Sticking it to Blindness: Raising Money with BOTOX Cosmetic
One part of our current fund raising efforts involves raising funds with BOTOX® Cosmetic and use the money to cure blindness in Africa with both relief and sustainable development.
How does a Botox fundraiser work?
The concept is simple: take the growing trend of women and men getting treated with BOTOX® Cosmetic in the United States and turn it into a philanthropic call to action to end blindness in Africa. In a pilot project in 2005, 49 patients were treated in one day, which raised funds that cured 132 people of blindness in Tanzania and Tibet (click here for more details).
A nationwide BOTOX® Cosmetic fundraiser on November 16, 2007
Our current goal is to expand on the success of the pilot project. Unlike the previous fundraiser, which was local to Southern California, this year’s event will span the entire United States, and we’ve already received commitments from physicians in more than 35 states. Allergan (makers of BOTOX® and BOTOX® Cosmetic) has again donated enough product to support the fundraising initiative and the doctors are entirely donating their time. Over 1000 people around the country will help by having a minor cosmetic procedure, to support blindness prevention and treatment activities in Africa.
In addition, we’ll again cure more than 100 people who are needlessly blind in Tanzania, simultaneous with the event. We will be posting videos of some of the sight-restoring activities in Tanzania (and perhaps feeds from some of our offices) on the web prior to and during the event.
The good news is that we are already successful – having raised over $150,000 by the doctors pre-sponsoring their patients’ treatments!
Spreading the word about needless blindness in Africa is crucial. We plan to use the success and publicity of this event as a springboard to raise additional money ($2-10 million) to fund the pilot location for replicated cataract surgery centers throughout Africa. Establishing a network of McDonald’s-like franchised cataract surgical training centers that will teach just this one skill could revolutionize the whole issue of blindness in Africa.