Other Good Causes

Still deciding whether to elevate these to "top 30"...

http://www.projectrescue.com/ -- Money donated saves the kids from brothels and helps to get women out of trafficking slavery. Pretty intense.

http://www.richmondhabitat.org/page3.html

http://www.forkeepsvirginia.org/ -- a project for the first lady about finding permanent placement for Va. teens in foster care

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ -- it's a movie... not a charity.. but a good cause, of course.

http://www.virginiasupportivehousing.org/icf.htm -- Virginia Supportive Housing works with other community development corporations in the Richmond area to revitalize abandoned and substandard housing to provide safe affordable housing. Virginia Supportive Housing also works closely with Richmond area homeless shelters and transitional programs.

http://www.bgcmr.org/ Richmond Boys and Girls Club ... for the kids... (Donate here!)


Crisis Pregnancy Center -- The Center is dedicated to providing compassionate care and practical assistance to women who are unprepared for pregnancy. Since 1983, the Center has helped more than 20,000 women meet the challenges of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. All services are provided free of charge. 24-Hr Helpline: (804) 673-2020 or Email us at CPCRichmond2@aol.com

Central Virginia Food Bank -- " The Central Virginia Foodbank (CVFB) was founded in 1980 to procure and distribute food efficiently and effectively to feeding programs throughout the area. Since then, the Central Virginia Foodbank service area has grown to include 31 counties and five cities in the Central Virginia region. Presently, we distribute food through a network of more than 500 network partner agencies, which includes more than 130 child care providers serving needy children. In addition, we serve as many as 4,000 daily meals in the summer and 2,000 daily meals during the school year to needy children through our 54 Kids Café programs."

Bells and Whistles

Ok, so here are some elements to work on....

==Definite==
blog ... content to be developed ... sceneonerichmond.blogspot.com

Tee shirt
-- Logo... working
-- Schedule of May events to wear your tee shirt to(Cinco De Mayo, Friday Cheers, )
-- official purchase location for tee shirts
-- should I charge for tee shirts?


Website ... still need to decide on a URL... stick with sceneonerichmond.blogspot.com?


==Possible==
myspace account?
Theme song?
______ contest?

Take the pledge! Draft list of charities

The challenge: Take the pledge! Under the consultation of friends, I have chosen a list of 30 charities that I would feel comfortable giving money to and that I feel do a great deal of good for the Richmond community. I am challenging everyone I know to give$30 to one of these charities... or $1 to all 30.... however you want to do it. Consider it a b-day gift. To take the pledge, simply let me know when you have sent your gift the charity(-ies?) of your choice. Obviously, I can't tally how much money you gave because I can't prove it.. but I am going by the NPR honor system... I only tally the amounts that people have pledged!!!

This is a start. (in no particular order)

Send suggestions to sceneonerichmond@ g ma il. com. At some point, I'll put together a tee shirt design.... still need to figure that out.

1 William Byrd Community House Help out the kids.

2 CARITAS Richmond End Homelessness in Richmond Check out their "donate" tab... pay online

3 Homeward End homelessness in Richmond heck out their "donate" tab... pay online

4 ART 180 - "ART 180 creates and provides art-related programs to young people living in challenging circumstances, encouraging personal and community change through self-expression. Our group is based in Richmond, Virginia."

5 United Methodist Family Services "By making a gift to UMFS you can touch the life of a child or family in deeply significant ways. Your financial support enables UMFS to be a world-class leader providing human services that enable children and families to realize their hopes for the future." (Adoption, Treatment Foster Care, Residential Treatment, Support Services, and Affiliate Services.)

6 The Giving Heart (Community Thanksgiving Feast) - Providing basic needs, assistance, acceptance and opportunities to the underprivileged, elderly and those who otherwise are hindered in their desire to move forward 7

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Arbitrary 2007 anniversaries

It seems like 2007 is the year for arbitrary celebrations of increments of time ending in 0 or 5.

For example:

* 400th anniversary of Jamestown
* 385th anniversary of the Indian Massacre of 1622
* 265th anniversary of the founding of Richmond (1742)
* 200th anniversary of Robert E. Lee's Birthday
* 175th (ish) anniversary of the Virginia Historical Society
* 10th anniversary of Bandito's Burrito Lounge

And, obviously, the 30th anniversary of me.

30 days Of 30 years: The concept...

It all starts with concept...

Premise 1: I am turning 30 in May... people who turn 30 often do something drastic on their 30th birthday...

Premise 2: doing drastic things doesn't need to be negative... I can do something drastically positive on my 30th birthday... like get people to donate to charity. It is right to help out the little guy.

Premise 3: tee shirts are awesome. Richmond is awesome. Raising awareness of Richmond charities by putting them on tee shirts is awesome...

Premise 4: Viral Marketing sucks but it works... and advertising for a good cause doesn't suck .

I think the conclusion follows... A 30-day Richmond Charity Pledge Birthday Festival Website Tee Shirt


Coming to a capital city near you in May of 2007.

I will keep you posted via this blog.

Walking into 2007...

I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle....

ok, so apparently I didn't make ANY blog posts in 2006. That tells you what sort of blogger I am. I am a very bad blogger.

So what did I do in 2006? I did exactly what I said I would ... I walked the Fan, and I promoted walking the Fan. For my birthday in May, I took the GRTC and walked to Brown's Island and joined 3500 of my closest friends for a Friday Cheers concert by Fighting Gravity. The highlight of that evening was when the lead singer (Shiavone McGee), shouted happy birthday.. to himself... but little did he know that he was playing my party... the biggest birthday party that Richmond had ever seen.. up to that time.

The best part of the whole year was December 31, when over 6000 people joined me in Carytown and that dude from RVAmag yelled something passionate about community and we all waited for the New York Deli ball to drop... err rise... and then we all went Fan walking into late into the night.

So what's next for 2007? Obviously, I have to throw a bigger birthday party than last year.

... and that's a pledge...