Lucy has given her support to the LifePod campaign – see press release below. The donation page is located here – Lucy narrates the following video asking for support.
PRESS RELEASE
28 October 2014
Sir Ray Avery and his team are going to the world with a campaign to raise $2 million dollars for the production of the breakthrough Lifepod Incubator that will save the lives of newborn babies in developing counties at a tenth of the price of present incubators, which can cost up to $30,000, breakdown and are unfixable in third world conditions,
‘We had to do something bold to raise funds, the opportunity to make a difference and save lives of the most vulnerable is too important for us to not make the final hurdle," explained Sir Ray.
#keeplittleheartsbeating is the name of the campaign. Draw a heart on your index finger take a selfie photo of yourself with a heart shaped motive. If you prefer you can create a short video clip saying to camera "Help us keep little hearts beating" Make the challenge on your networks for everyone to do the same.
Lucy Lawless Neil Finn and Sam Neill are on board with a many other famous faces locally and globally joining the campaign.
This Tuesday night October 28 there will be a launch in Auckland at Spark which guests will virally take nationwide and global the campaign which will continue for six months or until money raised.
The campaign has been created by the creative digital agency Young and Shand backed by a wide range of other great New Zealand talent with everyone donating their time. It is designed to have fun while raising funds for a serious cause.
An animation has been created by the talented Auckland based Animation School, with music written by young Auckand composer Mike Shattky. It highlights the vulnerability of newborns.
The Lifepod project has been close to Sir Ray’s heart for almost 10 years and was developed through his charity Medicine Mondiale with the input of some great Kiwi talent.
"So many New Zealanders have been phenomenally generous with time and expertise to create this unique state-of-the-art, low-cost, safe, hardy incubator and then take the campaign forward," said Sir Ray.
"They have created a beautiful product which is like them - bighearted, clever, classy, hardy, disruptive and will go the distance."
Recently NZME, one of New Zealand’s largest media organisations, has backed the project.
"It highlights all that is good about New Zealand how kiwi expertise, initiative and generosity can make a difference in the world and help save young lives," said NZME Chief Executive Jane Hastings.
The incubator will reduce infant mortality rates on a global scale. Over three million babies die each year within the first 28 days of life.