El Gaffney

Blog Action Day: Running Homeless

Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event (in its second year) where bloggers post about the same issue on the same day to “raise awareness and trigger global discussion.” Exactly a year ago, bloggers united to bring the environment to the web’s attention. I wrote about greenmail, my friend Kim’s green-tip-filled e-mails (which she’s still doing). This year the topic is Poverty.

We are allowed to interpret the theme as we see fit, which could have been a bit of a daunting task. However, I was excited that a thought immediately popped into mind about what I should write. Last night while watching CNN election coverage (which is pretty standard these evenings), I noticed a promotion to Vote for the CNN Hero of 2008. It gave a quick look at a few of the nominees, one of whom caught my full attention.

It was Anne Malhum, the founder of Back on My Feet–”a non-profit organization that promotes self-sufficiency of Philadelphia’s homeless population by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.” (I’m sure great care was taken in crafting that mission statement, so wanted to use her words.) Anne would pass a homeless shelter every morning on her daily run, and one day an idea stopped her in her tracks. What started as one small running club has become so much more (at 5 shelters in just 15 months) without losing its core principles of discipline (that running can show you what your capable of) and community (that life’s a lot easier when you don’t go at it alone). She doesn’t provide food or shelter, rather shoes, structure and support to the homeless. And she provides inspiration for all of us.

What a great coincidence that I saw this last night. Read more about her great story here.

Tags: action, blogactionday, blogging, nonprofit, poverty

Please Vote for HourMission!

Yes, I went there; I put an exclamation point in the title. I’m already second-guessing it. But moving on…

Yesterday, my buddy Matt and I submitted an idea we’ve been working on quite a bit (especially lately) to American Express’ Members Project. If you haven’t heard of Members Project, it is a contest in which people can submit their ideas that make a broad positive impact as well as rate, discuss and vote on all the submitted ideas. We would love if you would take all three of the latter actions (rate, discuss and most importantly VOTE - all caps is my latest punctuation faux pas). The entry deadline has passed unfortunately for those interested (though fortunate for us, since we don’t need any more competition than the other ~1200 ideas in contention).

The voting deadline is September 1st. The top 25 projects advance to the next round, and the top 5 get some serious cash money. (Eat your words, Wilmer. And then go volunteer.) We would sincerely appreciate your support by voting and if you’re so compelled passing this post or this information—

1) Please log into: www.membersproject.com (Yes, you have to be an Amex Cardmember, which is definitely a bit annoying. Hopefully you are already and have a login.)
2) Search for: CKGW4D (HourMission: Volunteering Made Easy)
3) Click: “Nominate This Project”

—to your friends, family, do-gooders and do-baders you know (we’ll get them out of guilt).

Here is the widget I’ve downloaded from the site. Click on the blue hourmission link within it to go vote. (Punctuation is self-censored at this point.)

And for those interested in more info, here is a brief presentation we put together a while back:

Lastly, if you’re still with me, here is a sneak peek at the new logo we’re working on with the extremely talented John Cornette:

Hope you found that interesting. Hope you have been inspired to vote (if not get your ass in gear to volunteer). No better way to end than with a rhyme.

P.S. Any feedback on the idea is greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much.

Tags: amex, contest, hourmission, nonprofit