Posted by Gabe on July 30, 2011 under KAH Day 2011, Kids are Heroes | 
Riley from Kids Are Heroes Day 2010
I don’t think that a day goes by without me thinking of this day. Whether it be the ones we have enjoyed (this will be our 4th), or the ones we plan for. Last year’s event was amazing. I knew it would be a tall order to top it so I got to work on it MUCH earlier in the year this time. It was important to have it sponsored as we had to shoulder that responsibility in the past ourselves. We struggle in the current economy just like everyone else so that was no longer possible. Thanks to our Kids Are Heroes Day Giving Wall, and the kind companies and folks who have purchased bricks on it, we will be able to hold a reception for the kids this year. That’s what we have been working on and now we can also say we are taking that a step further. I’m proud to announce that for the first time we will be able to sponsor one hero and his/her guardian to come to the event this October. Why that makes me feel so good is because I am always hearing from families who would LOVE to come and be with other like minded children but cannot due to the cost of travel and accommodations. At this point we can commit to inviting one hero and guardian from the USA to be here with us. We are hoping for more donations, individual and corporate, to allow us to sponsor more. Our heroes who wish to be subsidized will write an essay and we will choose the best one(s) based on need and desire to be here.
Last year we enjoyed 23 heroes from all over the world, who ranged in age from 4-16 years old. And when I say all over the world I mean ALL over the world. Diana Onyonyi traveled 16 hours by plane, all the way from Nairobi, Kenya to be with her diminutive colleagues. This year Alaina Podmorow is scheduled to attend and she hails from British Columbia, Canada. As I mentioned 23 heroes were in attendance last year. We expect many more than that this year since our total number of heroes is 224 as of this writing. And since we now represent six countries, who knows how far they will travel? At the event, each one is invited to share their efforts with all who approach them. They are given opportunities to speak on stage and/or entertain in some way. One of the highlights of the day is the recognition ceremony where all heroes get a “thank-you” certificate from the mall. And of course they always get a real kick out of the reception, because that’s when they get to interact with each other the most and make new friends.
So what did we come up with for this year? Thanks to a chance conversation with Osjah’s mom, we will be having our first “Cupcake Wars” event at Kids Are Heroes Day this year. We have moved the awards ceremony to 3PM and from 1-3, three local bakeries will square off to try and serve the best cupcakes in Frederick. This will also act as a fundraiser for Kids Are Heroes, with hopes to propel us into 2012 with a somewhat healthy fiscal standing. But by definition we do things to support our kids. To that end we also plan to host “Charity Wars” in tandem with the Cupcake Wars. Each vote for a cupcake consists of a vote for a bakery. That vote can also be used to vote for a charity that is supported by our children. Each child in attendance represents a charity that they are working on behalf of. At the end of the competition we will donate %25 of the cash proceeds during the event to one of these charities, as long as it is US based and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. (We’re not snobs, we just have rules and regulations as to what we’re allowed to do.) All votes for all charities will end up in a barrel which the winner will be drawn from.
Our Support
Laken Weaver, who is quite an accomplished young local singer, will be singing our national anthem to start the day. If we can convince her to she will also sing the anthems of other countries represented at our event. Her dad Conrad will be running the live video stream throughout parts of the day. The Oakdale Owls will be back for the third year in a row. This time they will be performing the Kids Are Heroes Theme Song! Our consummate DJ, Wes Morgan from Gettysburg, PA, will be at the helm again with his AMAZING setup. We are excited to welcome the Musicians of Mercy, as they plan to bring a sizable orchestra to play for us. “We will bring however many will fit on the stage!”, says Robin Fay Massie, executive director of the organization. We are SO lucky to have Michelle Lindsay take the first photographer’s shift from 10-1PM. Our good friend and also excellent photog Amanda Rodriguez will have the afternoon shift. Sisters Bake Shop and Angel Cakes LLC two of the finest bakeries in Frederick, will square off for the Cupcake Wars.
Event Details
Kids Are Heroes Day 2011 will be held at the center court of the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick, Maryland, from 10AM-4PM on Saturday, October 29th, 2011. Tables for each hero will be set up around the fountain for the kids to spread awareness about what they are doing, and to inspire children of passersby to become involved. People can start buying tickets for the Cupcake Wars at 12PM, and can begin voting (and eating) them at 1PM. The Musicians of Mercy will be on at 2PM. The recognition ceremony for all the children will be held at 3PM.
There will be activities throughout the day, as our kids will have prepared to speak and entertain. Check back to this post from time to time as we will be updating it frequently as plans develop. We hope to see you there!!
