On Thursday November 20 at 7:00 PM in the evening, the 12 Angels is hosting a benefit fundraiser. The event will be held at Dr. Tea’s Tea Garden & Herbal Emporium, which is located at 8612 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA, 90069. RSVP to phone number (877) 858-1212 extension 1 or rsvp@12angels.org.
The focus of the fundraiser is to support three exciting projects from the 12 Angels: the microfinancing of sober entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurship education class, and the online social networking program.
The night will be a celebration of recovery with complimentary food and drink, including hot and iced teas, frosted teas, healthy sandwiches and salads, and an array of decadent deserts!
We will be having a fashion show by MONARCHY and music and dancing by DJ MICHAELIS…This will be MONARCHY’s only west coast fashion show this season. DJ MICHAELIS is an internationally recognized DJ with a huge following. We have a silent auction with a number of very special items donated by celebrities in the community…
For individuals who would like something a little more low key, the event will include an exclusive screening of a new independent film about the disease of alcoholism, Lost In Woonsocket. Recently released across the country, the film was created by John Chester, the star of A&E’s cable show Random 1. The filmmakers and the stars will be present to talk about the film and answer questions after the screening.
On the 12 Angels website (www.12angels.org), we have quoted the NIDA’s statistics concerning the economic damage caused by Alcoholism and Addiction every year in the United States. The present figure of $340 billion dollars is twice the damage caused by cancer every year and half the cost of the current one-time economic bailout plan. So how can we help and what can we do?
Since alcoholics and addicts in early recovery often struggle to find work and are not the easiest people to hire or employ considering their checkered backgrounds, how can we aid them in the process of becoming productive members of society? In the 12 Step community, our common mantra is to be self-supporting through our own contributions. However, if a sober worker cannot find employment, how is he or she supposed to be self-supporting?
The central solution of the 12 Angels to this challenge is creating more jobs and opportunities for the newly sober by helping entrepreneurs in long-term recovery start of expand their businesses. In exchange for financial and technical support, we ask the entrepreneurs in long term recovery to hire the newly sober and provide recovery friendly work environments. By fostering awareness on both ends of the spectrum, the advantages to both employer and employee readily become apparent.
As a nonprofit entity, the 12 Angels organization and philosophy is modeled after the Grameen Bank of Muhammad Yunus, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The Grameen Bank is a microfinance and community development organization in Bangladesh that makes microcredit (or “grammeencredit”) loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral. The word “Grameen” derives from the word “gram” which means “village” or, more precisely, “of the village”. The bank’s philosophy is based on the concept that the poor have skills that are under-utilized and under-valued. We believe the same is true of the recovery community. For more information on the Grameen Bank - please see:
http://www.grameenfoundation.org/nobel_prize/vid_clinton.php
Beyond raising tax-deductible funds for the 12 Angels microfinance program, the benefit will raise money to finance our 12-week intensive entrepreneurship education program. Almost half the struggle of starting a business is connecting the bureaucratic dots successfully. Similar to NFTE and SCORE, the program walks entrepreneurs through the process while trying to match them with mentors and business counselors who provide the necessary experience and expertise.
Finally, the last and perhaps most revolutionary initiative we are looking to support is an online social networking program with software designed to interact with Facebook. Details about this project will be announced on November 13 at the benefit. We hope you will embrace the mission of the 12 Angels and attend this benefit. For more information, please contact David Cantor at david@12angels.org. Since there is limited seating space available, please set up your reservations as soon as possible.
In our society, the road of transformation from addicts and alcoholics to productive members of society must be paved with more than good intentions. The 12 Angels want you to help us pave this road through a carefully managed process of investment, education, networking and advisement. With your help, the goal of one hand helping another can become a reality. Together, we can make recovery happen.
