Yes I would like to put out a call to all photographers across North America for help — at least I think I do. You see when I did that on Twitter I got quite a response from people so I must be careful what I start. But anyway, let me at least move on with the idea.
We have been blessed with four wonderful photographers who have done pro bono work for us. Mary Kate McKenna, Michelle Lindsay, my friend Amanda (@thenagainphoto) and Tracy Timmester. These are four incredible ladies and even better photographers. When they take pictures of the events we have, we bring the color and clarity back to our social media efforts and share with all of our friends. It really adds a lot of good weight to what we do. I had a discussion with Mary Kate the other night at our tweetup and she told me that photographers are lucky to come by opportunities like the ones we present. So my idea is this: To come up with a national network (even to include Canada too!) of photographers who are looking to do some pro bono work for great causes. If and when there is a hero from our web site who is hosting an event, that hero would check the “list” to see if there is a photographer in our network near the hero. If so, then that photographer is sent out to the event and presents the hero with a disk of unsigned images for use in marketing and press releases.
Now that I’ve said that I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. My question is how do I know who I am sending out to photograph a hero’s event? So I am going to send this blog post out to the photographers who have responded to me on Twitter. I sure hope you have some ideas for me. These kids are so deserving and their charities would benefit so much from your work. Thanks guys!!
If you are a photographer and are interested in helping, please leave a comment including your geographical area, web site and other pertinent information. Thanks!!
It’s 12:35AM. I am currently in one of the most difficult and awkward situations I have been in for quite some time, both physically and emotionally. You see I am in my basement. Not just any part of my basement. Not the finished part. Not the part we spent so much time, effort and money on. No, I’m in a storage area with half the room filled with junk. The only light I have is the light shining from my Droid’s screen. I’m sitting on an old outdoor lounge chair mat covered with a blanket. And I plan to be here all night, awake. Now you must be thinking I am making this up or exaggerating for effect. I wish I were. I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet. I’m not alone. Not only am I saddled with the fact that I am writing a blog post fat-fingering my Droid keyboard, but I also have a leash in my left hand. It’s attached to Pablo, the 110 pound Bernese Mountain Dog we rescued about 8 months ago. He is panting frantically and has been for the last hour. You see we recently discovered that he is scared to death of thunderstorms. Normally they pass through quickly but I checked Intellicast and it looks like we are in for an all-nighter. So how did we end up here? Well I was awakened by him trying to crash through my bedroom door. I was unaware that my wife was already up and had cleaned one round of pee that he left on the landing. This we have learned is a nervous reaction he suffers from when he gets scared. It was clear that one of us had to stay up with him. The flashes of lightning bouncing off the walls were causing him to pace nervously through the house and crash through doors by using his head as a battering ram. It was clear to us that upstairs was not the solution. We have also learned that sequestering him in a room doesn’t work as he has torn up the carpet and underpadding of our bedroom while trying to break free. Outside was definitely not an option because of the impending weather. The garage was a consideration but due to the fact that there were things he could get into that would harm him it was ruled out as well. So that left the storage room. We felt he had to be supervised so here we are.
It’s now 1:17AM. Since we are in a remote corner of the house away from windows I can say that Pablo is calming down a bit. If I move about he’ll start panting nervously again. I am doing my best to ignore him as I have been told by several sources this is the correct response to be administered so the dog won’t feel that I too am scared. But it actually appears that if we are spared loud claps of thunder, I may have a shot at getting some sleep at some point. That’s if I can sleep. I not only have Pablo to deal with but I have my conscience as well. You see, we really don’t know what to do with him. We have been through this several times and the bottom line is that we are ill-equipped to handle him. We have two other Berners and he fights with our other male Charlie so they must be separated at night and when we are not home. But we simply don’t have an answer to this problem. We have given him drugs which knocked him out for a while but then he would have trouble getting up. We gave him Melatonin (recommended by our vet) earlier which had little if any effect. Bach Flower remedies haven’t worked. We have been down this road several times and it always leads to a dead end. I see no other solution than to give him back to his original owner. Now when we “rescued” him he didn’t come from a bad place. He came from a breeder who simply wanted to rehome him after a life in the show ring. He is actually quite accomplished having been in the top five of his breed at Westminster. He is actually a wonderful dog. He captures the hearts of all who meet him. I have told anecdote over anecdote about the crazy things he has done. But as I write this I wonder if our time with him will soon come to an end.
