses surrounding 4th St Live will be collecting donations in the weeks prior to the event.

More info about Blessings in a Backpack

Blessings in a Backpack began in 2005 with just one school in Louisville, Kentucky. The program is celebrating its second year of operation outside of Jefferson County and the Louisville, Kentucky Metro regions. This program is designed to help meet the nutritional needs of children and families over weekends. The Blessings in a Backpack is a program being initiated through the efforts of concerned citizens. Every Thursday afternoon, volunteers will fill selected student's backpacks with non-perishable food items and pass them out to students on fridays at the end of the school day.

Kentucky Books for Patients is an interesting project that collects donations of new or gently used books by Kentucky writers or writers associated with Kentucky. Their goal is to "establish book collections in cancer centers of hospitals and clinics throughout Kentucky."

Next Thursday March 14, 2008 a special evening of readings and music by Kentucky writers and musicians is happening at The Jazz Factory in support of Kentucky Books for Patients.

"Presented as part of The Jazz Factory's Jazz & Spoken Word monthly series, the event will feature readings by an all-star cast of the region's best-known writers, including poets Jane Gentry Vance (Kentucky's Poet Laureate), Frank X Walker, Sarah Gorham, Leatha Kendrick, Kathleen Driskell, Maureen Morehead, Frederick Smock, and Mary Welp. Poems by Aleda Shirley, a former Louisvillian and cancer survivor now living in Mississippi, will be read, in her absence, by poet Emma Aprile.

Also reading will be Dr. Donald Miller, head of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center; writer Dianne Aprile, producer of Jazz & The Spoken Word, and Clint Morehead, the University of Louisville fourth-year medical student who created The Kentucky Books for Patients Project to establish book collections in cancer centers of hospitals and clinics throughout the state."

The Jazz Factory
(in The Glassworks Building)
815 W. Market St.
Louisville, KY

Part of my reading goals for 2008 is to read a good deal of Wendell Berry's work. I've been doing that and enjoying Berry very much. So I imagine that my donations to this cause are going to be in the form of Wendell Berry books because everyone needs to read them.

Don't tell me you aren't familiar with rent parties. Seriously? You've never heard of a rent party? You're obviously very lucky and special. For real, consider yourself lucky if you've never attended a rent party and even luckier still if you never had to throw one. But you feel left out don't you? Don't stress over it my friend, instead attend the "Raisin' The Rent Party" fundraiser benefiting the St. John Center for Homeless Men. The event is part of the Frankfort Avenue Trolley Hop on Friday January 29, 2008.

The party starts at 7PM, entrance is $15. There will be music, dancing, food and a cash bar. No word on whether there will be any bathtub gin or homemade hooch.

I was in Junior Achievement in high school. My JA experience was an excellent one (I was president of my company and cleaned up at the annual awards banquet my senior year thank you very much) so it's an organization that is dear to me heart. So allow me a moment to encourage you to check out an online auction that benefits Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana.

An auction is a great way to support good organizations because they get your money and you get some kind of actual good or service. You know, you get more than that warm fuzzy feeling. Items up for bid include all kinds of great stuff like lunch for two at Limestone, a Sonoma-Cutrer Wine Basket, private knitting lessons, Spanish lessons, logo design (from Doe Anderson!), tennis lessons, front row behind home plate seats for a Louisville Bats game and a metric ton of other gifts.

Online bidding will begin this morning February 25, 2008 at 9:00 AM, Eastern Standard Time and will end March 14, 2008.

Well they missed talk like a pirate day but I'll give the Kentucky Opera Guild a pass and let you know about their upcoming Viva Voce event.

Apparently you can come out, participate in wine and spirit tastings, participate in a silent auction, eat free appetizers, oh and talk like a pirate all while benefiting The Kentucky Opera. Really, what more could you ask for in an event. Nothing unless you're really greedy.

Date: Friday, February 29, 2008
Time: 6pm - 9 pm
Place: Mellwood Arts Center
860 Mellwood Avenue Louisville, KY
Tickets: $35 for ye, $60 for a ye and yer lass

For reservations call 502.561.7920 or email rsvp@kyopera.org

I'm not ashamed to admit that I once had a serious thing for fondue. I spent more than one birthday at fondue restaurants in various cities because I love dipping cheesecake and brownies into a pot of gorgeous melted chocolate. I haven't had fondue in years though, I kind of outgrew my love for it.

At least I had until I got the press release for a charity event that runs the month of March at The Melting Pot.

