Here’s a wayyyy early heads-up for your chance to hear Jay Leno live and support an important cause:

Late night funny man Jay Leno will headline the 2010 Children’s Hospital Gala on Saturday, September 11, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center.

The theme of this year¹s Gala, “What Matters Most,” captures the true spirit of the importance of The Children’s Hospital to its community and its families. At The Children’s Hospital, kids matter most!

As you might expect, such a high profile event does come with a highish price tag. Individual tickets to the event cost $350 (includes admittance to the “Patron Party,” whose date is yet to be announced). But you can make a less pocketbook-devouring contribution by making a donation to th Children’s Hospital Foundation in whatever amount you like, or making an in-kind donation to the event auction.

And the Children’s Hospital Gala 2010 is thoroughly Web 2.0. You can connect with the event organizers on Facebook. (At present the page is showing an April 24 event, so it’s possible they need to update things.

For more information, all kinds of contact information is available on The Foundation’s “Contact Us” page.

Speaking of new(ish) establishments in Uptown Boulder, there’s Upslope Brewing Company. Located way up there at 1501 Lee Hill Road, “Boulder’s Newest Brewery” joins Oskar Blues in offering microbrew in the can, not just because they can, but because today’s on-the-go biking-jogging-mountainsporting afficionado/a of hand-crafted ale demands no less! As their website puts it,

The teaming of fine ales in cans allows Upslope’s products to be mobile and easily part of an active lifestyle. Shared with friends after a long mountain bike ride, enjoyed at the end of skinning up and skiing down a snowy trail, or ordered in a local pub, Upslope is a natural fit for the active beer consumer living in the Front Range and Western Slope of Colorado.

(Put together Upslope with Amante, and it seems North Boulder is developing into the main intersection between sports and fine alcoholic products.)

But the reason I’m bothering telling you so is not just because I only just discovered Upslope (though that is exciting!), but because of the circumstances under which I discovered it. I got a Facebook invite to their ongoing Pints for the People event. Every Wednesday, Upslope will donate a dollar for every pint sold to a local non-profit organization. This month (July, 2010), that organization will be There With Care.

Our mission is to provide a range of practical services for children and families facing critical illness in order to ease the burden of life’s day-to-day obligations during a medical crisis. We do this by building strong relationships with local hospitals, business owners, professionals, and community volunteers, who share in the care of the entire family during emotionally, financially, and physically challenging times.

A good brew makes benefits easy. Raise your pint in the knowledge that you’re helping a good cause. If I may be forgiven the pun, that’s truly “putting your money where your stout is.”

You like a locally crafted beer. You like putting money toward a good cause. Do both at once this Thursday! On May 27th, the Walnut Brewery (1123 Walnut Street, Boulder) will host a special tapping event beginning at 6:00 PM. For every pint of their special seasonal White Pelican Pilsner that they sell, 25 cents will benefit CareConnect, an organization helping seniors with disabilities in Boulder County. Do follow the link and read all about ’em; they do good work in the neighborhood.

Even if you miss the May 27th event (I’m going to, I’m afraid), make plans to come in for a pint of the White Pelican sometime in the next few weeks. Walnut Brewery will continue socking away the per-pint-proceeds for CareConnect until the pilsner runs dry. But if you can attend, do. It looks like you’ll get a free pint just for stopping in on Thursday.

For more information, the Daily Camera’s got the goods. So has the official Downtown Boulder website. (Did you know we had one of those? We have one of those.) Clicky clicky!

That new restaurant you’ve been thinking of checking out. That splurge you’ve been owing yourself for months. That person you’ve been meaning to ask out to lunch ever since they first caught your eye. That early morning breakfast date you and your spouse have long said you ought to incorporate into the weekly before-work routine.

You know what would be a great day to finally go ahead and do it?

On April 29, 2010, over 300 participating restaurants will agree to donate 25% of their food sales to Project Angel Heart. Diners simply eat out for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner at participating restaurants. By eating out on Dining Out for Life® day, they support their favorite eateries, enjoy delicious food, and benefit Project Angel Heart, all at once.

Project Angel Heart is all about making sure those enduring difficult times have, at the very least, the support of a good square meal. They deliver meals to those suffering from HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses, ensuring that their immune systems get the right nutritional support. It also goes a long way toward reaffirming that someone cares.

During eighteen years of phenomenal growth, our goal has always remained the same: ‘meals with love’ for men, women, and children living with life-threatening illness.

Feeling cared about has an impact on how well one responds to medical treatment, on how well one’s immune system stands up to illness. So that, too, is a sort of “nutrition” that Project Angel Heart delivers. And since their services are free of charge, they help lighten the financial load that dealing with illness imposes on sufferers.

For over 800 clients served each week, Project Angel Heart embodies stability and hope by providing nutritious meals, free of charge, and specifically prepared to meet the nutritional needs of each individual client. Life-threatening illnesses can drain a person’s energy and finances, threaten their dignity, limit their independence, and leave them feeling alone and vulnerable. Project Angel Heart provides life-saving nutrition necessary for physical, emotional, and financial health.