It’s 1:43AM and the battery on the Droid is doing quite well. Pablo is now fast asleep. When we were all discussing this upstairs I felt we had no choice but to give him back. Now as I sit here typing this journal into my phone I’m wondering if we can’t somehow make this into a room where he can go when the weather gets bad. We already know he can break out of his crate. He’ll need something much sturdier. Maybe if I can just sleep on that thought…
The Droid struggles to light up the area which somehow seems appropriate.
2:53AM. Still haven’t been able to sleep. There are short bursts of relative quiet followed by longer periods of panting. I am at a loss. I really don’t know what to do with him. What kind of message does this send my 11-year-old daughter if we give him back? That’s it’s OK to discard your animals if they become inconvenient? I’ve always felt disdain for people who get their animals from the shelter only to return them some time later. I have neighbors who did it twice until they finally settled on the third dog and I remember the resentment I felt towards them. Now maybe I will have a little more tolerance especially since I did not experience what they did. And I think about Pablo — poor guy. I’m sure he’s not happy about this either. Will he be better off back at the breeder’s with seven other dogs staying in his kennel in the garage all day? Am I off-loading our problem on someone else? This is very difficult. The time that we locked him in our bedroom and left the house for a number of hours was the worst. Although the weather was beautiful when we left, a thunderstorm moved through the area at some point. He tried and tried to get out of the room by tearing up the carpet and under-padding next to the door. There was blood all over the area as he must have also had to deal with the carpet staples somehow. So this isn’t just about protecting the house. We also have to keep him safe.
10:30AM. Sometime after 3AM we both did finally get to sleep. When I awoke I had no sense of what time it was because the room was still dark. It was 7:15. The storm was over. I fed the dogs and went up to the glorious comfort of my own bed.
Creating a Safe Room
Bad things are always at their worst when they are happening. Now it’s the next day. Pablo is asleep and I am at the computer in my office. All is right in the world again. When I came out of the bedroom I noticed that my wife was crying and she had canceled her plans for the day. She believed that the only solution we had left was to give him back. I’m glad I slept with him down there. It wasn’t so bad. All we need to do is clean out the junk and put in some kind of kennel which will protect him. And yes because we are wimps we will have an air mattress next to it to make sure he doesn’t harm himself during nights like the one we just had. So that’s the project for today. It looks like at least for now Pablo’s visa has been extended for a while.
So why did I write this? I did it as it happened because 1) What else was there to do? and 2) It may have been the catharsis I needed to help me get over what we were dealing with. If you or someone you know has had a similar experience we’d like to know about it. Any other solutions we haven’t thought of would be welcomed also!!
UPDATE 7/15/10: Thanks so much for everyone who has supported us during this difficult situation. Since this post can be a potential resource for others I would like to share Rida’s experience with the “Thundershirt”. We are going to try it as well. Here is her post. And just FYI last night was blissful – a whole night in my bed with no interruptions! How we all take things like that for granted…
As many of you know I have just published my ebook about Twitter and continue to add to it daily. I talk a lot about connections and giving value. So I came up with an idea this morning to try and offer both to my Twitter colleagues. I posted a tweet that read: “What type of person are you looking to connect with on Twitter?” The idea is that for the people who responded I could try and hook them up through our other followers. So @TwinkieMommie responded with “Other Moms/Dad’s of twins.” I sent out her request which got a response from @Sundi_MOZ: “Me! B/B 8 yrs old!” Connection made. To help demonstrate how valuable Twitter can be and to try and promote people connecting with each other, I have decided to make this “Connection Week” on Twitter. So, from Monday, July12th through Friday, July 16th if you tell me on Twitter (@KidsAreHeroes) what type of person you are trying to connect with, I will try and tweet about it. Use the #connectionweek hash tag, and please give us a follow if you have a mind to. (I like to connect too ya know.) If I get too many requests or if any are of a spammy nature I may not be able to get to them all, but feel free to leave a comment here as to what type of person you are trying to connect with for the other readers of this blog.
