The Giving Challenge

This year's theme for the Giving Challenge by the Friendship Centers is "Kids of Yesterday". They have a series of then and now images and posts of each of their Board members.

There have been a lot of posts over the years by me and a number of guests about giving back. Each of us have been involved in some sort of community challenge to raise funds and awareness for a special project of charity. This morning's post is hopefully going to help me accomplish two different things.

First, for those of you looking for creative ideas, this is a kick. There are a number of local charities involved and it's all for one intense 24 hour period. Even more fun are the additional prizes, most donations from out of the country, most American with the biggest number of states represented and the list goes on and on. It's all about online reach and utilizing social media. What I love about this is the way it could play out for so many of you, if you were willing to organize an event like this in your community.

Jerry Lewis started it years ago with the telethons and this is going to have all the same excitement, but on a more localized level. Social media today gives us a level of reach that Jerry's Kids would have killed to have when he first started the TV telethons in 1966.

Second, I've got a personal stake in this! The Friendship Centers have played a huge role in our lives, starting with the Thursday morning caregiver support group I used to go to with my Dad. The challenge was dealing with my mother's Alzheimer's and there's no single group of people who could have been more helpful than our friends in the Thursday morning sessions.

Since then I've been working with them on their podcasts, website, Facebook page and Blog, but I need your help. We've got a chance to win some additional funding for most states represented in the Giving Challenge along with most countries and out of everybody involved I seem to have the widest reach! So, if you're looking for a great group to make a donation to, I'll have the link posted started at 12:01 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

No pressure and nothing like your friends who hit you up once a year for Girl Scout cookies! It's just a fun way to raise awareness for an amazing group of people helping the community!

As always, wishing everybody a wonderful weekend and one filled with great friends and family. Don't forget to hug somebody special today!

And, if you want to find out more about the giving challenge, just click the banner below.