Final (RED) update of 2006

Before 2006 is over, I have some exciting (RED) partner updates to share.

MOTOROLA (PRODUCT) RED POP-UP STORE WINS INTERNATIONAL STORE DESIGN COMPETITION AWARD
For Oprah's (RED) shopping spree on Michigan Avenue, Motorola opened a pop-up (RED) store to launch the RED MOTORAZR, and it's won a design award in the 2006 ISP/VM+SD International Store Design Competition! What's amazing is that this temporary pop-up store beat out many permanent store entries.

We're not sure which place it's won yet — we'll find out in January at the awards ceremony. It's also up for "2006 Store of the Year" at this competition, keep your fingers crossed.

MAKE MINE RED TAKES OFF
Thanks to (RED) people like you, MAKE MINE RED, the design-your-own Converse website, is taking off! It’s the perfect blend of individual self-expression and joining (RED).

MAKE MINE RED shoes now account for half of all sales on ConverseOne.com and stays consistently in the Top 5 bestsellers on Converse.com. At this rate, more than 100,000 MAKE MINE RED shoes will be made by people like you and me this year. People all around the country are designing their own Converse (PRODUCT) RED shoes and, in the process, they're directing 15% of their purchase price to the Global Fund. What we love is the fact that Converse isn’t charging more for this — meaning we all get the chance to direct their money to the Fund.

See what you come up with at MAKEMINERED.COM.

What a year! Thank you for choosing (RED).

--bn

Happy Holidays from (RED)

Happy holidays from all of us at (RED)!

We wanted to remind you about 2 new things you can do online in time for the holidays:

1. Send a (RED) holiday e-Card: http://www.hipstercards.com/see_all.php?categid=192
These cards were created by members of the (RED) community. We were so impressed by them that we decided to use them as our official holiday e-Cards.

2. Calculate your (RED) impact: http://www.joinred.com/calculator.asp
With the new (RED) Impact Calculator, find out the ways that your (RED) purchases could impact people's lives in Africa! Tell your friends and family about your (RED) Impact with customizable (RED) Impact holiday cards that you can print and send. To calculate your (RED) purchases and send a card now, click here.

Do you have (RED) gift-giving stories you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to post your stories as comments to this blog.

Get (RED)-y for 2007,

Colette

Alpine (RED)

Greta from our (RED) UK office sent over her review from the Motorola Swiss launch on December 15. Sounds like it was a great time! --bn


If you’re like me, when you think of Switzerland you think white snow-capped mountains and chocolate rather than glowing red buildings! Well, when Motorola launched its first (RED) handset, the RED MOTORAZR, in Switzerland at a huge event last Friday, this beautiful land-locked country in the middle of Europe really saw (RED)!

It was a Friday night in Zurich, and a thousand people along with some of the country’s most well-known celebrities and dozens of media turned up for the launch. The venue was the trendy Kaufluten Club and it was bathed in warm (RED) light for the evening. It was perfect actually, as this gorgeous Swiss city had such a ‘Christmassy’ feel the red building looked right at home!


The launch included an amazing concert by Italian pop star Nek who totally wowed the fans both with his performance and his commitment to (RED). Thank you Nek and congratulations to Motorola for a huge event!

It was also really great to spend time with Dr Christophe Benn from the Global Fund. He now lives in Geneva but used to run hospitals in Africa, so he knows firsthand what a difference your (RED) purchases can and are already making. Yay!

--Greta

EMPOWE(RED) MOMENTS

Hints: Sunblock, balloons, glowsticks, and pineapple.
Guess where I've been. . .

A rave? My 8-year-old cousin's birthday party? Shopping at the 99 Cent Store?

WRONG! (Imagine sound of game-show buzzer here)

I was fortunate enough to travel to Hawaii with some other (RED) team members to attend the final date of U2's Vertigo Tour. I had read about the wonderful efforts of Hans, Tina and thousands of other (RED) friends who were coordinating the masses to turn the Aloha Stadium (RED). Although I knew what they had planned, I never imagined that it would be THAT (RED).

