Another post long overdue ... congratulating Eric Siegmund at Fire Ant Gazette for successfully completing Blogathon 2005.(I may be into a vicious cycle here ... by the time I catch up on all the posts I should have made while I was a away on vacation, then all the posts I normally would have made this week, will be overdue ... so, I'll finally post THEM next week, putting off next week's posts until the week after that ... I may be in a state of Perpetual Belation!)
But, getting back to Eric Siegmund, who posted steadily for a solid 24 hours, doing his part to raise funds for charity. During the Blogathon, people update their websites every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. For this, they collect sponsorships. Pledges can be a flat donation, or a certain amount for every hour the blogger manages to stay awake. In Eric's case, he was raising funds for Midland Fair Havens.
Fair Havens' mission is to "equip single mothers and their children for self-sufficient living by addressing their educational, vocational, spiritual, and emotional needs in residential and non-residential settings." It sounded to me like a good cause, so I sponsored Eric ... so did a number of you, and I would like to extend my appreciation to you, as well.
I also sponsored Erin at Mighty Wench, who was part of quartet of bloggers on Three Moms and a Single Lady, a weblog created especially for Blogathon. They were raising funds for the M.I.S.S. Foundation, which is dedicated to "providing crisis support and long term aid to families after the death of a child from any cause."
A look at just a few from the long list of the other charities benefiting from Blogathon this year ... ASPCA, Amnesty International, Doctor Without Borders, Save the Children, the Chinatown Community Development Center, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, American Diabetes Association, Greenpeace, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation ... another indicator of the incredible diversity of bloggers and their interests which, as I've said time and time again, is one of the strengths of the blogosphere.
The numbers? This year, there were 216 participants, 1,883 sponsors, and $58,146.97 pledged. And think about what the participants accomplished ... posting at least every 30 minutes? That's at least 48 posts in 24 hours ... I'll be lucky to post 48 times in the next two months! Then there's the impact of the money - and the awareness! - they raised for their charities.
So, congratulations to Eric, Erin and all those - short on sleep but long on heart - who put their keyboards to work for Blogathon 2005. And, thanks to all of you who are putting your checkbooks to work, now, supporting the Blogathoners' efforts ... if I understand correctly, it's NOT too late to pledge/donate.
And a reminder to EVERYONE ... the next Blogathon begins August 6, 2006, at nine o'clock in the morning (EDT).
2 comments:
Jeff, thanks for the kind words, and for your support of the Midland Fair Havens campaign. The organization was thrilled with both the money and the exposure; the latter is invaluable as they said they've already had new volunteers as well as new clients who weren't previously aware of their services.
As for me, I think I'm getting too old for this sort of thing! But, I'll probably have forgotten the pain by the time Blogathon 2006 rolls around...
That's another thing about getting too old, Eric ... by the time Blogathon 2006 rolls around, you probably WILL have forgotten all about the pain ... and plenty of other things, as well :-)
Schedule permitting, I wouldn't mind taking a swing at Blogathon, myself, next year.
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