“ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS”
ST. LOUIS: The Friends of the Saint Louis University Liver Center invite you to learn more about incorporating green as a part of your lifestyle at the upcoming “Any Way The Wind Blows” event on Saturday, October 16, 2010, from 6:00 until 9:00 pm. The event will be hosted by John and Natalie Alberici, and will take place at the Alberici headquarters, located at 8800 Page Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri.
Eco-friendly companies and organizations will provide information and presentations for guests, in order to demonstrate how even the average consumer can include “green” measures and initiatives as a part of their daily lives. The event will also feature cocktails and hors d’voures with a locally-grown organic focus, along with live music and other “living green”-oriented entertainment and activities.
Representatives from Alberici and their “green” division Vertegy will be on hand to provide tours of the award-winning Alberici headquarters complex. Alberici’s headquarters has been added to the list of the nation’s “greenest” buildings by being awarded LEED® Platinum certification, the highest level awarded by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
Various Booth and Sponsorship levels/opportunities are available for “Any Way The Wind Blows”. Companies and organizations already committed to the event include American Document Destruction, EPC, Metro Lighting, The Bug Store and Vi-Jon Company – with additional businesses being added to the event’s vendor/sponsor roster weekly.
Tickets for the “Any Way The Wind Blows” event are $35 for general admission. A limited number of VIP tickets are available for $100 each, and include an exclusive pre-party and a personalized tour opportunity conducted by John Alberici beginning at 5:00 pm prior to the public event. Proceeds from the “Any Way The Wind Blows” event will benefit the Saint Louis University Liver Center.
Just as the “green” movement promotes the preservation and renewal of our earth’s natural resources, the Saint Louis University Liver Center provides patients from around the world with a new hope in the fight against liver diseases.
The Friends of the SLU Liver Center supports the research efforts of the world-renowned Saint Louis University Liver Center for the treatment and cure of liver diseases, and to promote understanding and awareness of liver disease. All money raised by the organization stays in the St. Louis area to perform life-saving research and treat patients in St. Louis.
One of the Center’s better-known patients is Grammy-winner Naomi Judd, who after being diagnosed with hepatitis C, was given just three years to live and now credits Dr. Bacon and his team for saving her life.
Dr. Bruce R. Bacon, Co-director of the SLU Liver Center, notes, “The work that we have been able to do here at the Saint Louis University Liver Center, with the support of the Friends organization, has resulted in the cure of hundreds of hepatitis C patients with medications that have not yet become commercially available and at no cost to the patient.”
Bacon continues, “Each day we are discovering that more people are suffering from liver disease, including hepatitis C and B, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, autoimmune liver disease and liver cancer. Many believe there’s little hope after being diagnosed, but there are new treatments available and there is hope.”
Bacon believes there are critical reasons to support the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the SLU Liver Center:
• The SLU Liver Center enjoys worldwide recognition as a center of excellence for research and treatment of liver diseases.
• Hepatitis C affects five million people in the United States. One in 50 people have hepatitis C, and nearly two-thirds of those people don’t know they have it.
• Hepatitis C can be diagnosed through a simple blood test and is curable in about 60 percent of patients.
• There are over 30 other liver diseases which can be diagnosed and treated.
• All the money raised by the Friends of the SLU Liver Center stays in our region to support local research and treatment.
The Friends organization has raised and donated more than $1.9 million for the SLU Liver Center since its inception. The funds help support the critical infrastructure of the Liver Center from faculty salaries to visiting professorships and patient-oriented seminars and research. By leveraging the donations of the Friends, the Liver Center is able to use the funds as“seed grants” for investigators to gather preliminary research data that in turn generates larger grants from outside sources. This seed grant process has generated $18 new dollars from outside the region for every $1 raised locally.
For more information about the Friends of the Saint Louis University Liver Center’s “Any Way The Wind Blows” event sponsorship opportunities, or to purchase tickets (by October 9), please contact Executive Director Leisa Duff via email at lduff@friendsoftheslulc.org or by calling the Friends of the Saint Louis University Liver Center office at (314) 576-3078.
And to learn more about the outstanding Alberici LEED® Platinum certified headquarters, please visit the company’s web site at www.alberici.com.
