And we're off! 70 women drive across Europe for (RED)

Guest Post by Julie Brangstrup, founder of Cash and Rocket

I’ve had a lot of experience organizing rallies in the past. For the most part, they attracted male drivers attracted to smart, fast cars. It was fun but I started to think how great it would be to do away with the testosterone and need for speed and start a road trip for women to benefit women whose lives are limited by extreme poverty.

So, I decided to get a group of powerful women together – I wanted it to be a range of women from a variety of disciplines - business, the arts, finance. I wanted to name it after my son, Cash and my godson, Rocket. Despite the sound of it, it doesn’t refer to money and speed! This road trip is about driving for a cause. And when I heard about (RED) and learned of its focus on the 2015 goal of an AIDS Free Generation, I knew that was the cause to drive for. This goal hit home with me, as a mother of six, as it did for so many of the participants on this trip. A world where virtually no baby is born with HIV by 2015 - a world in which no mother has to pass on a death sentence to her child – this marks an incredible, and for me, an extremely sentimental milestone. And we can get there.

So on June 8th, the inaugural Cash and Rocket Road Trip leaves London for Monte Carlo with stops in Paris and Milan along the way. 70 women from the worlds of business, medicine, architecture, the arts, fashion driving in 35 (RED) and Cash and Rocket-branded cars. Most of them are fundraising – we need everyone’s support so please check out www.crowdrise.com/redtour to donate.

A huge thanks to all the women participating, the partners who have sponsored including Luxup, the Park Hyatt Group. Julien McDonald, David Morris and the (RED) partners.

So, here’s to 1,100 miles, 35 cars, 70 women, 5 cities, three and a half years to an AIDS Free Generation.