The Melting Pot, Louisville's only fondue restaurant, will offer three special desserts made from Girl Scout cookies during the month of March. Guests of the restaurant, located at 2045 S. Hurstbourne Parkway, will have the option of diving into a fondue pot of melted chocolate enriched with Samoas, Thin Mints or Tagalongs, each served with a dipping plate consisting of fruits, cheesecake, brownies and Trefoils. The special desserts will be offered on the menu from March 1 to March 31, 2008, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana.

Melted chocolate enriched with Thin Mints? That sound so very good. So much so that I may just have to have a one night reconciliation with fondue.

Sushi In The City plans to be the hot event in Louisville during the late cold winter season when many are ready to cure their cabin fever. It's a Sushi competition between many of the top-notched Sushi Restaurants here in Louisville. Each restaurant will make a signature Sushi to be sampled and voted by the sushi connoisseurs. The winner of the event (according to participant's votes) will have bragging rights as winner of the best Sushi In The City for the year 2008.

Sushi in the City
March 4, 2008
5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. benefiting Project Women.
$60 per person ($50 for members of Young Professional Organizations)

The Henry Clay
604 S. Third Street (corner of Chestnut and Third)
Louisville, KY

The Bellarmine University Radio Association is holding a series of concerts to benefit the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life." The next show is a sweet deal. For a $5 cover you get local favorites Leigh Ann Yost, Tamara Dearing, Nick Peay, Amanda Lucas with Audrey Cecil and more. And there's a free buffet. Good live music for $5 and free food? Good gracious the folks at The Bellarmine University Radio Association are clearly nice people.

Friday February 22, 2008
Doors open at 6PM

Bellarmine University
Frazier Hall
Louisville, KY

I know I'm probably not the target audience for celebrity bartending events but that whole concept is not something I normally endorse. I just don't get the appeal, in general. However I do see the appeal of charity events, particularly ones that benefit causes I support whole heartedly like Slow Food Bluegrass. Not familiar with the group? Here's a bit of background from their website:

We are a food education group dedicated to promoting growers and producers of good, clean and fair food products throughout the Bluegrass region. In partnership with related nonprofit organizations, state government agencies, colleges and universities in our state, we raise awareness of food related issues that present challenges to the quality of life of the people in our state. Through our group's activities we intend to make positive contributions that will lead to the availability of healthier food and a cleaner environment for this and future generations of Kentuckians.

On Sunday, February 17, 2008  from 6 to 10 p.m Chef Mark Williams, "The Spirited Chef," of Brown-Forman and the Bourbon Street Café will be behind the bar at Proof on Main to benefit Slow Food Bluegrass. Williams is a founding member of Slow Food Bluegrass (I like him already) and says "The Kentucky region is so rich in culinary resources. By living in accordance with the philosophies of Slow Food, we assure a better quality of life and cuisine in our community." Right you are sir, right you are.

A portion of sales from the evening and all of the tips Chef Williams earns will go to Slow Food Bluegrass. So have a couple drinks and generously tip the bartender.

Proof on Main
702 W. Main Street
Louisville, KY 

For the rest of February The 930 Listening Room will be serving as a donation center to collect money for the victims of the LAVA House fire. The 930 has three concerts scheduled for February and at each will be collecting money. 100% of the money collected will be given to the victims in the form of gift cards. 50% will go toward residents of LAVA House and the remaining 50% will go to artists who rented studio space.

Opportunities to donate are at the following shows:

Ben Sollee, Brigid Kaelin and Mike Mangione this Friday February 8, 2008

Ingrid Michaelson on February 11, 2008

Sharon Wright on February 23, 2008

Four Roses Bourbon and Nanz and Kraft Florist are teaming up for a benefit event for Brightside. A $5 donation at the door gets you premium bourbon samplings from the fine folks at Four Roses Bourbon Hall and bourbon discussion with Hall of Fame Master Distiller Jim Rutledge. You also get hors d'oeuvres and the opportunity to shop around Nanz and Kraft's floral playground to buy beautiful Valentine's gifts for your sweetheart.

Four Roses Flower Hour

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 6-8 p.m.
Nanz & Kraft Florist
141 Breckenridge Lane
St. Matthews

This sounds like my kind of charity event. Spend a little money to do some good for the community and get gourmet hot chocolate and complimentary hors d'oeuvres (including Hot Brown bites). I'm not finding any negatives in that description. Also, it's a family friendly way to spend Fat Tuesday. That's happy making right?

