Tag Archives: Fundraiser

Planning for Social Media for Social Good

Hi friends! Some of you might remember my annual Social Media for Social Good drive. (SMSG) – I started it in 2010 because I saw talk of “Make a Difference Day” where (RED) and maskable had a big project. I then saw blogs that said something like “I’ll donate $1/comment on this post up to X amount.” And I thought about it, then said to myself, “I can do that.” So I posted to TGTBTU (where I was a reviewer/blogger at the time.) It was incredible. In less than twelve hours, the romance community raised more than $1,337.

I couldn’t let this opportunity pass, so in 2011, I researched charities for a long time. I wanted to find something I cared about, and that would be reputable, and international. There was sadly a humanitarian crisis going on in the Horn of Africa – so I decided to choose Save the Children. (Regardless of your politics, or how you feel about your country’s involvement in the area… I can’t se how you’d hold it against children.) I decided to go for a full month, and we raised $8,484.50.

For the past year I’ve been considering at the back of my mind which charity to chose. (It is incredibly difficult to find a reputable organization that is international, and won’t cause offense to anyone.) I decided to go with charity:water.

Everyone needs water to survive. Everyone. And it’s something every person can relate to, and sympathize with. We take water for granted. Some of us refuse to drink anything but filtered water. I can’t even imagine what life would be without easy access to clean water.

So starting on Saturday, October 27, Make a Difference Day, I’m starting a charity drive. Social Media for Social Good is a way to get everyone involved. It’s a fundraiser, and an attempt to raise awareness.

How can you participate? Give money. Spread the word. I know it’s hard out there right now. Some of us can give a lot, some of us can give a little. Believe me, as someone who is making painfully less than the poverty rate, I know it’s difficult. But this is my pet project. I’m asking you to give what you can. Even a dollar makes a difference. Imagine, if a group of people can spare a dollar, that’s huge. 10 people, 15, 25, 100. Whatever.

Some of you might wish to have a correlative rate. E.g. $5 for every 50 comments. Whatever you think is best, or you can afford. A flat rate is fine too. I’ve had people say they’d pay $100 for 100 comments – at different levels. Because remember, the idea is to get as many people involved as possible. (E.g. One person will donate X amounts when we get 100 comments. Another person will donate Y amount when we hit 200 comments, and so on.) I’ve also talked about why I decided to go with a comment drive, and not something else.

I’d love to have something in place before the “official” post goes live.

So – tell me – are you in?

Lori’s Walk to Defeat ALS

Walk to Defeat ALS… because you can

Thank you so much, Lime, for letting me share information about ALS, the Walk to Defeat ALS and to spread awareness of the urgency to find treatments and a cure. I really appreciate all the good that you do for social causes and how generous you and your readers are with your time and money. I’m here to ask you to open your hearts once more for a disease that has struck my family.

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a neuromuscular disease. There is no cure at this time, or even any treatment. Basically, ALS robs a person of everything except their cognitive abilities. The muscles begin to weaken, as nerves don’t fire correctly. You slowly begin to lose your ability to walk, talk, swallow, breathe. Yet you remain completely aware of everything going on around you and can still feel pain. It is among the cruelest of diseases. Every 90 minutes a person in this country is diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes another person will lose their battle against this disease. ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries. This crippling disease can strike anyone. Presently there is no known cause of the disease, though support is bringing researchers closer to an answer. In the meantime, it costs an average of $200,000 a year to provide the care ALS patients need.

Part of the problem is that there is no test for ALS. It’s a diagnosis that’s only made after ruling everything else out. So it frequently takes up to 2 years to diagnose the correct disease. That’s 2 years of disease progression before you’ve even gotten a diagnosis. You may have seen this video feature of New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason during the SuperBowl this year:

Here’s my own ALS story:
My sister-in-law Sue was diagnosed in October 2010 with ALS. The diagnosis took 18 months, which is sadly not unusual. In the 1 ½ years since her diagnosis (3 years into the disease), she is now completely dependent. She is in a wheelchair, and requires assistance around the clock. The saving grace for my brother and sister-in-law has been our local chapter of the ALS Association. The ALS Association serves several purposes. First, they are there to educate ALS patients, families, and the public about this disease. But more importantly, they are there to help families in their local communities with the necessary adjustments – providing affordable equipment such as wheelchairs for patients, contractors to retrofit houses, and social services to give patients and their families the support they need. Our local chapter helped my brother find a handicap-equipped van at an affordable price. They recommended a contractor to them who works with the ALS Association to give a special break in price to ALS patients for retrofitting their home.

The average life expectancy of an ALS patient ranges from 2 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis.  We are now at the 1 ½ -year mark from diagnosis. My brother and sister-in-law and my 2 nieces are coping with the help of family and friends, but I know that there is quickly going to come a day when we no longer have Sue with us. Though she is enrolled in some clinical trials, and we remain hopeful for a treatment to slow progression or a cure. However, it’s not likely that Sue will benefit directly from the ongoing research. Where she does benefit immediately is with the support offered to them by the ALS Association and the community of families that reside within it. The ALS community is a tightly-kit one, and it breaks my heart every time my brother tells me that one of their friends has lost their battle.

My greatest hope is that Sue will win her battle, and be here to watch both of her daughters graduate from college, dance at their weddings, and live to see her grandchildren. I pray we find an answer for the millions of people with ALS, but most especially… and selfishly (I admit)… I pray for a cure for Sue, my brother, and my nieces. They are fighting so valiantly, and staying hopeful and optimistic.

Because every donation goes almost exclusively to the local chapters, every gift you make will go directly toward helping my brother and his family.