There were literally thousands of people wearing (RED). Those who didn't have (RED) items - due to limited availability in their hometown - wore the color red. Everything from santa hats, to jumpsuits, to paint and even an Elmo doll... people were (RED). When the lights went down and U2 took the stage, the stadium lit up with red glowsticks and balloons. You can see some of it in the video posted at the bottom of this entry. There's an article posted about the show, including some photos of our (RED) friends here. It was one of those moments when you looked around and knew you were not alone -- there are a lot of people like us out there and when we all come together anything is possible.

I was so moved by it all that I ran to the floor between sets to meet as many (RED) people as I could. You are some of the most wonderful, spirited, genuine people I've ever met. Most of the (RED) people actually made it into the ellipse area which means they camped outside the stadium for 2-3 days in order to get into this intimate section right in front of the stage. After negotiating (literally) my way to the front, I got to meet Hans. Although he took the initiative to turn the stadium (RED), I'm not sure he ever got to see the full effect since he was right in front, pressed up against the rail. I was also lucky enough to meet Tina, Germana, and Sammi. Hans has a lot of energy - after the concert Saturday night, he was getting up (or staying up) to run the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday. I haven't heard from him since, so I hope he's ok! Thank you, Hans - you are now one of our top MySpace friends and will always be one of our best (RED) friends.

When I got back from Hawaii I learned about something else spectacular. To mark World AIDS Day, 1 December, a group of students from Kingston University's Graphic Design course were set a brief to raise awareness about (PRODUCT) RED, these clever videos are the result and have been posted in YouTube as video responses to the videos on our (RED) Channel.





You can view their entire channel and additional videos here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=OneREDday

(Feel free to take a coffee break if you need it - this is going to be a long entry.)

Another EMPOWE(RED) Moment
Along with her mother and daughter, Donna Garske participated in Oprah's Favorite Giveaway. The audience was given $1000.00 each to use to get things for strangers. Donna and her family did "the (RED) thing" and purchased $3000.00 worth of Product (RED) clothing from the GAP and donated it to the Dallas International Street Church in Dallas TX. You can watch a video clip here.

(RED) For The Holidays
A few weeks ago we asked if any of you would like to help us create (RED) holiday cards. We received some wonderful submissions and have turned them into eCards so that they can be sent to all of our friends and family! If you'd like to send (RED) eCards to your friends, click here. Thank you for helping us turn the holidays (RED).

More MEASU(RED) Results
We have some updated results to share with you. (RED) sales in the U.S. in the first six weeks since launch have raised enough money to:

• Provide more than 40,000 people with ARV treatment for a year (Note: These treatments are only a small portion of a person's overall treatment and represent just one year of lifelong treatment.)
• Or provide more than 2 million peer educators with HIV training
• Or provide a year's worth of school materials and daily hot meals for more than 86,000 children orphaned by AIDS
• Or provide more than 1 million Rapid Tests which detect HIV and deliver instant test results.

*Note: These are estimates based on preliminary tracking. Actual contributions are calculated and managed on a quarterly basis.

Watch clips from the U2 show in Honolulu:
Keep an eye out for all the (RED) - especially the balloons! Click here and then be sure to click the link that says "A Few Clips from Saturday's U2 Concert."

Talk to you soon,

Colette

Hotel Cafe Tour Hits The UK

After a seven week tour, from coast to coast across the US, and abrief (and I mean brief) rest at home, we've taken (RED) and the Hotel Café Tour across the ocean to the United Kingdom. Although we were still pretty exhausted from our recent state-side escapades, we were all more than ready to spread the (RED) message as far as we possibly could. We did have to leave a few of our friends behind in Los Angeles, but this time our little traveling circus was headed up by Tom McRae, whose altruism, wit and (thank God) organizational skills kept us together and going. Joe Purdy, Cary Brothers, Steve Reynolds, Jim Bianco and Brian Wright have all continued to give their time and hearts to this tour and to (RED), and it was exciting to see what kind of an impact we could make overseas.

Tom McRae

Joe Purdy

Steve Reynolds

Cary Brothers

Jim Bianco

We spent the last two weeks selling out shows in every town we passed through, sharing the (RED) manifesto to hundreds of people in every venue. It's been an absolute joy for me personally to be able to see (RED)'s ideology and style so readily embraced across the globe. It doesn't seem to matter where we go—the desire to make a difference is universal... And of everything that I have learned and seen in the last few months, that's what I'm taking home with me.

