We’re way past this season, but my favourite Christmas carol is The Little Drummer Boy:
Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.
Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?
Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.
And that’s it: we give what we have. What we give makes a difference. And what a gift it is to be able to give.
I’ve been hearing story after story of people who’ve raised $200, $400, $1,000 in just two days – after thinking that they didn’t have much to give.
So they gave a skill or a thing they made. With their own two hands.
*love and hershey’s kisses to Tiffany Thompson (@bloominglater on Twitter) for sending the Ben Harper song my way.
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The Help Haiti Blog Challenge:
- Sign up for the Help Haiti Blog Challenge (below). Write about it on your blog and tag it “Help Haiti Blog Challenge”. Ask your people to join you and do the same.
- Add the Help Haiti Blog Challenge badge to your blog.
- Make your offer: I will donate ________ dollars to _________ on behalf of the next person who buys _________ from me.
- Make your donation and tell us how much you donated.
- Tweet about it using the hashtag #haitiblogchallenge. Update your facebook status with a request to pass on the message and the call to action. Send e-mails. Everywhere you are, online, talk about the Help Haiti Blog Challenge, tag it, and call your friends, family, colleagues – your people – to action.
Want to know more? Check out the spirited and inspiring discussions taking place in the comments, here and here.
And thank you for rising to the occasion and giving what you have, now.
Kelly, I was packing to travel when you first posted about the Help-Haiti blog challenge, so I had to wait for some down time when I could get back to my blogs. Meanwhile, I texted Haiti to the 90999 number – it was what I could, when I could.
Now back home, I’ve discovered that the big corporation for which I still work is facilitating personal donations through their corporate website, and MATCHING the individual donations $2 for each dollar donated. Other corporations are doing similar matching…so an individual donation made that way could go further than the individual dollar. So if you’ve got readers out there who work for corporations with matching giving programs, then gang, check your corporate giving website. You may be able to double (or triple) the amount you can give if you channel your donation through them.
My first impulse was to find a way to help with medical supplies, specifically ostomy supplies which often get forgotten. But since distribution of physical goods during disasters is an issue, money to a group that is bringing in supplies is a more helpful donation at this point than the actual physical supplies. New plan – donate the cost of a month of ostomy supplies.
Revision of new plan – since the company where I work makes drugs and ostomy supplies, has already shipped the first loaded airbus of supplies to Haiti and will be shipping more directly to those who CAN distribute them – I plan to donate that cost through their gift-match so that my drop-in-the-bucket can fund *three* months of ostomy supplies.
At this point, it’s going to be a direct donation for me, while I write posts asking straight out that my blog readers jump in. But I wanted to say ‘thanks’ for inspiring people to use the things we have – media – to help, to make a difference.
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I’ve joined. I’ll post the details on my blog tomorrow, but for now, here is the post on my personal site: http://jenmccoy.com/2010/01/18/help-haiti-blog-challenge-lets-do-this/
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