Here is, in part, how donations help:

  • $25 pays for a walking cane that will transform the hope for safety into peace of mind.
  • $60 helps webcast an “Ask the Experts” research summit online for those who are unable to attend in person.
  • $100 enables repairs and maintenance of an augmentative communication device (AAC) from the ALS loan closet.
  • $250 funds one of sixteen monthly support groups that serve people with ALS and their families in my community.
  • $600 supports one day of a multi-disciplinary satellite clinic which serves people with ALS who aren’t able to travel long distances.

I know that money is tight for so many of us. I’d really appreciate anything that you could donate to help fight against ALS. Even $5 or $10 helps! With so many government budget cuts, subsidized medical research is often the first thing to go. With your help though, we can make a tangible difference in the lives of people affected by this disease. Last year, your generous donations helped to raise close to $6500 for my team of walkers. My own personal goal is to raise $1500.

To donate to my Walk to Defeat ALS: http://webgw.alsa.org/goto/loris

Find out more about ALS and the amazing work being done by the ALS Association here: http://www.alsa.org/
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Donations also are used to fund important research – the ALS Association has the most active research program in the world, and over the past year many new discoveries have been made. One of the current studies is focusing on the increased incidence of ALS in our armed forces. Here are some other important breakthroughs – among which is discovering a gene that is common in familial ALS (when it runs in families).

(9/21/2011) New Genetic Mutation Identified: Most Common Cause of FTD and ALS, Accounting for as Much as One Third of All Familial ALS

(8/23/2011) Northwestern researchers report breakthrough in ALS research

*$8,484.50 Is Not The Loneliest Number

I can’t imagine you don’t know what this is about… but that’s the grand total of my Social Media for Social Good 2011 campaign. Remember this post? A Humanitarian Crisis: What We Can Do To Help – that’s our total! In one month, we raised eight thousand, three four hundred eighty-four dollars and fifty cents. Don’t knock the fifty cents – that’s a meal for a child. (And ok, I didn’t figure all the conversion rates exactly because, well, those change daily and would make my head explode.)

We met, and/or exceeded every single challenge. I want to thank each and every single one of you who donated, commented, and shared the links on your blogs, facebook pages, and twitter profiles. I’d also like to extend thank you’s to a few extra special people. First, Ali F, c², Christine Bell, Portia da Costa, Melissa Cutler, Dana/vitch36, Courtney Milan, rissatoo, Shelli Stevens, SonomaLass, and Shiloh Walker for being the first people to make pledges, to kick off the campaign. They jumped in before I even had the post go live, and a number of them participated in my 2010 Social Media for Social Good drive as well. <3 Thank you.

Next, thank yous to the big spenders, Tamara Allen, Maya Banks, and Melissa Schroeder. Each of these authors pledged $500 or more. (This was also one of the challenges. Tamara offered $1 per comment up to 500. Maya threw down $500 and asked if anyone would match. Melissa said she’d donate $600 for 700 comments, as her final donation – went almost dollar for comment and gave $700 – she really helped the comment drive along with different amounts, and seriously pimped out the charity drive when it was straggling at the end.)

I now want to thank Farrah Rochon, who also got not only her mother but her family to donate as well. When Farrah contacted me to tell me her mom was making a pledge, I was floored. Then she told me that her family had decided that instead of presents, they were going to ask their friends and family for donations to charity for her nephew’s birthday party. Color me amazed. Next, a shout out to Dee Tenorio, who helped out the comment drive, and got her husband, sister, and other family members to comment as well.

Then, for spreading the word, I noticed a number of people flooded in after Sarah, of Smart Bitches posted about the drive on her blog (and elsewhere), as well as Larissa Ione. Many people referenced these two as the reason they learned about it, and I also saw a flood of comments after both posted about it. Thank you.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list – I know there are so many of you who did so much, and I cannot thank you enough. A small press author challenge was issued by Avery Flynn – she wanted 50 small press authors to donate – any amount, and she’d double her donation. (Admittedly this one took us a little bit longer, and I pushed it even after the official end of the drive to meet our goal, but you know, the main thing is that we met it!) I was motivated to issue a reader challenge… and since I posted that two days before the charity drive ended, I said I wanted 25 readers to donate. We met it within the two days, and exceeded that amount. How much do readers rock? A helluva lot, let me tell you.

Up until Sunday, amounts were still trickling in, which is why I hadn’t updated sooner. If you did donate and aren’t on the list please please please let me know so that I can add you to it, and update our final amount. And remember the prizes? I’ll draw winners soon. Sorry for the delay – my computer adapter up and died on me, and I think you can all imagine how difficult it is to do anything with a laptop that is dying, and won’t charge. I’m finally feeling like death warmed over, instead of just death, so that’s also great too.

For those of you who donated, I’m going to send out a mass email soon – if you’ve already donated, my apologies – it’s just easier as I’m not sure who has or hasn’t. And for the rest of you – consider putting a few pennies away for next year. Don’t you worry. I plan on doing a Social Media for Social Good drive in 2012 as well. And 2013, 2014, 2015… (assuming the world doesn’t end. ;))

All in all, everything is just great. I’m repeating myself, and sounding inane I’m sure, but thank you. Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart for your caring, your generosity, support, and efforts to raise money.

I wanted to have some sort of fitting tribute/song but… I’m blanking. Suggestions? Comments? Let me hear them! 😀

[You might notice the number changed. I spoke with Melissa, and she was like “oh yeah, I threw in another $100. Isn’t that incredible?! <3]

OMG! I almost forgot. *shameface* And last but definitely not least, Jess Dee! She was instrumental in getting the small press author challenge met! Thank you Jess!!! <3