Also, if through the #connectionweek process you do get connected, please tweet the persons’ id(s) you connected with using the same hashtag. (i.e. @KIdsAreHeroes I connected with @JohnHaydon and @DCPhotog #connectionweek) I’ll tweet that too.
Yes, after a year and a half I have joined the fray of authors who have written a “how-to” book about Twitter. I simply felt that I had a lot of material since I have been basically recording my Twitter journey since the beginning. Many of the posts have elicited numerous comments and retweets so I thought I would compile them all into a package that would be suitable for beginners and journeymen alike. But it’s not about regurgitating my blog posts into a book. I went through each one individually and updated and expanded the content where I saw fit, and added many new thoughts to fill in the gaps.
So why did I do this? For one I am very passionate about Twitter. I should rephrase and say that I’m passionate about making connections on Twitter. One way of doing that is to offer value which I feel I have in the book. Another reason is to gain more exposure (and yes donations) for Kids Are Heroes, the nonprofit I write about when I’m not writing about Twitter. I ask that if you read it and it really helps you, then a more than fair “payment” is a $25 donation to our cause.
I have already discovered that I can add a lot of little things to it that in and of themselves don’t merit a full blog post. Since its first release on Wednesday it has enjoyed over 450 clicks which is awesome. That gives me energy to keep updating it which I already have done once, just this morning. So keep in mind that you will always be able to download the latest copy of it from the sidebar of this blog. Each version comes with a number and a date it was published. So whether or not you are a Twitter fan, or a Kids Are Heroes fan, please send this book out to all you feel may benefit from it.
Here’s a peek of a unique post that is in the book:
Who Should be Tweeting?
I have a company I work with who uses a person off site to update their Facebook page. This is a fairly big company and they have a fair amount of fans. In my eyes this is a wasted effort. People can tell they are “phoning it in”. They might as well not do it. I have another company I deal with who does it wonderfully. The marketing managers handle the updates. They are fun, update it often and although they promote their wares they do not “overdo” it. These folks are actual sponsors of ours. When they put on an event that involved us and one of our heroes (see this post: http://www.justgabe.com/2010/05/27/a-heroic-opportunity/) all three parties involved vigorously cross-promoted it which is THE WAY to get a marketing “frenzy” going. It was awesome!
The beauty of Twitter is that everyone is at the same level. It makes people and companies very accessible in a way that is unique. So people want to know that if they are responding to someone in a company or a non-profit that they are reaching someone of significance within the organization. Hiring an intern to tweet for your non-profit or your company is a mistake.
I have a friend who uses a service to tweet for him. What’s worse is that the service’s motto is “out of sight, out of mind” so they send out an automated tweet every fifteen minutes. If I were not his friend I would have unfollowed him a long time ago. I was talking with him recently and he told me he changed services and was happier because the newer service got him more followers much faster. I suggested he look at the followers the new service was bringing him. Are they engaging with his “service”? Are they people he could see himself building a connection or relationship with? I personally see no value in using another person or service to stand in for what you are passionate about. There is no way that passion can be transferred through a service. I have mentioned before that it is rather easy to get followers by just following random people. The problem is that most of these people will prove to be of no value to you. You will also be found out by the people who are of value when they look at your follower list. They will see that you are not trying to connect.
The bottom line is that in order to gain the most benefit from social media you must be the one who is active in it. People want to connect with you, not your intern or your service.
