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"Brown bones wanted:" Tech startup whiz offers $30,000 for a South Asian bonemarrow donor

If you had the opportunity to save someone's life, would you do it?

Well, you might. Right now. As soon as possible. Especially if you're of South Asian descent — an ethnic group including about 75,000 of you in Harris County and Fort Bend County alone. Not to mention that Houston's South Asian community is one of the fastest growing South Asian communities in the entire country.

It goes like this: Happy, healthy, headstrong Silicon Valley entrepreneur Amit Gupta, founder of quirky photography site Photojojo and casual coworking movement Jelly, was suddenly feeling worn out and was losing an alarming amount of weight. So he consulted his physician.

Instead of, "Get more sleep and eat more pizza, son," the doctor had another diagnosis that would change the trajectory of this thirtysomething's life.

"Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia," Gupta wrote in his blog. "You need to enter treatment right away.”

It could've been worse, but not by much. Through further research, he learned, "If it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks."

Even with a few months of chemotherapy ahead of him, the worst part has yet to come. In order to save his life, Gupta's got to find a needle in a haystack.

"The next step is a bone marrow transplant," Gupta wrote. "Minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool, and I need help."

By "severely represented," Gupta is being way, way too nice. Try one out of 20,000. That's the very real chance that Gupta has in finding an eligible donor in the national Be the Match bone marrow registry.

That's where you come in, Houston's emerging South Asian population. You can save the life of one of tech's brightest minds.

Want to help? There are a few things you can do right now:

Take a free test by mail. It's the best way to see if you're Gupta's bone marrow match. Complete an online form, wait for your registration kit, swab the inside of your cheek, send it back. Saving someone's life couldn't be easier.
Organize a donor drive. Instructions on Gupta's blog direct you to email 100kcheeks@gmail.com, and you'll get a script and the tools to make a donor drive happen.
Attend an event. Gupta's friends are throwing him a potentially life-saving party — affectionately and effectively titled, "WANTED: Brown Bones" — and if you're in New York City, bring your bone marrow on down.

There's even $30,000 in it for you, if your swabbing leads to saving Gupta. You can thank author Seth Godin and fellow startup mastermind Michael Galpert for the initial $20,000, and give props to Vimeo co-founder Jake Lodwick for kicking in the last $10,000.

Sure, there are plenty of people in this world awaiting a bone marrow match. How often are you called upon to help them? How often have you helped?

Maybe you ought to consider making the answer to those questions, "Today."

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Memorial Groves restoration

Memorial Park previews new playground and visitor's center coming in 2027

Rendering courtesy of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

Rendering of the new Camp Logan playground at Memorial Groves.

Nearly a year after announcing the restoration of the old Camp Logan as Memorial Groves, a section of Memorial Park that honors Houston's World War I veterans, Memorial Park Conservancy (MPC) unveiled additional information on the new playground and visitor center that will be on site, as well as improvements to a walking trail. The new details come on the heels of a $7.5 million donation from the Jerold B. Katz Foundation.

“We are deeply honored to be a part of this landmark project that will help bring Houston’s extraordinary history to life,” said Evan H. Katz, president of the Jerold B. Katz Foundation, in a statement. “Memorial Groves will offer a powerful place of reflection and learning – one that thoughtfully connects past and present, honoring service and sacrifice while strengthening the park’s role as a resilient, vibrant public space for generations to come.”

The donation will help fund the Camp Logan Playground, an innovative space for children that will draw on aspects of World War I training. Kids can play in oversized soldier helmets, talk through a tube shaped like an old camp bugle, and climb over giant army crates and a reproduction of hardtack, the "hard bread" fed to soldiers at the front. Each feature has real World War I insignias carved into them, giving visitors a chance to learn about the symbolism of the war. Designed by the Canadian company Earthscape, the playground will be located near the southern parking lot within easy distance of the picnic pavilion.

The visitor center, designed by Moody Nolan, will be located at the primary entrance to the park on the north side. It will house both exhibit spaces and MCP offices. The former will educate visitors about Camp Logan and Houston's role in World War I. A large breezeway between the two areas will welcome visitors into Memorial Groves. The Texas Historical Commission will provide historical markers to supplement the exhibition materials.

There's lots to learn about. From 1917 to 1919, Camp Logan trained roughly 70,000 men for service in WWI. Some 200 women were also employed at the camp, mostly as nurses and physical therapists for the wounded. In 1918, Black soldiers stationed at Camp Logan rioted against abuse and unfair incarceration from the all-white Houston Police Department.

The park's 3-mile Seymour Lieberman Trail (SLT) will also be upgraded. Approximately .7 miles of the popular running/walking trail will be moved further away from Memorial Loop Drive to allow for planting of new trees. As they mature, the trees will provide more shade for people using the trail.

“Significant enhancements will be made to the SLT within the Memorial Groves project area while maintaining the overall distance of the 3-mile loop,” MPC president and CEO Chris Ballard said. “This is one of the nation’s most popular running trails and one of Memorial Park’s top amenities. The upgrades we’re making will be enjoyed by the nearly 10,000 people who use this trail daily.”

Construction on Memorial Groves is expected top begin this year and be finished in 2027. The total cost of the project is $50.5 million, as is funded in part by the Kinder Foundation ($10 million), John L. Nau III ($7.5 million), Brown Foundation ($7.5 million) and now the Katz Foundation ($7.5 million).

Rendering courtesy of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

The playground will include elements inspired by WWI.