On April 29, go out and enjoy yourself, and know a portion of your tab is going to good use.

Find a participating restaurant here.

First off, I know what you’re thinking. “When did Denver Metblogs turn into Boulder Metblogs?” Because today’s post is going to be about another Boulder doin’. Look, don’t ask me, there used to be like five of us blogging, all representing different areas of your basic Denver-and-surrounding. Then everyone sort of fell off the map what with life and stuff. Now I’m back (Hi!) and if no one else is yet they probably have good reasons.

So. Boulder! Tomorrow! Fund raiser for Bhutan!

The tragedy in Haiti has gotten a lot of air-time, and rightfully so. But a sad effect of big famous tragedies is how they obscure also big (in terms of human impact) but less famous tragedies. Sort of like after Hurricane Katrina, most of news was about New Orleans and not about, say, towns in gulf-coast Mississippi that had gotten wiped off the map.

The point isn’t to complain about this effect, but to do something about it. And some very good people are indeed doing something.

Bhutan has suffered three (3) major earthquakes in the past four (4) months (see September 2009). That’s a whole lot of shaking in not a lot of time, and the damage to infrastructural necessities has been immense. To raise money to help re-build, an event is going on tomorrow, Friday, February 26, at 6:30 p.m. at the Unity Church of Boulder (2855 Folsom Street). The cost is $35, which covers food, drinks, and your seat in the audience for some wonderful cultural performances. All proceeds go directly to aid the rebuilding efforts in the affected communities.

The flyer says to RSVP by today, Thursday, February 25th, which is sort of almost over. (Sorry. I found out about the event late myself.) But I doubt anyone will turn your money away at the door–every cent will help so much. But to be safe, you might want to call ahead first:

Arunama: (303) 514-4177,
Akayah: (720) 839-6266

Even if you can’t attend, you might want to call to find out how you can help in other ways. (Also, see TLC Bhutan on Facebook.)

Please spread the word as much as you can. Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow: Alpacas! In Longmont!

Restoring the Soul, an organization facilitating the service collaboration of faith congregations, has been hosting a series of monthly community forums for several years now. In the organization’s own words:

One aspect of Restoring the Soul: Faith and Community Partnership’s mission is community education on crucial social issues. These Forums present current information via local, expert panelists who are personally involved with the topic issue. The Forums address the information needs of congregations, service agencies and the general citizenry.

(Emphasis mine.) February’s forum is on a topic near and dear to my own heart. It’s called “Homelessness: Compassion and Tension in Community.”

Tension is an appropriate word. I was here in early 2000 when the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless was struggling desperately to find a more adequate location than the converted motel they used to subsist in way up north on Broadway. A facility became available, one that would allow them to multiply their nightly beds, greatly expand their program helping residents transition into independence, and, being more centrally located, give residents better access to jobs and services–but it was too close to a middle school for Boulder parents’ comfort. Because homeless people are scary, dontcha know, they might sneak up to the fence and sell our kids drugs or, y’know, be visible…

The Shelter is in a much better facility now, but it’s still way the hell north on Broadway, at the very last stop of the SKIP route, far enough north that even the “Uptown” residents don’t have to be acutely aware that homeless people exist.

Well, they do exist, and there but for the grace of our paychecks go most of us. No matter how we may like to pretend it can’t happen to us because we’re good, hardworking people who would never bring the problems of homelessness and poverty on ourselves by being lazy and getting drunk or whatever–it can happen to anyone. All it takes is one unaffordable emergency, one medical diagnosis, one divorce, one abusive family member… And if it happens to you, do you think you’re going to suddenly turn into an amoral predator apt to corrupt children through a schoolyard fence? Would the inability to make the rent turn you into an urban danger overnight?

See also: Being Poor.

So. Important topic. Important forum. Open to the public. If you’re reading these words, you’re invited.

It’ll be this Thursday, February 25th at Congregation Har HaShem (3950 Baseline). The panel, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., will be facilitated by Greg Harms, Executive Director of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless. Panel members will be Joy Eckstine (Carriage House), Joe Pickett (St. Andrew Presbyterian Emergency Warming Center), and Jim Budd (Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow). After the panel there will be half an hour for Q&A.

For more information about attending or how you can listen to a recording of the forum afterwards (via KGNU or online), please visit Restoring the Soul’s informational Forums page.

And thank you for reading.

Midnight Classic

Picture this – it’s dark, the streets are blocked off, and 5000-6000 people are cruising around hooting and hollering on their bikes.
How frickin cool is that?

I’ll be there with the hubby and a couple friends! The bands start before. There are 2 session of riders – the family set or those who don’t want to be up so late, and the later ride for the rest!

It does cost to do it, but all the money goes to Seniors Inc – “a non-profit agency dedicated to promoting independence and enriching the quality of life as we age.”
I think that is a pretty darn cool charity- and i hope to be independent and enriched when i get up in years!

We didn’t get going early enough – so we don’t have a team or an outfit, but we’ll be there to enjoy the night and ride the streets in the dark! Woohoo!

Check it out – you can register at REI or online!