The all-volunteer Methuselah Foundation is presently a real growth opportunity in making meaningful longevity research a reality. Do you want to live a longer, healthier life? If so, keep your eye on the ball here.

The Thiel $3 million matching grant will see the foundation top $10 million in funding within the next few years, as it is filled by new donors. The first foundation-funded research in support of the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence - fixing the molecular damage that causes aging - is underway and soon to expand. The Foundation chair, biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey is well known and now has high-level fundraising cachet in addition to the attention of scientists and the media. The MPrize for anti-aging research is a reputable, high-profile research prize in a time at which research prizes are all the rage, well-understood and a popular cause. Aging and longevity science is presently undergoing a revolution in intent and capabilities. I could go on.

It has to be said - having been out there stumping for donors and publicity back when the Foundation was just the MPrize, and the fund was a mere $15,000 - that I'm damn impressed at how far this has come. So many similar efforts have failed, become sidetracked or never amounted to much - but the Methuselah Foundation has succeeded, and succeeded in making a mark. Succeeded because ever more people saw its merits and put their strength behind the wheel.

Have you noticed that we're up to 107 members of The Three Hundred now? There's another amazing success that has pushed the Foundation along from strength to strength. I'm happy to be in such august, forward-looking company - and may we live just as long as our names will.

All of this is stage one; as is so often the case, the years of hard work and donations are a matter of building an opportunity - of building a lever long enough to move the world, a horn loud enough to rouse the masses to action. And here it is, the chance of a lifetime.

Do you want to make a difference - a real difference - to the future of healthy life extension, longevity research and the bottom line of how long you are going to live? Then volunteer with the Methuselah Foundation! The next few years of expansion and endeavor - multi-million dollar fundraising, growing opportunities in research, raising awareness and much more - will need a larger volunteer crew than presently exists. If you have something to offer, jump on in and help make the future a better place for all of us!

I thought I'd leave the last word to Anne C.:

If there's one thing I've learned from all this so far, it's that there's no reason to think of yourself as someone who can't do anything, or that there are just special people in the world who get "chosen" to help out in certain areas. If you want to help out with something, or you think you have something to say, just put it out there and see what happens!

Technorati tags: activism, life extension

Posted by Reason at October 21, 2006 8:40 PM | TrackBack (0)