It’s time for Passports with Purpose 2010 and today I have the pleasure of participating in the kick-off of this year’s fund-raising activities and introducing you to my friend Lauren, owner of Chocolopolis.com and two speciality Chocolate shops in the Seattle area.
First, let’s do a little review of Passports with Purpose. This will be the third year that I’ve worked on this online fund-raiser with my friends Debbie, Pam and Beth (from DeliciousBaby, NerdsEyeView and WanderlustAndLipstick respectively). This year we welcomed Meg Paynor, a PR-gal extraordinare into our little team. In 2008, we started small, raising just $7,500 which we donated to Heifer International. Last year, we set a modest goal of $15,000 with which to build a school in Cambodia (with American Assistance for Cambodia). With the support of a great set of sponsors and a long list of engaged and enthustiastic travel bloggers, we blew past our goal and raised almost $30,000 – allowing us to build a school and fund some facilities at the school. We recently got some photos of The Passport School from AAfC – you can see them here.
This year we’ve set our fund-raising goal at $50,000 and we’re partnering with LAFTI, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the Dalit (untouchable) population in India. With $50,000 we will be able to build a village and provide some of these people with homes.
Which brings me back to Lauren and chocolate. I’m not at home right now, I’m in the Argenitian capital of chocolate, Bariloche but you don’t have to go to South America to taste great chocolate, you can do so right in Seattle. In her stores, in Queen Anne and at The Bravern in Bellevue, Lauren stocks artesanal chocolate from all over the world. She is an expert on the subject of chocolate from cacao cultivation to the production of sumptuous morsels with all kinds of interesting and unusual flavors.
That’s why I’m thrilled to announce the prize Lauren has kindly donated to Passports with Purpose 2010: a chocolate tasting event. You may have heard of tasting wines or beers or even whiskeys. Trust me, chocolate tastings are way more fun. as Lauren says on her website: “Similar to a wine tasting, a chocolate tasting gives you and your guests the opportunity to taste and compare chocolate made with cacao from different parts of the world while learning about artisan chocolate and cacao farming and production. Our chocolate tasting parties provide an opportunity to discover the best chocolate the world have to offer!”
Just like in the previous two years, Passports with Purpose 2010 will operate as an online free drawing. This great Chocolopolis prize will be listed on the donation page. For each $10 donation that you make, you get a chance to enter a free drawing for this or any of the other prizes listed. It’s that simple. Go, check out, the prizes, donate $10, $20, $50 or $100 and on December 17th 2010 we’ll announce the winner of each prize.
The Passports with Purpose 2010 sponsors are: BootsnAll, LiveMocha, Round the World with Us, HomeAway, Traveller’s Point, Hostelling International, Quintess, Raveable, TravelPost, and Uptake.
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