I have been on the Chicago Windsurfing Forum off and on this year. I have not been out on the water much lately as I have been working hard to get an organization called Carpe Ventus (seize the wind) started to strengthen mentorship through sailing, kiteboarding and windsurfing.

We are hosting our first benefit event for Carpe Ventus and it would be great to have some windsurfer there! We are starting with sailing and were recently able to buy a sailboat so now are working to resource our goal of getting 1,000 mentors and mentees off the grid and onto the water in the 2016 season to build vital relationships as we develop life principles together to fight generational poverty and make our area a better place to live. There's more information at www.carpeventus.com/

The benefit party is Thursday, Nov 12 from 6-9pm at 1040 W Huron in Chicago, just north of the Loop.

The ticket price includes drinks, appetizers and live music and we will give a presentation on our vision and plans for next year's season. It's a benefit event so we will ask people to consider making a donation, though there's no pressure to do so. Tickets are just $25 and can be purchased online here carpeventusbenefit.bpt.me/. This is our first event and we're excited to get the word out about what we're doing. In the future, we'll be looking for people to join us by volunteering or helping us network with organizations that would benefit from our services.

There will be free parking at the event Please feel free to bring friends and family as well as tell others about it. We really think this will be a great opportunity to get a better idea of what we're doing, meet our board, hear about the exciting things that are happening!