In 2012, Larry Pratt —  known to Doug Landau both as a wonderful history instructor at the Madeira School and as a fellow Hotchkiss alum —  left teaching to start a non-profit organization, Win the Future (WTF), Young America.

WTF is geared toward getting young people (ages 18-50) to vote.

Pratt has done a ton of research and tried out a variety of ideas, but, as you might guess, it’s a bit tricky to get such an adventure up and running.

There are two upcoming events aimed at raising sufficient funds to keep the organization afloat:

Event #1: A fun 5K run/walk in Arlington, VA on Sunday, November 1. Registration has closed for this event BUT the point of this run is to raise awareness and, even more importantly, to raise money for Event #2…

Event #2: A bar crawl on Tuesday, November 3rd in Clarendon, VA.

The wrist bands for this will be handed out at the polls (right outside of the polls) in 7 different locations in Arlington, polling locations where a lot of young people are registered! (Ah ha! Therein lies the connection – come vote AND later, join the party!)

Here’s the challenge: While the participating bars have been fantastic, as has Arlington County and the police department, it turns out that it’s expensive (and required) to have police presence at a bar crawl – $6 per expected person! (Larry is hoping to have 1000 participants… that’s a lot of money!)

Here’s the goal: If this event is successful, Larry and his employees can talk about their ideas to sponsors, and then the sponsorships will come pouring in, and then all the young people in the United States will vote in EVERY election, and then life will be fabulous for all of us!

How can you help?? In these ways:

Donate to the GoFundMe.

SPREAD THE WORD!!  Share this with anyone you know who might be willing to help out by donating money. Just a little bit will go a long way toward paying for the bar crawl AND will let sponsors know that this is a great idea!