Young Caymanian actress Selita Ebanks has participated in the CASH & ROCKET Tour for the last three years. The tour consists of 70 inspiring women driving 35 luxury sports automobiles through four European cities in four days in order to raise money for the different charities of each participant’s choice. Now in the fourth year of the tour, Ebanks will find herself starting her drive in London with stops in Paris, Lyon, Milan and the tour will ultimately end in Cannes where the women will join the Cannes Film Festival. Ebanks is the lucky driver of a Maserati Ghibli that will serve as her transportation throughout the duration of the tour.
“It’s definitely a once in a lifetime adventure,” says Ebanks, “It’s the type of event that revolutionizes fundraising, as both the donor and the donee are transformed.”
Ebanks is supporting Shine on Sierra Leone, an NGO that she has supported for the last eight years. Sierra Leone was ravaged by an 11-year civil war that was started as a result of the blood diamond crisis. As a result, the country has the lowest life expectancy in the world at 45-years of age. The average adult in Sierra Leone only earns $400 a year. Ebanks is passionate about SOSL and re-building the communities within the small African country. The Cash & Rocket Tour assists her in her quest to facilitate better communities in Sierra Leone.
This year, the tour is being sponsored by Valentino, Chopard, Dorchester Hotel, Maserati, Samsung Electronics, STYLEBOP.com, Vault Couture, and Vita Viva. Cash and Rocket was created to bring fashion and luxury brands together in order to make a difference in global issues, namely, supporting women and children in third world countries. The other two charities partnered with the tour are O Africa, an NGO that was started in Ghana in 2002 and grew internationally helping children’s rights in Africa, and Sumbandila, a trust that assists disenfranchised youths in the Vhembe District of South Africa’s Limpopo Province break down barriers and achieve success through entrepreneurship and leadership. In its first three years, Cash & Rocket has raised over $1,850,000 for various charities. All of the funds raised are divided evenly between all of the partnered charities.
The tour is divided into different teams, and Ebanks is on Team 9. Along with her teammate Miriam Aldainy, the Saudi Arabian founder and creative director of Nour Jensen, Ebanks has already raised $5,902.41 for her chosen charity.
In 2014, Vanity Fair documented the tour in a video diary that you can watch here.
Haute Living and Haute Time have donated to Ebanks’s cause and are committed to Ebanks reigning victorious in her fundraising efforts.
The event kicks off this year on May 14 at the Dorchester Hotel in London and will end on May 19 at an event sponsored by Chopard for the Cannes Film Festival.
Support Selita Ebanks and Cash & Rocket on social media @selitaebanks @SOSL @cashandrocket #empowerment #charity #Cash&Rocket2015 #Team9
To donate to Selita Ebanks and Team 9, click here
To sign up for the tour, click here.
