The enLIGHTen Project-Auction is now open!

Many months of work with our nonprofit, Kids of Kathmandu, have come down to this week!

I'm so pleased to announce that our 2nd Annual Fundraising Gala, The enLIGHTen Project, is now on!

We have 17 incredible lighting designers that have created and donated pieces for the auction that is now open! Andrew and I have been visiting their studios over the past couple months and photographing their process. It has been amazingly inspiring and fun to meet these talented people, the very top of the game...from California to New York, between (Idaho) and beyond (New Zealand). See pictures from these visits here!

I have to give a special shout out to my husband too who has been working so hard and was absolutely instrumental to putting this elite list together. (and did a light of his own too which i love!) Its been so much fun to work on this together combining everything we love into one....design + good people+ photography + the kids in Nepal. really, what else is there?! well, there's sleep and balanced meals....but...

We also have opened this year's photo sale to other photographers and invited 4 amazing photographers including New York Times Magazine photographer Alessandra Petlin and well-followed writer and photographer and Green Energy Advisor to Kids of Kathmandu, Kashish Das Shrestha, to share the walls with me. I'm so happy with our lineup and respect the work these photographers have done and continue to do in Nepal.

Visit the new website, buy tickets for May 17th, or bid online for the auction. www.kidsofkathmandu.org

The proceeds of The enLIGHTen Project are going to purchase and install solar panels, batteries, and inverters for the orphanage we support in Nepal. It will also continue to go towards the education of these 49 children to whom we have given our word.

Thanks for all of your support! Hope to see you at the Gala!

We Are Kids of Kathmandu-VIDEO

Happy Holidays!

Thanks to those of you who came out to our Winter Fundraising Cocktail Party. It was a great night.
See the pictures from the event here.

It was an amazing success with over $10,000 raised, surpassing our goal and insuring that we will continue to be able to send the kids to the private school we love for 2012!

And i want to share our VIDEO with you!
Filmed and edited by the talented Suraj Ratna Shakya, music created especially for Kids of Kathmandu by Kutumba, a popular Nepali band.

Thanks for all your support. Enjoy!

It is all about...

Tomorrow night is our 2nd event ever, our Winter Fundraising Cocktail Party for our nonprofit, Kids of Kathmandu. We're expecting a great turnout and a lovely evening!

Of course we are running around figuring out how many table cloths, what color, do we have fishing wire, and if we have recycle trash cans or not (which reminds me!)...but it all comes down to these 49 kids below.

Hope to see you Friday.

You can buy tickets or make a tax-deductible donation on our website here
www.kidsofkathmandu.org
and follow us on facebook here.

Namaste and Happy Holidays!

The Poster Project Winning Posters

I also wanted to share the 10 winning posters that were selected by our amazing judges for The Poster Project for Nepal.

Winning designers stretched from San Francisco to Slovenia!!
We were so happy with the incredible work of these student designers!

All proceeds will go to support education in Nepal for Kids of Kathmandu!
(and event on behalf of The Poster Project is coming up this week! Details on the post below!)

Winter Fundraising Cocktail Party this Friday Dec 16th

Namaste Friends.

Please join us!

This Friday
December 16th
6-9pm

Go Studios 2, Penthouse
(a stunning brand new space!!)
318 W 39th Street, NYC 10018
btw 8th and 9th avenue

We will celebrate with works from The Poster Project, a design project to raise funds for education of the orphans in Nepal.

cash bar, food, and photo booth.
$25 supporter tickets, $10 student tickets

We will premier our 5 minute movie about Kids of Kathmandu made during our visit to Nepal just a few weeks ago made by
our talented friend Suraj Ratna Shakya.

and great merchandise for holiday gifts!

all proceeds go to benefit these amazing Kids of Kathmandu.
purchase tickets or make a tax deductible donation on our website
www.kidsofkathmandu.org

Look forward to seeing you Friday!

