Tag the World from CSULB

Tag the World, a nonprofit organization, is hosting its launch party with a Celebrity Slam Oct. 16 in the Walter Pyramid.

The Celebrity Slam pits two teams of celebrities against each other in a basketball game, with over 20 celebrities making appearances at the event.

Robert Parks-Valleta, CSULB alumnus and president of Tag the World, said the guest list includes rapper Warren G, actors Jamie Kennedy, Jesse Metcalfe, Simon Rex, Robert Ri’chard, Brandon Routh and Columbus Short, as well as cast members from “The Young and the Restless,” “Days of Our Lives” and “The Hills.” A contestant from “American Idol” is also going to perform, he said.

“We’re trying to unify all these different charities under just one cause,” Parks-Valleta said. “We get the campaign going to get the name for all those small organizations we work with out there.”

Charities include, Actors and Others for Animals, American Humane, Generosity Water, Global Green, International Myeloma, Sarcoma Foundation of America, Special Olympics and Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Various items will be sold at the event to earn money for the charities, including clothing and the key part of the Tag the World campaign: tags.

“We wanted to have people relate to charities in a fashionable way,” Parks-Valleta said. “We wanted charity to be this cool, hip, young fashionable movement that a lot of people seem to be missing or disconnected with, and we also wanted it to mean something.”

Each sterling silver-antiqued tag, designed specifically for each cause, costs $80. On the back of the tags, people can add a customized engraving of up to six characters, emphasizing the individual’s connection to the cause.

“Each person isn’t just supporting a cause, but they’re wearing their story,” Parks-Valetta said. Parks-Valleta’s personal tag, which supports children, has an engraving of the initials of his younger brother.

The money earned from tags and other items sold goes to the charities the products are supporting. Those who order tags will be able to specify which charity under their cause they would like the money to go to.

However, the money earned from tickets goes toward Tag the World, which markets the charities through various forms of media to get a “worldwide audience” involved, Parks-Valleta said.

Students will also have several opportunities to win money during the night. Parks-Valleta said, “We’re also going to have a shooting contest where one person gets to pick whichever celebrity they want and have a game of TAG — It’s like PIG or HORSE — to win cash.”

An afterparty, which will be open to everybody, will be held at Café Sevilla in downtown Long Beach after the game. A surprise band will perform and two members from each CSULB sorority will compete in a fashion show for a one-year modeling contract with Notorious Model Management. Much of what will happen at the event will be kept secret until it actually happens.

Since the organization’s creation seven months ago, the launch has captured the attention of the media. According to Parks-Valleta, 944 Magazine, “Entertainment Tonight” and local news media will cover the red-carpeted event. MTV VJ Quddus will participate in the interviews, he said. Audience members may also have the chance to appear on television.

“We want everybody at the school who comes to the event to bring miniature flashlights to the event because there’s going to be a special thing that we’re going to have everybody go do that’s going to be recorded on television,” Parks-Valleta said.

Purchasing tickets for the event and ordering tags is not the only way to contribute to the causes. Parks-Valleta invites people to volunteer, as help is needed in several areas, ranging “from celebrity check-in, to walking celebrities to the floor, to seating people,” he said. The organization can also get people directly in touch with specific charities they might like to work with.

Parks-Valleta hopes to not only help the charities through the event, but to see people enjoying themselves.

“That’s what charities should be,” he said. “Charities should be fun, charities should be cool. Charities can be fashionable and trendy and sexy, and all at the same time, it’s giving back.”

Doors open at 7 p.m., and the game starts at 8 p.m. Students can purchase tickets before the event for $15, and non-students can purchase tickets beforehand for $20. At the door, students pay $20 and non-students pay $25. VIP seating — the seats in the first two rows of the Pyramid — cost $50. Tickets are available online at www.tagtheworld.com or at the CSULB box office.