March is fast approaching, you know, and while I am more than usually excited about March because I'll be heading back to London for OMGLondon2, this March I have...
March is fast approaching, you know, and while I am more than usually excited about March because I'll be heading back to London for OMGLondon2, this March I have something equally -- if not more -- exciting to talk about.
It's called Writers for the Red Cross, it's something that the altogether delightful Holly Tucker and I are cooking up together, and believe me, you'll be hearing more about it. And not just from me, either.
The full website will be going up in mid-February, but you can learn a great deal about it on the placeholder site at www.writersfortheredcross.org.
Too lazy to click? I dig it. Here's the scoop:
What is Writers for the Red Cross? This online event is intended to raise funds and awareness for the Red Cross and its work in communities across the country. We'll be auctioning off publishing-related items and services donated by authors, publicists, agents, and editors. We'll also have daily guest posts from authors about "What the Red Cross Means to Me" and a daily countdown of "31 Things You Didn't Know About the Red Cross" on the official event website. All donors who give over $25 will also be able to select one free book from a range of books donated and shipped by publishers for the event.
Writers for the Red Cross will go live in mid-February, with active fundraising running from March 1 through March 31. It is modeled on the highly successful "Do the Write Thing for Nashville" fundraiser in 2010, which raised $74K in ten days following last spring's devastating floods.
Why Writers? Writers share our commitment to community by bringing people together through their stories. And these communities continue to be strengthened as readers come together with writers in their local bookstores, in book clubs, online through social media…and through partnerships with national organizations with a similar mission of community: national organizations like the American Red Cross.
Why the Red Cross? If there were one word to describe the Red Cross, it would be "community." Each year, in communities large and small, victims of some 70,000 disasters turn to neighbors familiar and new - the more than half a million volunteers and 35,000 employees of the Red Cross. Through nearly 700 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and world.
Want to get involved? You can.
Join us on Facebook. Follow Holly on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter, if you don't already. And stay tuned.