(kids welcome with student tickets)

Warmest Wishes,
Jami + Andrew + the entire team here at Kids of Kathmandu

The Poster Project First Place Winner

All 6 of our amazing judges came out last night to judge the submissions for The Poster Project for Kids of Kathmandu.

10 finalists and 3 top winners were selected. Here is the winning poster by Junior Narvaez of Miami Florida. How beautiful. Stay tuned for more.

Hello from Nepal!

An amazing few days spent in india...time in Varanasi, which happened to coincide with their biggest festival of the year. Tens of thousands of people dipping themselves into the River Ganges (the Ganga)...was unlike anything id ever seen before. Amazing beyond words. Having trouble uploading images too so will include more stories with the photos when we are back.

Now we are in Nepal. So great to be back. Oh how i love this country.
We are updating a tumblr page as we are in Nepal for the next week with our organization Kids of Kathmandu.

Follow us on tumblr here
http://kidsofkathmandu.tumblr.com/

Or our kids of Kathmandu Facebook page here
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kids-of-Kathmandu/106240339441257

Heading to see the kids later this afternoon. I can't believe it. I hope I can keep it together.

Love to all
Xx

The Poster Project for Nepal

Now taking submissions!

All proceeds go towards funding education for orphans in Nepal with Kids of Kathmandu.

Winning posters, selected by our amazing panel of accomplished professional, will be printed and sold in a limited edition at our December fundraiser, and will be later sold online.

Top 3 winners will also be able to have their portfolios reviewed by our judges.

Spread the good word and send in your posters for a great cause.
All information is on our contest site here www.wizehive.com/contests/theposterproject

Peace
xx

Beyond.

We did it. All of us. All of you.

Our inaugural fundraising gala for Kids of Kathmandu was on Thursday and let me tell you, we are still flying high from the event...it gained momentum all week as the event approached, with more and more tickets being sold, artist tickets selling out, and bids mounting up for the desks. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and come 6pm, we had a room ready for an event that looked amazing. So many helpful hands and hearts on this project...it is really mind blowing. The event was crowded and jovial, caring and interested. It went off without a hitch.

And did you hear??

We sold all eleven desks in the silent auction!!!

Ten individual children are fully sponsored!!

And we raised enough additional money to send all 41 children to a better school!!

Thank you to everyone who has joined us on this ride, good things are ahead.

Namaste. Dhanyabad. Om.

And thank you to Melanie McLean for taking pictures for us that evening!

It's Here. Kids of Kathmandu Inaugural Gala is TOMORROW.

I am so excited!

And if i stop to think about it too much i just go bonkers.
To think that just over a year ago we were meeting these children that would inspire us to launch Kids of Kathmandu...I am so looking forward to being able to report back to the kids with the results of all the efforts here.

In the process, we've met and collaborated with so many people that have given so much time and so much heart to this project...it is truly incredible what can be accomplished when you are spurred by the energy of giving. It seems to be a bottomless well that only becomes more and more fullfilling the deeper you dig.

I'd like to just link to some of the really important people that helped Kids of Kathmandu become what it is.
My husband Andrew Raible who put together The Desk Project giving Kids of Kathmandu a really special voice in the philanthropy world...as we combine photography + design to raise awareness of the orphans of Nepal.
I dont think either of us had a clue what we were getting ourselves into with this project, it has grown like a beanstalk. It has been trying at times, working so intensely together on a vertical learning curve...but i would do it all again with Andrew in a heartbeat.

Danielle Primiceri our amazing web designer. I know i'm biased, but i lOVE our website!

Megan Isaak our social networking guru and wordpress expert!

Michelle Brady, Whitney Doherty board members extraordinaire who are vital backbones to our decisions.

Vendors-Nisa Lee, an amazing friend and brilliant party planner, chef, caterer. I cant imagine ever doing a party without her. She takes the stress out of it all!

Photo Printer-Ray Henders at Rayographix, again, working with talented and professional friends make all the difference. Ray printed the photo installation and did a gorgeous job.

