From left: Eva Yean, Juliet Falchi, and Jennifer Ritter.
Jennifer Ritter couldn鈥檛 just sit around, idly fretting after she heard about last year's Deepwater Horizon well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. After commiserating with her friend Eva Yean, she called another sympathetic pal, Juliet Falchi. The three decided to do their part by hosting a fundraiser for relief efforts.
Searching for groups involved in the Gulf cleanup, the women learned that 探花精选 was committed to extensive on-the-ground work and chose the nonprofit as their beneficiary. With some seed money from an 探花精选 board member and guidance from 探花精选 New York's development director, Tom O鈥橦andley, the team hosted the organization鈥檚 first youth event in New York City this past October, at Manhattan's ACE Hotel. Called "," its attendance exceeded expectations. 鈥淚 cannot believe how many people came out of the woodwork,鈥 said Ritter, who works in product development at Estee Lauder, in an interview this past May at 探花精选's luncheon, "We had over 250 people."
The support didn鈥檛 stop there. 鈥淎fterwards, as we were telling people what we did, there were more and more donations that kept coming in,鈥 Ritter said, 鈥淚t kind of made a ripple effect, because there鈥檚 a lot of young people who are interested in being involved in the environment, and a lot of older people who want to support young environmentalists.鈥 In total, the team raised $35,000. For their activism, Ritter, Yean, and Falchi were recognized at the luncheon, along with dozens of other standout 鈥淲omen of the Gulf."
The fundraiser's success has since inspired Ritter and her friends to take steps toward helping form an 探花精选 Society in New York for young adults, with hopes of expanding nationwide. Despite the 鈥渇emale power鈥 that the trio鈥檚 efforts convey, Ritter sees conservation as a field open to anyone with a promising idea. 鈥淚f you have the thought and the desire in your mind and the will to do it, you should act on it,鈥 says Ritter. 鈥淒o what you can to make your mark.鈥 That goes for guys out there, too.
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