City of Hope to Honor Ball
Premium-denim maven Michael Ball, chief executive and founder of the Los Angeles–based Rock & Republic brand of apparel and accessories, is the Apparel Industries Group for City of Hope’s 2007 Spirit of Life Honoree.
The Apparel Industries Group will honor Ball at its annual benefit gala on June 9 at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills.
The City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif., is home to more than 300 physicians and scientists who work to find the causes of and cures for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, including diabetes and HIV/AIDS. The Apparel Industries Group has raised more than $1 million for the City of Hope’s research, treatment and education programs.
Ball, who launched Rock & Republic in 2002 as a rock ’n’ roll–infused denim brand, is known more for his flashy lifestyle than for his humanitarian efforts. But he’s looking to change that with Rock the Cure, Rock & Republic’s charitable arm. In 2006 retailer Fred Segal and singer Sheryl Crow collaborated on a Rock the Cure T-shirt to benefit breastcancer awareness. In honor of his Spirit of Life award, Ball will design a Rock the Cure jean and T-shirt for men and women with 100 percent of proceeds from the styles going to City of Hope. Ball is also involved with the Super Saturday fund-raiser to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund; MSFriends, a telephone peer-support helpline for people with multiple sclerosis; and Developing Minds, a charity that encourages donations of volunteer hours instead of cash.
For ticket information or to make a donation, contact Csynthia Savage at (213) 202-5735, ext. 26153.—Erin Barajas