Shake off the winter chill and celebrate Mardi Gras at The Brown Hotel on Fat Tuesday, February 5, 2008 from 6 to 8 p.m. for the 4^th Annual Hot Chocolate Celebration. The whole family can enjoy a variety of gourmet hot chocolate and hors d'oeuvres created by The Brown Hotel's executive chef Laurent Géroli and his culinary team in the lobby of the historic hotel. The cost of each cup of hot chocolate is $5 and includes a set of Mardi Gras beads. All of the proceeds will directly benefit The Home of the Innocents and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

This year's selection of chocolate refreshments includes something exotic, a taste of white chocolate and something fruity. Spanish Chocolate Amore, featuring the sweet and spicy flavor of cumin, red pepper and honey cinnamon, will be available along with White Hot Chocolate, an almond-flavored drink with bourbon chocolate shaving. Make sure to try the Soy Milk Hot Chocolate too. Guests will be able to balance the sweet treats with savory delights, as complimentary tastes of the legendary Hot Brown will be available along with other hors d'oeuvres.

Yeah, that White Hot Chocolate with almond-flavor and bourbon chocolate shavings? I'm so all over that. I'm terribly pleased though that our vegan friends will not be left out in the cold. Way to represent with the Soy Milk Hot Chocolate Chef Géroli. Strong work. 

Years ago the late, lamented Hawley-Cooke bookstore held Friday trivia nights at the cafe in the Shelbyville Road store. It was a weekly event that warmed me to my very geeky core. I mean come on, what is not to love about a weekly competition involving, often arcane, knowledge. I still miss those trivia nights all these years later and while a once a year charity trivia night isn't a replacement, it's a start.

The 3rd Annual Paws With Purpose Trivia Night is happening tomorrow night at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in the Highlands. 10 people teams will be formed or you can come with your team of 10 all sorted out. $10 gets you in the door and gives you some drinks and snacks.

Doors Open 6 PM, Trivia Begins 7 PM

St. Andrews Episcopal Church
2233 Woodbourne Ave
Louisville, KY 40205

Info about Paws with Purpose after the jump

On Wednesday (yep, the day before Thanksgiving) Zen Garden is having a special customer appreciation day. On this day your meal is absolutely free. You do however have the option of making a donation, in the amount of your choice, to charity.

The total donations collected will be shared by three charities, one of which has been chosen already by Zen Garden. The other two will be chosen by popular vote.

So on the day before most of us stuff ourselves to the gills with turkey and all the trimmings enjoy a fantastic vegetarian meal, donate some money and cast your ballot for which deserving charities reap those donations.

Zen Garden Customer Appreciation Day
Wednesday November 21, 2007
11AM-10PM

Zen Garden
2240 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, KY

(The dish in the photograph is the very, very highly recommended orange tofu)

Dining Out for Life is one of my favorite events of the year because it allows me to do something I really enjoy, eating out, while doing something good for the community, namely supporting the House of Ruth.

Dine out at a participating restaurant and 20% or more of your bill will be donated to House of Ruth for the support of Glade House.

The mission of House of Ruth is to care for individuals and families affected by HIV and AIDS in our community. We provide advocacy and support for their physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs.

Many restaurants around the city are participating in Dining Out for Life (though I am unpleasantly surprised by some that aren't) so you've got lots of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hit Day's, Jackson's Organic or Automatic Saucer for your morning latte, The Fish House, Artemesia or Toast on Market for lunch and then, well, the options are nearly limitless for dinner.

Dining Out for Life is a perfect time to try a new restaurant because even if you don't end up loving the place the evening isn't a loss because it's for a good cause. And if you do totally love the place it's a double positive. That  being said we're going to Ramsi's for dinner. The super diverse menu makes it a perfect spot for vegans & vegetarians, flexitarians and hard core meat eaters alike. I'm inviting you, yes you, to join us. Drop a comment or send an email letting me know you're interested. Tentative dinner time is in the 6:30-7PM range. If you come out and join us you can actually get three benefits from Dining Out for Life. One, you get a good meal, two, you get to do good for the community and three, you get to meet and socialize with new and interesting people. It's all positive people, all positive.

Six Apart, the company that makes Movable Type, the software that powers Consuming Louisville, is encouraging bloggers to support Donors Choose. This is the first time I've heard of Donors Choose so I spent a little time reading about its mission and how it works. Now that I know a little bit about it I think it's great and I definitely want to support it and want to challenge local bloggers and geeks to support it as well.