I bet I am not alone in still feeling uplifted by what happened last weekend at Kids Are Heroes Day. I am seeing pictures posted, comments being made that would indicate that the other parents are still thinking about it too. My excitement is driven not only by the fact that it was an amazing day, but I also can see how we can use that energy for future events as well. Kids Are Heroes is all about getting other kids involved. We have had our share of successes in the past with this concept, but I bet we will impact many more kids much faster if we are able to put on similar events in a larger venue.
Case in point: One of MaryMargaret’s best friends is named Emma. Emma has joined us on several occasions to help out with whatever we were working on at the time. Even though she knew what KAH was all about, that was as far as she went with it and that’s totally OK. We always say we never sell what we do to kids or parents — we just want them to know we are here in case they become inspired by what other kids are doing.
So Emma was there again to help MaryMargaret at her table. They “scored” the indoor “football” game. It was a very long day so Emma slept over that night. The next morning at breakfast I casually asked MaryMargaret if she had thought about her next project. “I’m going to help with the oil spill” were the words that immediately came out of her mouth. We had been talking about this for a while but weren’t sure if she was passionate enough about it. No sooner had she said that when Emma chimed in, “I want to help!!” So they talked about it for a while and dubbed their new project “Black to Blue”. Since then MaryMargaret has been off making an inspirational movie about the subject. What’s so cool about it is that she has not asked for nor wanted my help. She used Windows Movie Maker (which I have never even tried) to do it. The movie brought my wife to tears, so I know it’s going to be a hit. Her goal is $5000 to help with the cleanup efforts. So what about Emma? We hadn’t spoken to her in a few days and were wondering if she was still committed. Just so happens I saw her mom last night and she told me “Absolutely!” She has been drawing pictures of pelicans in distress for the fund raisers, and to put on “Black to Blue” T-Shirts to sell. So it looks like we will be featuring a new hero pretty soon.
Former Arizona Cardinal Levar Fisher
So was this newfound motivation a coincidence for Emma? What about MaryMargaret? We are no different than other parents. We have no magic dust that keeps our child motivated to do such things. This activity can be hard on kids and parents alike. It’s a constant battle to raise awareness and donations. We might be out at a fund raiser in the heat for four hours and come back with few donations. Many of the parents said this weekend really recharged all of their batteries because it was so inspiring. I am no different in feeling that sentiment. So what did it? I believe there were two major factors. First, Levar and Devin put on a wonderful show. Many people told me they were surprised at how giving they were when it came to personal attention, signing autographs, etc. NFL players have a reputation of being prima donnas, but definitely not these two. And Levar’s charisma and natural ability to relate to kids really drew them towards him. Kids wanted to be in that special group of kids who were deemed “heroes”. Levar spoke of many of the heroes in his speech. Kids want to be part of that. But that wasn’t the only motivating factor. Later on that day we had a reception for the “hero” families at the hotel pool area. The kids couldn’t jump in the pool fast enough. They were together for four hours, playing, laughing and cajoling as if they were all best friends. Emma was there too. I think she really wanted to be a part of this “club” cause these kids (and what they are doing) are really cool. And I also know she wasn’t the only one who was motivated that day.
Since Saturday I have added two goals to my list. The first is to repeat Saturday’s events on a much grander stage. (Hint hint, Hershey Park!) What happened Saturday is deserving of national attention. Second I want to develop a platform where the heroes can collaborate with each other as they grow up. Many companies offer grants, scholarships and large donations to kids who are doing great things. Often times it’s about how many votes they can get. That means it comes right down to how connected they are. This promotes an atmosphere of competition and resentment. I want to do just the opposite. These are the leaders of tomorrow and how much more will they be able to accomplish if they work together and support each other?
So if you have any ideas on how I can get there with both of these goals, I’m all ears.
This video is of the pictures from Kids Are Heroes Day. The wonderful photos were taken by Tracy Timmester. (Thanks Tracy!!!)
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