Next Live Event: NamePros Live Auction, May 23rd at 6PM EDT
Results from the May 8th live auction are here.
15 members in the live chat room. Join Chat!
Anyone and everyone welcomed to take the challenge...
Now that I've hopefully gotten your attention...
As many of you probably know, a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar recently, with an estimated 100,000 deaths and over a MILLION people homeless from it. I've personally donated to disaster relief in the aftermath of a number of disasters over the last several years, and whether it's helping save lives or getting people back on their feet after a horrible natural disaster, it's a very worthwhile experience and I encourage everyone to do it.
User SharonTucci and myself have developed the Myanmar Challenge in efforts to try and get more exposure to the help these people need and get more companies/people involved in contributing to relief aid efforts. Sharon has pledged a percentage of some of her services sold to go to disaster relief, and I am hosting a sale of names of both of ours here ($300 per name, $50 of each name sold going to disaster relief).
There's many ways to take part in these efforts to help the victims of the cyclone. If you offer any service or sell anything of any kind, you can "take the challenge" by pledging a portion of your sales to go to disaster relief. You can buy a name from the aforementioned sale or purchase a service from a company "taking the challenge" listed here (bear with us as we are obviously trying to get more companies on board and grow this list out). You can simply donate to any of the charities listed here (note that all links are directly to charities, we don't touch a penny).
However you decide to help, we would like you to take the challenge and join those that have and grow that list out to 1,000+ individuals and companies. Even if just spreading the word, anything you can do would be appreciated. We literally just launched this a mere hour or two ago and want to see others join in and contribute. You will feel great in doing so - lives can be saved.
If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Happy Friday everyone!
Also to add to this - if you have a blog, website or whatever, we have a button available at the site you can use to link to it. If you use any of the social networking sites, please DO take just a minute to bookmark the site and/or to send a bulletin out to your friends list.
What a disaster....in many ways.... i think you guys are awesome doing this but how do you wanna help them if the freakin junta is blocking all help efforts :-(
Hiya Frank, some of the organizations are having more difficulties than others. The issue with the UN drops today is that the UN insists on handling distribution themselves. The junta is gradually making concessions in terms of what is allowed - ie some aircraft have been given permission to drops. Part of the government's concern is that "aid" won't be used as an opportunity for other reasons. So trust will need to be built up.
The problem isn't just about the situation as of this minute, but will be happening in the days and weeks ahead.
And you're right - it's a disaster in so many ways. My attitude is that we can do our part as individuals. The governments can work with the organizations on getting aid through. What will happen from there will happen. Hopefully things will change and change soon.
Thanks so much guys! Remember to fill out the form to say you took the challenge and we'll give you a link back
Stuff is starting to happen. Press releases are going out through the wire services. RJ has given a link on NP main page here. Links are gradually happening. I'm in communication with a couple of organizations to get more content and to also better understand the situation there.
We made a couple of updates - added a widget so that facebook etc users can directly put a donation link on their site. Right now, we only have one configured for Doctors without borders but we'll add more as we are sure other organizations are making headway. (DWB already has a decent team in there and has been approved for a plane of supplies landing tomorrow.)
We need a little technical help (didnt want to start a new thread on this). I've been trying to find a widget thingamajig to put for people to add to social booking marking sites like Digg etc. If anyone can help me with this - I want to add this to both the main page as well as a couple of other places where we say what people can do to help - we'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
I just emailed CNN about your efforts, asking to make a segment about regular folks who do something to help...hopefully there will come something out of it :-)
We're starting to see momentum gradually building. We have had some coverage @ over 40 news sites so far including Forbes, Foxbusiness and Reuteurs.
A widget was added very early today for people to make donations easily to Doctors Without Borders. We set a $10,000 goal for it and are 7% of the way on that. Once we reach it (hopefully!), we'll change the widget to another organization with a similar goal. The widget can easily be added to blogs etc for those of you that want to support the fundraising efforts without linking to our site.
Anyone and everyone welcomed to take the challenge... 