Basically Donors Choose allows school teachers to ask for money that will directly fund specific projects. No going through a non profit organization, no money going to a school or school system's general fund. Just direct financial support of specific projects led by actual teachers. A few years ago I organized a drive to buy books from the Amazon wishlist of a rural library in Eastern Kentucky. My friends and I purchased almost all of the books on the library's wishlist and it was I think the most fun I've ever had in terms of charitable giving. Giving for the sake of giving is wonderful but giving when you know your money will be having direct tangible effects? That's awesome.

Donors Choose is new to the Kentucky area so currently there aren't any projects to fund in Louisville. There are however two projects from rural schools to support. The amount of money these teachers are asking for is so reasonable I'm confident that we, the Louisville blogger and geek community, can completely fund both of them. The first project is to encourage students to read and help them understand that there's a great big world outside of their rural Kentucky surroundings. The teacher is requesting a total of $235 to purchase 40 subscriptions to a current events magazine for children.

I teach in a small rural community in a first grade classroom. The students in our school are in a coal and farming community.

Many of the students do not have many books and magazines to read at home. Many of my students and their families have grown up in our town and never left this area. I want to be able to show them more of what is out in the world around them using Time for Kids. I also want to show them another type of print material, besides books, that they can read.

The students will be able to read a Time for Kids magazine each week and discuss events with the other first grade classroom. The students will be able to take their magazine home to share with their families. I need 40 magazine subscriptions to Time for Kids to provide our first graders with magazines to read.

The second project request should be near and dear to the hearts of the video bloggers amongst us. The teacher is requesting $591 to purchase a camera, microphone and headphones to allow students to participate in individual movie making projects.

I just went to a training and learned about some interesting software. My students can make their own movies!! I thought that was tremendous! I have the software and it could work now, but for them to really personalize their own movies we would need a camera to take pictures, a microphone so they can be the ones doing the talking, and headphones so they can work in groups to edit and critique each other's work.

Our school is limited on funds and this would be an impossible project for us to purchase. We have many other needs in our school that would come before this. This is a technological world and let's face it, our students need that kind of instruction so they will be prepared to go out into the world someday. This project would be ongoing and we would use these items throughout the year all throughout the curriculum. The headphones would be a way for the students to hear themselves read and make those self-corrections and will help with noise control in the classroom. Please take our project into consideration. I would love to get this underway and start my students on their technological journey.

So there you have it. Two very worthy projects, two very reasonable requests for funds. The Consuming Louisville challenge is now officially on! Be generous bloggers and geeks. And also please be generous even if you don't consider yourself a blogger or a geek.

Name: Uncorked at the Zoo presented by Louisville Uncorked
Date: Thursday September 20
Time: 7:30pm
Location: The Louisville Zoo
1100 Trevilian Way, Louisville, Ky

Benefits: Friends of the Zoo
Wine Tasting: California Whites

At each Uncorked event, a different variety is selected for tasting (for example: Merlot). Participants get together in up to teams of three and select a wine they'd like to present. Three bottles of the same wine are brought. The wines are bagged, tagged, and offered to the participants for tasting and scoring. At the end of the night the scores are tallied and the team's wine with the highest score wins.

Each tasting is dedicated to a different charity that is an integral part of the event: helping organize the festivities and providing educational material letting people know about their cause. Each participant is asked to give a minimum suggested donation of $15.

Saturday September 8 is the 2007 Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk at Waterfront Park. My partner is a physician who specializes in geriatrics so this event is always an important one on our calendar. This year we're walking with the University of Louisville geriatrics department and are trying to raise as much money as we can. Please consider donating to our team, or joining our team and raising funds yourself or heck even starting a new team to compete with us. However you want to support the event we'll be grateful.

Support the 2007 Memory Walk

Anything having to do with car racing is a bit out of my league but this is a great cause and there are lots and lots of car racing fans out there so clearly I need to pass this info on.

A local, online charity auction is being held as a part of Team Hemophilia, a fundraising program supported by the Andretti Green Racing team to raise money for the Tri-State Bleeding Disorders Foundation, a local chapter of the National Hemophilia Foundation. Participants can bid to win VIP tickets to the Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway on Aug. 11. Winners will have a chance to meet the Andretti Green Racing team, tour the pit, and hang out in the VIP hospitality area.

The auction, beginning tomorrow and continuing through July 28, is open to everyone.

For information on the program and details on how to bid, visit www.TeamHemophilia.org/.