Posted by Gabe on July 14, 2011 under Kids are Heroes |
Bless me internet for I have sinned. It has been more than two months since my last blog post…
I have no excuse as to why this happened, but I have always been of the mind that if I’m not inspired to write I just don’t do it. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Today I was inspired to write a post not because of anything in particular that happened today, but more because of a collection of events. As you might guess it is a challenging ordeal to start and promote a non-profit, especially in this economy. It is like a roller coaster where sometimes you think you’ve made it through and other times you wonder how soon the doors must close. Lately things have taken a rather large upward swing and it is the result of the support from a LOT of people. Without this support we would be nowhere. So I am now inspired to offer gratitude towards those who have been active in our recent successes. So without further ado, and in no particular order…
Gratitude to @JeffPulver for starting the JustCoz application. This has been a WONDERFUL source of outreach for us since we signed up. People can pledge to donate one tweet per day. I am offered the opportunity to tweet through our pledges’ Twitter streams once every 24 hours. This has grown from nothing to 765 pledges with a collective reach of 785K+. Every once in a while people don’t read what they signed up for and are startled to see that someone else tweeted through their stream. In those cases I am very quick to respond and tell them how to stop it. But most of the folks are happy to do it and I am also grateful to them. On more than one occasion the JustCoz tentacles have spread out to people that may never have discovered us, and our new-found friends are so moved that they have contacted me by phone. It’s a fantastic service! To learn more visit http://justcoz.org/kidsareheroes.
Gratitude must be sent out to our Outreach Leaders. This is a program we started recently that seeks volunteers to help raise awareness for Kids Are Heroes in local communities. Dawn Ranieri (@KAHPhilly), Bob Prankard (@KAHNiagara), Heather Lawson (@KAHFalkvilleAL) and Mariah McMillian (@KAHMobileAL) have all shouldered the task of spreading the word of Kids Are Heroes in their communities. We have several more that are applying and could even have one coming soon from Pakistan! To learn more about this program, visit here.
Gratitude goes to our Giving Wall Donors!! As you know it is extremely difficult to raise charitable dollars for a small non-profit in this economy. For us it has been no different. Thankfully we recently implemented our Donor Wall system, where people can buy “bricks” on virtual “walls” that serve two purposes. It helps us gain some of the much needed funding and also promotes the donors in return. Once purchased, a brick will include a picture or logo, a short description when the mouse hovers over the image, and a link to the donor’s website. Certain “premium” bricks have the ability to link to the donor’s web site AND Twitter pages. Companies and individuals alike have been strongly supporting us on several different walls: Our Foundation Wall (the original), our Corporate Wall, our Blogger Wall and most recently our Kids Are Heroes Day Wall which helps us fund that event. Please check these walls out and support the companies and individuals who are represented there. (Oh and it won’t kill you to buy a brick while you’re at it!!
Gratitude towards Jerry Pearlman (@TaleofaBaseball) for taking me up on our Social Media Makeover program. We helped him get his blog started and gave him a few other pointers and in return he bought two bricks on our Kids Are Heroes Day wall. If your kids want to read a really cool story about baseball, look him up and check out his book!
Gratitude goes to all of our Facebook and Twitter colleagues. We get lots of comments and likes on our Facebook page and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the mentions on Twitter. We feel honored, blessed and are truly grateful for this outpouring of support. And we are excited to see our growth continue at a phenomenal rate.
Gratitude to all 214 heroes featured on our site who hail from 5 countries!! We are about to add a 215th hero and a 6th country (hopefully) as soon as the consent form makes it in the mail from Thailand!! The energy I gain from these children is unparalleled. I am incredibly motivated every morning to get up and start all over again as I discover more kids who do amazing things and interact with both the kids on our site and their parents. It truly makes the world I live in a hopeful one. You can check these heroes out here.
Gratitude to all the folks who have blogged about our organization since our inception. We keep a running list in our press box and at last count there were almost 80 posts about us that we know of. That is such a benefit to us as awareness about what we are doing is key.
Gratitude to artist and Twitter friend Chip Richter (@Music4Kids) who wrote our theme song. Also must send a shout-out to The Oakdale Owls for performing a wonderful rendition of it. And we can’t forget Conrad Weaver of @ConjoStudios for doing a wonderful job on the filming and editing. See for yourself:
Kids Are Heroes Theme Song
Gratitude to Adrienne Lawrence (@ADLawrence) who is not only a Twitter friend but also a reporter four our local paper. (The Frederick News-Post also deserves a shout-out!!) She is always kind and receptive to listening to what we would like to “pitch” to her. She of course doesn’t print everything we send her way, but has been very good to us in helping get the word out to our local community.
Gratitude to our production company NorthStar Entertainment. Check out the video John and Terri created for us. They are in the process of shopping us to different networks in hopes of landing a documentary series. Wish us luck!!
Gratitude goes to my family. This goes without saying but sometimes it should be said. My lovely daughter MaryMargaret, who founded Kids Are Heroes, was just featured as a role model in an international magazine for tween girls. She is my hero as she keeps me grounded every day. The world is truly her oyster. My wife Michelle has been a stalwart supporter of what we are doing since the day we started. She won’t tolerate any sense of negativity and offers a sense of style I will never own to put the touch of class on everything we do.
I’m sure I have more people to thank and when I think of them I’ll add them to this post. What are you thankful for?
