Waylon Lewis Birthday Benefit for New Era Colorado, hosted by Congressman Jared Polis (fresh off the plane from DC where they’re still working on hashing out the Debt Ceiling compromise).

Fun party, raised some dough for a good cause, ate a lot, nearly lost my voice. More photos and videos coming soon.

Many new and old friends came and celebrated, supported New Era Colorado—a hard-working, underfunded non-profit working to create enlightened society—they (and other great orgs) nearly passed a gay marriage bill for Colorado, are heading up our plan in Boulder to reduce plastic bag usage, and registered more new voters in 2008 and 2012 than anyone.

More info:

This is what I sent to VIPs and friends. It contains a good deal of info about New Era and why I chose to support ’em.

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Please consider joining Congressman Polis in establishing this party-for-a-cause as something worth supporting with your name and hard-earned dollars.

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I’m getting older, if not more mature. This July marks my 37th bday, and instead of hosting the usual swim party/BBQ rager, breaking stuff and cleaning up 500 beer bottles, I’d decided to use this celebration to support a good cause. I’m Buddhist, a green ambassador, a bike lover…but I can’t think of any one effort that influences “enlightened society” from Supreme Court Justices to clean energy funding to alternative transportation, affordable housing and the arts more than…the 2012 election.

Here in Colorado, no one organization registered more voters in 2010 than New Era Colorado. They focus on engaging young folk in politics, which was key in the 2008 election.

The 2012 election won’t be won in November 2012. It’ll be won starting now, and over the next year-and-a-half. New Era needs and deserves support from the leaders of Boulder—so let’s make it so while having a good time, mixing, mingling and celebrating a beautiful summer eve at my home.

Official invites will be sent out with your host names later this week—which will include the business, natural products, yoga and Buddhist and green communities, and civic leaders in Boulder. The party will be modest in size, and made up of the women and men behind the leading non-profits, arts orgs, tech companies, political efforts and adventure groups in Boulder. Below is the rough invite.

It should be a shmoozefest without parallel.

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It was:

Waylon’s 37th Birthday Celebration in support of New Era Colorado

Date: Tuesday, July 19th Time: 6:30pm
Special Guests: You (hopefully), a handful of other Boulder VIPs, and Guest Speaker Congressman Jared Polis
Location: Hotelephant (my house)

Please come celebrate my 37th birthday this year. In lieu of gifts, I ask for you to consider being a host for $1000 at my Birthday party, all proceeds of which will benefit New Era Colorado.

Why should you care about this  cause?
New Era Colorado is a locally-grown grassroots organization focused on engaging young people in progressive politics. New Era’s track record speaks for itself. Here are a few of their accomplishments:
New Era volunteers have registered 25,000 young voters in Colorado
Passed several pieces of innovative state and local legislation
Currently: working on Plastic Bag reduction, Sustainable Energy, Voter Registration, hosted most popular Denver Mayor’s Debate
Knocked on tens of thousands of doors
Trained hundreds of emerging leaders in their hands-on leadership development program
Hosted some of the most entertaining and informative events in the narrative of Colorado politics

But as you know all too well, the work doesn’t stop there! We must ensure that we keep Boulder, and the State of Colorado moving forward in the crucial 2012 election. There is no better way to accomplish this than through New Era’s proven voter engagement programs. And, not to mention–I sit on the New Era board!

Please join me in supporting this incredible cause by hosting/co-hosting/sponsoring the event.  RSVP to Sarah at [email protected] or become a host now at http://tinyurl.com/waylonparty
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Sarah Stadler