NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 29, 2007 -- R Baby Foundation, a charitable organization
dedicated to reducing the high level of infant mortality in the United
States, announced today that Kelly Ripa, star of the popular morning talk
show, "Live with Regis and Kelly" and "Hope & Faith," will be the special
guest and speaker at R Baby's fundraising event.
The R Baby event will take place on May 15, 2007, at the Mandarin Oriental
Hotel in New York City and will include a cocktail party, silent and live
auctions, dancing and additional entertainment. The theme of the night is
"The Best Things in Life Come in Small Packages." Proceeds from the event
will enable R Baby to roll out a number of programs that will provide
critical education and research designed to improve medical care for
infants. In addition, funds raised at the event, and through ongoing
campaigns, will go towards a grass-roots effort to organize parents in
their communities to better equip emergency rooms and clinics to accurately
diagnose and treat very young infants.
R Baby announced today that the Foundation will honor former NFL
quarterback and current TV/radio analyst Boomer Esiason for his significant
philanthropic work at the May 15th event. Other honored speakers and event
participants include New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and CW11
News at Ten weather expert Mr. G. Guests to the event will enjoy musical
performances by two Grammy-nominated artists: Staind frontman Aaron Lewis
and Chris Barron of the Spin Doctors.
R Baby is also pleased to announce that in addition to Boomer Esiason and
Kelly Ripa, Camille and Kelsey Grammer, Alan Houston, Matthew Modine, and
Shaquille O'Neal have also joined the Honorary Board of Directors of R
Baby, which also includes John J. Mack, CEO and Chairman of Morgan Stanley,
and Mr. G.
R Baby Foundation is extremely grateful for the significant support it has
received from over 50 sponsors and partners. These include Commerce Bank,
Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Marathon Asset Management, MAREX Financial
(Diamond Sponsors); Bear Stearns, Citco, Paul Hastings, The Sidley Austin
Foundation (Platinum Sponsors); Bank of America, Bingham McCutchen LLP,
Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, JPMorgan, KattenMuchinRosenman
LLP, Lowenstein Sandler, Morgan Stanley, The Quellos Group, Inc., RBS
Greenwich Capital, Rothstein Kass, Schulte Roth & Zabel, Seward & Kissell
LLP, Westcom (Gold Sponsors); The Abacus Group, Capital Royalty L.P.,
Citigroup, Crestline Investors, Inc., Durst Organization, EIM Management,
Inc., Fischer & Company, Jefferies, Sandalwood Securities, Inc., Seyfarth
Shaw LLP, Troutman Sanders, Two Sigma Investments LLC, UBS (Silver
Sponsors); and many others. R Baby's Major Partners include Bottle King,
Cartier, Divalysscious Moms, Fiji Water, Go-smile, Harry Winston, Marqui
Jets, Preston Bailey, Skip Hop, Techno Source and Uncommonly Cute. The
Foundation's Entertainment Partners include Monday Night Magic,
Untouchables Events, comedian Jessica Kirson, Kenneth Cole and Cold Flavor
Repair band. Founding sponsors include Richard Fleischman & Associates,
Birds Nest Productions, and Brunswick Group.
"The infant mortality rate in the U.S. remains extremely high -- higher
than in a number of nations in the developing world. R Baby is focused on
providing access to appropriate pediatric evaluation and emergency care,
upgrades to equipment, and more adequate training. We believe that these
efforts will make a real difference in reducing mortality rates," said
Andrew Rabinowitz, co-president of R Baby. "Our goal is to reduce the
infant mortality rate in the U.S. by more than half in the next five
years."
Co-president, Phyllis Rabinowitz, continued by saying, "We would like to
thank the many individuals and organizations that have provided
contributions to R Baby. Their valuable support will also help ensure that
our fundraising event on May 15 is a success. We are certain that it will
be a fun and exciting night, all in support of this great cause -- saving
as many infants' lives as possible."
FACTS ON INFANT MORTALITY
Following are some facts on the disproportionately high rate of infant
mortality in the United States:
-- Babies born in the U.S. are twice as likely to die than those born in
many other developed countries, including Sweden, Japan and Spain; the U.S.
is ranked 36th among 196 nations.(1)
-- 1 in 141 babies die in the U.S. each year. Babies within the first 28
days are twice as likely to die as older babies. (2)
-- There are approximately 20,000 newborn deaths within their first month
of life and close to 30,000 in the first year.(3)
ABOUT R BABY FOUNDATION
R Baby Foundation was established in 2006 by Phyllis and Andrew Rabinowitz,
who lost their daughter Rebecca Ava Rabinowitz when she was nine days old
as a result of a viral infection that was not diagnosed or treated. The aim
of R Baby is to organize and fund efforts to improve the outcomes of
medical care for infants, particularly those who contract certain viral
infections. R Baby is dedicated to helping newborn babies, primarily in
their first month, with often misunderstood viral infections and other
infectious diseases, receive the highest quality of care and service
through supporting education, research, treatment, training, and
life-saving equipment. R Baby is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit
charitable organization.
For more information about R Baby Foundation or to donate, please visit
www.rbabyfoundation.org. For ticket inquiries to the May 15th event, please
email
info@rbabyfoundation.org.
(1) WebMD
(2) Center for Disease Control
(3) World Health Organization
Contact Information:
Contacts:
Nina Devlin
or
Ellen Gonda
Brunswick Group
212.333.3810
rbaby@brunswickgroup.com