CUSTOMatrix™ Networking Happy Hour/Charity Benefit

Join CUSTOMatrix™ consultants on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 for an informal networking event at the Miami Grille Restaurant at the UTC Mall from 5-7pm.  A portion of the food and beverage purchases will be donated by the Miami Grille to the Wheelchair Foundation.  Start out your 2008 networking with an event sure to make a positive impact on the world.

What:            CUSTOMatrix™ Happy Hour Networking Event

When:           5-7pm, Thursday January 3rd

Where:          Miami Grille Restaurant, UTC Mall (Next to

                     Macy’s)

Restaurant

Phone:          (858) 552-0668

RSVP:            None required – invite your friends

The Wheelchair Foundation is a non-profit organization leading an international effort to deliver a wheelchair to every man, woman, and child who needs one but can’t afford one. A wheelchair can change lives by delivering hope, mobility and freedom to the recipient as well as their families who support them. A wheelchair can give a child the opportunity to go to school, an adult the chance to go to work or care for their children, or an elderly person to rejoin society. Currently, there are over 100 million people in the world without mobility and the Wheelchair Foundation is striving to change that.

In 2001, Lynn Metcalf, a Cal Poly marketing professor, heard about this need and decided to take action. The Cal Poly chapter of the Wheelchair Foundation was established and became the first collegiate chapter in the world. Over the past six years the teams have raised over $250,000 and sent over 3,000 wheelchairs to Peru, Ethiopia, Thailand, Guatemala, Belize and Argentina. This project is unique because it allows the students to put into action the skills they have acquired, receive senior project credit and not only “Learn by Doing” as the Cal Poly motto states--but learn by doing good and make a difference in the world.

This year’s team is comprised of twenty-five dedicated students from a variety of majors who have decided to focus their efforts on raising awareness about physical disabilities and the need for wheelchairs in Malawi, Africa. Malawi is one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, facing issues such as malnutrition, poverty, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In addition to these overwhelming problems, approximately one percent of the population is physically disabled. The team’s goal is to raise $200,000 by June 2008 and not only send much needed wheelchairs to Malawi, but also build wells and fund an educational endowment to send orphans to school. The team has partnered with four Rotary clubs in the San Luis Obispo County and has invited the Cal Poly sororities and fraternities as well as other campus and community groups to get involved.

You can help make a difference in Malawi by sponsoring the Cal Poly Wheelchair Foundation events, donating an auction item, attending the events, making a donation and spreading the word through your networks. A $75 donation provides a wheelchair, $100 educates a child and $3,500 provides potable water for a community. You can serve the world through giving the gift of mobility, education, and water to people in Malawi, Africa.

Contact Jaclyn Sick jsick@calpoly.edu to become a sponsor or for more information.

Jaclyn Sick is a senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo and future consultant.  She joined the Cal Poly Wheelchair Foundation as her senior project in order to use her business skills to change lives and make a difference in the world. She is the Community Relations & Education Manager as well as the primary liaison with the Rotary partners.


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CUSTOMatrix™ Insights Newsletter