Adele reports about her Swaziland trip

All photos by Adele Sulcas / The Global Fund

Adele from the Global Fund sent over a note with some of her experiences in Swaziland.

Thanks, Adele!

--bn

My colleague Rosie Vanek and I have just come back from Swaziland, which is the second country now benefiting from (RED) money. Swaziland’s national HIV and AIDS program is run by the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS – or NERCHA – which is financed by Global Fund money and which is mandated by the Swazi government to coordinate the country’s response to the HIV epidemic.

Swaziland has the highest infection rate in the world – about 34% of all adults are HIV-positive, and so many have already died that there are already over 70,000 orphans, and 15,000 child-headed households – in a country of only 1.2 million people. This has all happened very recently. In 1992, just under 4% of women attending prenatal clinics were HIV-positive, and by 2004 this had increased to over 42% -- that means that now, almost 1 out of every 2 pregnant women is HIV-positive. Life expectancy for Swazis has dropped to 39 years, and the number of orphans is expected to increase to 120,000 by 2010.

NERCHA’s role – with the help of (RED) money through the Global Fund grant – is to turn this terrifying trend around, ensuring that those already infected can get care and support, those who are still HIV-negative can remain that way through prevention education, and those who have lost their livelihoods because the family’s breadwinners have died, can survive, through community projects designed to support orphans by growing food for them and providing a safe space every day.

NERCHA’s amazingly dedicated and energetic staff took us to see a range of examples of the different kinds of work they are doing that are being funded by the Global Fund and (RED). We visited an antiretroviral treatment clinic in the capital, Mbabane, day-care centres around Manzini, and community centers called “KaGogo” (grandmother) centers – they are called this because grandmothers, who hold a deeply respected position in Swazi society, are the ones now looking after most of the orphans, even children who are not their own grandchildren, because so many parents have died of AIDS.

There are so many stories to tell, but for now I wanted to share two particular ones with the (RED) team. In the course of our week in Swaziland, we saw a number of “neighbourhood care points” which are informal pre-schools for children who can’t get to government schools, and day-care centers for children from the surrounding area. The main purpose is to keep the children alive by giving them food, and, because they do not learn normal values and social skills in a family setting, to teach them values and begin to educate them. The teachers and caregivers at the centers teach all kinds of life skills, create a safe space for the children, and also offer basic first aid and medication, while women volunteers from the community cook a meal for them every day. For most of these children, this is the only meal they will eat. Most of the children who come there are orphans – “double” orphans if both their parents have died, and “single” orphans if one parent has died – and all of them are hungry.

At the Mangweni care point, we saw children in their classroom writing, with great concentration, in special workbooks, despite not yet having eaten that day. The teacher, Queeneth, explained to us that these are all children who have never been to a formal school, and this program is designed to get them to a level of literacy that will allow them to enter the formal system and be at the same level as their peers. Then we watched the children line up to wash their hands before being served their meal of maize porridge with beans, and then stand in another line, holding out their plastic plates, to be served their meal from big steaming cauldrons. We saw children as young as 5, barefoot and in threadbare clothes, caring for their baby brothers and sisters. The volunteers cook and look after the children day in and day out, because they are driven by a sense of collective community responsibility.

Despite the children’s grim circumstances, and probably because of the love and attention devoted to them at this centre, they manage to play and learn together, and hold themselves with pride and confidence. The children and all the teachers and caregivers who watch over them were an absolute inspiration – their commitment to helping these children grow into healthy and responsible members of society is key to the long-term success of Swaziland’s fight against this disease.

Charles, a young American who oversees the program at the Fonteyn care point, described his view of the orphans he helps look after: “The greatest need for these kids is for somebody to love them. Kids are left to fend for themselves, carrying wood on their heads when they should be out playing and being loved. We need to provide an environment for them where they can escape the abuse they are subject to. The number 1 need for them is to be able to act like a kid.”

Laura, the schoolteacher there said, “Because they’re orphans, it’s not easy for them at home. They need a lot of love. This is letting them feel they are worth something, and that there is a future for them.”

The next day, Rosie and I met a remarkable woman named Thembi Nkambula, who is the national coordinator of the Swazi Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS. Thembi is 32 and HIV-positive. She is on treatment now and doing well, though the day we met her she was having a rest day off work as she wasn’t feeling great. Though Thembi has 3 children and a demanding job, working in very tough circumstances to support other HIV-positive people, she has a confident and serene aura, and is deeply grateful that she can now access antiretroviral treatment for free.

