Inside the Young Professionals Valentine's Day Party for Choice
Although the worlds’ thoughts and resources have been directed largely towards the prolonged state of emergency in Haiti – and your efforts, by the way, have raised approximately $1.5 billion – other causes continue to campaign for funding to advance their own initiatives.
Thursday night, the Young Professionals’ Council for Choice (YPCC) held their third annual I Heart Pro-Choice Valentine’s Day Party. As if the Svedka Vodka-sponsored open bar, complimentary Tawny Ong Bakery mini-cupcakes and a nOir Jewelry auction weren’t enough to reel in young changemakers from all over the city, the event also supported an important cause: reproductive rights, access and education.
Based in New York, YPCC’s fundraising, networking and advocacy efforts benefit the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), an organization that focuses on education and advocacy as a means to increase awareness about and access to safe and effective reproductive care.
Together the YPCC and the NIRH organized a very sweet and very successful Pro-Choice Party that raised upwards of $9,600. Proceeds from the event will be applied to three main initiatives:
The TORCH Program – Think back to middle school when the last thing you wanted to do was talk to adults about sex, but they made it their business to do just that. Well, NIRH’s Teen Outreach Reproductive Challenge, a.k.a. TORCH, is trying to make things a little less awkward for this generation of tweens by creating safe spaces to cultivate healthy communication about sex, and to promote education about sex-related issues.Back Up Your Birth Control – An awareness campaign for emergency contraception, “Plan B,” sometimes referred to by pro-lifers as “the abortion pill." NIRH wants everyone to know what it is and how to get it. NIRH also recently completed their “Back Up Your Birth Control Campaign,” featuring this hysterical “Grandma Video” that makes light of the fact that Plan B sales spike on New Years Day.HPV Vaccine Awareness – There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the HPV Vaccine over the last several years, however, in many places the vaccine is not available to all that want it. The HPV Vaccine Awareness program provides both education about the disease and the vaccine, and public funding to insure that everyone who wants the vaccine can get it regardless of financial limitations.Money raised from the event will also support other programs, including the confrontational “Messaging Project,” and others that can be found at NIRH’s homepage.
Click here to donate to NIRH’s causes.
Submitted by:
0 comments