What sets the upcoming ECO-LIFE Foundation fund-raiser apart from the ordinary is that the event is focused on saving not an individual habitat or species but protecting humans and the quality of life for people all over the world.
It may sound like quite the daunting task, but ECOLIFE founder and director Bill Toone’s concern with ailing natural resources has placed the issue in the forefront of the organization.
The theme for the 2007 fund-raiser “” at the Birch Aquarium on Saturday, Oct. 20 “” is water, and efforts to improve the failures of global resource management.
“Poor resource management, combined with climate change and overpopulation, has pushed global resources beyond capacity to meet growing human needs,” said Toone, who is a conservation biologist with more than 30 years of global field experience. “As a result, our planet is witnessing the biggest extinction crisis in the history of the planet: Plant and animal species disappear from our rich diversity on a daily basis.”
He knows firsthand of the 1.2 billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water.
“Nearly one third of the world lives without adequate sanitation, and 30 million people will die from waterborne disease over the next decade,” he emphasized.
The fund-raiser promises to be a gala event and is meant to bring much-needed attention and financial support to the foundation’s efforts. Toone specified that all proceeds benefit ECOLIFE’s Southern California Watershed Education & Conservation Programs as well as the Kenya Clean Drinking Water for Schools program.
The goal of the Escondido-based foundation, an international nonprofit conservation organization, is “to improve the quality of human life through education and ecologically sustainable programs.”
What is an ecologically sustainable program? One example was recently featured on the season premiere of the long-running PBS series “The Victory Garden.”
According to Toone, the foundation has developed a simple, inexpensive “” yet highly effective “” rainwater collection/redirection system to gather runoff from rooftops: water otherwise lost to runoff and evaporation. Instead, Toone explained, rainwater is channeled by the building’s roof gutters to a small sump, where it is automatically pumped into a large holding tank and stored for use.
The holding tank can be above or below ground, depending upon owner preferences and building codes.
“A flip of the valve can also divert rain to an irrigation system, sending water exactly where you want it in your yard or garden during showers,” said Toone, who walks his talk and utilizes this system at his own home in Escondido.
The system is inexpensive, effective and easy to install, he assured. Stored water is then available for gardening, washing cars ” or survival.
“We will be providing these systems to schools in Kenya, Africa, where school children are exposed to danger from crocodile and lion attacks as they gather unsanitary river water for daily use,” Toone said. “This ECOLIFE Foundation outreach project, Clean Drinking Water for Schools, will serve as a powerful model to a young generation of African students who will grow up with a better understanding of how to sustainably manage the resources available to them.”
Toone stated that the rainwater collection system is effective in any climate, “but particularly effective in arid and semi-arid regions struggling with water-use issues,” he added. “Imagine the water savings for cities such as Los Angeles or San Diego ” if installed in millions of homes.”
Toone’s work for the San Diego Zoo’s Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES) has placed him on the front lines of conservation, beginning with the California Condor Recovery Program. Successes with condors launched Toone into a dual career as international conservation biologist and spokesman for conservation issues, spawning the ECOLIFE Foundation.
He and his wife Sunni Black (who co-owns Berwick Productions, a company that presents birds as “wildlife ambassadors” to help educate people about the need to conserve natural resources), along with a small handful of friends and colleagues, have thus far produced two impressive fund-raisers, helping the organization to get off the ground.
Point Loma resident Susan Santilena met Toone and Black at another event and became interested in what their fledgling foundation was attempting to accomplish.
Santilena possessed invaluable fund-raising experience and volunteered to assist in rounding up a fund-raising committee.
“Susan has so streamlined our efforts and allowed us to remain focused on our mission while creating an event to support that work,” Toone said. “Susan and her committee have turned the event into a real bonus for the foundation. This year, through their work, we are enjoying corporate support from Shultz Steel and Solar Monkey, corporations that really understand the management and conservation of resources.”
Among other contributions, Santilena introduced the idea of hosted tables this year, in which guests are encouraged to reserve an entire table of eight or 10 of their friends, adding not only to the funds but to the fun of the event as well.
“This year’s event will be fabulous,” Santilena effused. “With water as the focus, the Birch Aquarium is the perfect venue. Guests will have private access to the entire aquarium while enjoying fabulous food, dancing and entertainment.”
The 2007 fund-raiser features “” among several surprise guests “” dancing to the music of San Diego acoustic jazz group Ruby Blue, an appearance by Tony Award nominee Michel Bell and food from Waters Fine Catering.
In addition to ticket purchases, the night also offers the opportunity to donate via a silent auction, raffle and live auction featuring a vast array of items, including Caribbean getaways, a dinner for 10 specially prepared by Trey Foshee, partner and chef at George’s at the Cove in La Jolla, as well as luxury spa treatments and hotel stays, generously offered by the Estancia Resort and Spa in La Jolla.
“We’re excited to be involved with this special event, as it is representative of our sensitivity towards environmental issues that impact all of us,” declared Dave Gerdes, the Estancia’s regional director of sales and marketing. “We must take care of our environment “” not only for our future and legacy but more importantly for our children’s future and the future of every generation that follows.”
“Bill is a visionary,” Santilena said. “He and Sunni both truly care about the world. It’s wonderful to be affiliated with people who want to make a difference.”
For more information about the ECOLIFE Foundation and the fund-raiser, visit http://ecolifefoundation.org.