Tragically, Thembi recently lost her sister, who was only 34. Her sister had recently been diagnosed HIV-positive and went onto anti-retroviral treatment, but she was so sick that the treatment didn’t have time to work. It was a sad reminder of how important it is to be tested and to know your HIV status, so that you can take the necessary treatment steps in time – this is the goal of NERCHA’s counseling and testing work and is a vital piece of keeping as many people HIV-negative as possible.

--Adele

World AIDS Day at Santa Monica High School

Photos © Margaret Molloy

At the invitation of Santa Monica High School (a local high school), I went to speak at their World AIDS Day event last Friday morning.

At the meeting I meet a young woman named Kelly Snyder. It turns out this 17-year-old was one of 50 young American leaders selected by NetAID. They brought her to New York and trained her to speak about AIDS in Africa. She gave a tremendous presentation complete with a video produced by NetAID.

She had persuaded the high school to rotate 600 kids per hour (5 meetings throughout the day, so 3,000 students total). She did this presentation 5 times! Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund, was at a hotel across the street and he came over to speak to the second grouping of students. They were thrilled.

But here is the kicker. Richard and I were in the parking lot when the wrestling coach came up and introduced himself. He announced that he ran the “malaria club”!! It turns out the wrestling team has adopted malaria-net fundraising. They are running around Santa Monica collecting money! Richard and I were speechless when he heard there was a “malaria club” run by a wrestling coach!

Pig Roast politics here we come!

--Bobby

Veronica Webb shares her Individuals experience

Our (RED) friend Veronica Webb signed copies of Gap's Individuals book on World AIDS Day at Besame Mucho in Key West, Florida. She just sent us a note sharing her experience.

Thanks to Veronica, Besame Mucho, and everyone who came out to buy copies of Individuals!

Hi everybody:

The book signing started at 6 p.m., and we sold a book a minute until 6:30. Between 6:30 and 8, we sold another 25 copies. Phone orders are coming into the store as of this morning. So I think, in our little town of 25,000 people, that's a big success. Meredith, the owner of Besame Mucho, and I think the rest of the books will move by the end of the holiday season. We'll send the Global Fund a check for Christmas.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your help.

Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season.

-Veronica

Japan's PM Shinzo Abe joins (RED)

In case you missed this great photo, here are Bono and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo last week, right before World AIDS Day. The prime minister donned a pair of Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) RED sunglasses as they discussed (RED).

A Reuters story about Bono's visit with Prime Minister Abe gives some more details about their talk, which touched on global poverty issues as well as HIV/AIDS in Africa. It's too bad they didn't get around to talking about music, though!

Google and World AIDS Day

Just wanted to take a moment and thank Google for generating such great awareness for World AIDS Day and for their support of (RED).

If you visited Google today, you may have noticed they featured World AIDS Day and provided a link to Joinred.com to learn more. Traffic to our site increased exponentially and we've received a lot of notes (and blog comments) from people who hadn't heard about (RED) prior to the Google feature.

Many thanks to Google for getting the word out about World AIDS Day and (RED).

Today is World AIDS Day

At (RED), our work is just starting. We're proud to join all the other folks and organizations that have been fighting AIDS for the past two decades. We are thrilled that Google is highlighting our partnership model on World AIDS Day.

(RED) brings together global brands to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Our product partners Motorola, American Express, Gap, Emporio Armani, Converse and Apple send a significant portion of their profits from sales of their (RED) products to the Global Fund. The money buys medicine for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

At the heart of (RED) is YOU and what you are already doing – shopping. If you upgrade your choices, Africans win. If you choose (RED) instead of non-(RED) products when shopping for the things that you use in your everyday life, you are (RED). T-shirts, cell phones, sneakers, an iPod, scarves and sweaters for the approaching winter, (RED) partners have what you need. When you choose (RED), you choose life. For the people in Africa who need your help, join us and Google in choosing (RED).

Visit us at JOINRED.COM and send us your ideas and thoughts.

Bobby Shriver

The Independent goes (RED) for World AIDS Day

www.independent.co.uk