Other vendors we used and worked with us so generously
The crew at Novita Communications and Design Calendar
Jill Malek for our gorgeous book layout and design.
Michael Cohen for the awesome desk posters.
Plywerk-bamboo mounted prints
paperchase-book making
Steve's Key Lime Pies
Palm Bay Wines
VOS wines
Our venue Ramscale Love them!

See you tomorrow!!!

Peace. Namaste. Om. Woo hoo!!

Children's Desks made exclusively for Kids of Kathmandu-Bid Now!

By this time, most of you are aware of our new organization, Kids of Kathmandu

BUT you have not had a chance to see our amazing Silent Auction of Custom Made Children's Desks (!!) that is now LIVE!

These desks were designed and made specifically for Kids of Kathmandu by 11 local, talented, and well respected designers+woodworkers+architects+artists
(Andrew included!)

The auction is open for bids now HERE

The desks will be ON DISPLAY at the event on May 12 and the auction will close at the end of the evening May 12.

The desks will go to lucky families in New York (or beyond) and the money raised from these desks will go to fund the children's education in Nepal.

We are so excited for this auction and hope you can take part in it, send it to your friends, and/or come to the event and celebrate the children with us.

Peace
xx

__________________________


May 12, 2011 for the Kids of Kathmandu Inaugural Fundraising Gala.

Location
Ramscale Loft
463 West Side Hwy (between Bethune and Bank Street)
New York, NY 10014

Time
6PM-9PM

Help us to celebrate the children of Kathmandu by spending the evening surrounded by photographs of each of the 41 children, along with custom designed children's desks for auction, live music, food, and drinks.

website
www.kidsofkathmandu.org

purchase a ticket
http://kidsofkathmandu.givezooks.com/events/inaugural-fundraising-gala-may-12-2011

children's desk silent auction
http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/1391/auctions/1593

donate
http://kidsofkathmandu.org/donate/

facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kids-of-Kathmandu/106240339441257

Life Support Japan

Crista Dix from The Wall Space Gallery has put together an amazing project called Life Support Japan.

She has collected images from photographers all over, and the purchase of prints, each print being $50, goes to charities to help rebuild Japan. In light of another earthquake this morning in Japan, to be part this project seems like the least i can do.

My image called Ball of Amy is on sale, in an edition of 10 prints in LIfe Support Japan 5.

Please click here to visit the galleries.

Kids of Kathmandu -Save the Date

Our Save the Dates went out last week!

We are so excited. This has been a lot of work and knowing that the event is less than 2 months away is both exciting and nerve racking!

We've are collaborating with the most amazing team. It is so inspiring and humbling to see how much goodness people are capable of, how much work and energy people are putting forward, for no money in return.

I think with everything that is happening in the world, particularly at this moment in Japan, and in Libya,
it is easy to feel helpless.
But at the same time,
it is also easy to feel helpful.

If you want to be on the mailing list for our event, please email info@kidsofkathmandu.org.

Have a great week.

Kids of Kathmandu-Website Launch!!

We are proud to announce!!

That our website is finished.

PLEASE take a moment to visit us
www.kidsofkathmandu.org

We are planning our inaugural gala event this Spring 2011 in New York City.

If you want to be on the email list, you can join our facebook page

or email us at info@kidsofkathmandu.org

If you want to get involved, we'd love to have you on our EVENT PLANNING COMMITTEE!

Also, we are looking for a BOOK DESIGNER to help us layout our photo book that we will have on sale at the event.

Get in touch. Join us!

We are so excited..and cannot wait to share the fruits of these efforts with the kids in Nepal.

Namaste.

The Good Stuff

Wanted to mention the Manitou Experience, a camp for boys who have lost a parent.

I was asked to donate photography to an auction they had earlier this summer..and I was honored.

Being that camp days were some of the best days of my life (!) and that my mom is a bereavement counselor as well, i am especially impressed with an organization like this.

Thanks Manitou for all you do.

(Here is the image that I donated)