Tweet Drive

The 2^nd annual Holiday Tweet Drive has come to a close and as we get ready to uncork the champagne to ring in the New Year, there is much to celebrate after a season of giving back and incredible communities coming together. We are still counting the final numbers but we have collected over 3,500 toys over 37 events, in addition to raising thousands of dollars for our local charities and our partners at the USA for UNHCR and their Blue Key campaign!

More than just the numbers though, 2011 will always stick out to me because this is the year we went from organizing events to forming communities. From New York City to Santa Ana, California, we saw people come together to give back and extend the Tweet Drive spirit beyond donating a toy or two.

In Rockford, Ill. our organizing team pulled in dozens or local businesses to participate throughout the entire week of their Tweet Drive to collect toys and spread the spirit of holiday giving. The result: 332 toys collected! That is a community – not just an event.

Then there were cities such as Houston and Seattle, our top two events for both 2010 and 2011. In both cities, there was buzz for weeks leading up to the event and they didn’t disappoint as they collected over 900 toys combined. Just looking at their Twitter streams, you could see this was more than just toys and a one-night event. Others in those communities have since shared stories about how other groups and organizations have followed our lead and donated further to local shelters.

We also had the privilege to work with Klout, SCVNGR, popchips, and Social Media Club. All of these partners helped us immensely in bringing people out to our events, raising money, collecting toys, and in the end – they helped us build our community around the world.

That’s why I’m so pleased and excited for the years ahead. We aren’t building events anymore – we’re building a community of giving, holiday cheer, and family.

So with that, thank you to everyone who has been apart of Tweet Drive this year. I am humbled by your support and honored that you have chosen to be apart of this great cause and community. May you all have a Happy New Year! 

Here’s to an even better year in 2012.

We’re a week into the 2011 Holiday Tweet Drive and it’s crazy to think we have already collected over 800 toys in just 5 cities! And this is only the beginning…

We are taking Tweet Drive to a new level with several national campaigns, and we wanted to fill you in on the details of our “Challenges for Charity” campaign with SCVNGR and popchips that will be launching at the San Francisco Tweet Drive tomorrow night.

At several of our events, attendees will be able to participate in this campaign by downloading the SCVNGR app on their iPhone or Android and checking in to their city’s Tweet Drive event. That is when the fun begins!

Cities Participating:

San Francisco

Philadelphia

New York

Chicago

Boston

Washington, D.C.

Baltimore

Orange County, CA

Denver

Attendees will then be taken through a series of simple challenges that will allow them to socialize, snack, tweet, and snap a few pictures along the way. Once the attendee completes all four challenges, they will receive the exclusive Tweet Drive badge!

Here’s the best part though – Whatever city has the most completed challenges, popchips will donate $1,000 to their partnering local organization!

So there you have it… 3 amazing teams coming together to give back in a whole new way this holiday season.

Let the Games Begin!

This post was contributed by Linda Gordon, our incredible Seattle Tweet Drive organizer and owner of MySeattleNightOut.com!

Foster Care Fact:

In Washington, state funding covers only 60 percent of the cost of basic care for foster kids.

In the late 1980s a group of DSHS caseworkers, frustrated by the lack of resources for extras for kids in their care, started raising money in their spare time to fund normal childhood experiences. Their small collection funded birthday presents and paid for extracurricular activities. Out of that small beginning, Treehouse grew. Last year, more than 5,000 foster kids in our community used Treehouse services.

The holidays can be tough for kids in foster care, many of whom face the season without parents, relatives, or siblings. When you live in foster care, you’re mever sure if you’ll wake up to find a gift with your name on the tag. Treehouse was founded to help foster kids just be kids.

As someone who has advocated for child abuse prevention in many volunteer capacities, getting involved with Tweet Drive last year was a no-brainer. The timing was a little tight: we only had 5 weeks to pull the entire event together. Yet it was a smashing success!

This year, our first team meeting was in June. I reached out to several other prominent Social Media mavens in the community and also to BEAN, a national organization for young professionals who want to do things for the greater good. So we expect Tweet Drive Seattle to be even larger and better than last year.

In total there were 330 toys last year; we fully expect over 400 this year. To raise awareness and bring more attention to Tweet Drive, we have been holding a 10 week Jammin’ Challenge contest among local bands. Over 50 entered; 32 were chosen to compete. We are now down to the final 6, and after the 2^nd live semi-finals we will be down to the final 4.

There is a live finale with “name” judges from the local Seattle music scene. (Think 2 of the original founding members of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominated Heart, but NOT the Wilson sisters.) We have been fortunate enough to secure The Hard Rock as our venue partner for the event. More details: http://www.myseattlenightout.com/blog/46631/tweetdrive-seattle-2011-.

We have a local promoter who has volunteered to be the MC; we have a local magician who has volunteered to put on some magic; we have a local big-hearted geek who has a very special Twitter stream who will be handling that for us; we have another generous geek who is broadcasting the entire show live on VOKLE. (We’ll send you the link for the night so that you can watch.)

We caught the Tweet Drive vision Harrison threw our way last year, and we are still running with it!

So we are holding Tweet Drive in Seattle to benefit Treehouse. Because every kid deserves a childhood and a future. 

(Today’s blog post is contributed by Jon Steiert, our Philadelphia Tweet Drive organizer!)

At 13, my Dad asked me to volunteer with him the night before Thanksgiving. A client of his had mentioned that there was a need for able bodies at Little Brothers: Friends of the Elderly. To think of the ‘giving’ as a part of Thanksgiving sometimes eludes us; this certainly was the case for me as a teenager. Though I had expressed my displeasure with my father, he exercised the, ‘Tough Luck, Kid’ card.

Little Brothers, located on 642 North Broad Street, is a different setting than a kid from the suburbs thinks about when Broad Street is mentioned. This organization focuses on the well-being of the elderly around cities throughout the country. Their efforts promote both physical and mental health, enabling individuals to remain independent and avoid costly and impersonal alternatives.

The volunteering involved setting-up chairs, arranging tables and signs, in an effort to have everything in place for the Thanksgiving dinner service the next day. I began thinking about the real gravity of the situation.  These beneficiaries of Little Brothers, only a few years older than my Grandparents, would be coming into a random building for Thanksgiving. This realization had a profound and sobering affect on me; the donation of my time became much more valuable and rewarding afterwards.

As it is, I’m a sensitive soul, (let the record show, I did cry during an episode of Hey, Arnold… I have my reasons) but I think anyone who has ever had a joyful holiday, would be a bit more motivated in their efforts of assisting those in need. I am fortunate. I am lucky. I do not have boundless amounts of money to be able to solve every fiscal concern, but I’m fine, thank you. The biggest thing I have is the love and community of my family and my adoptive family in my friends. They’re the greatest currency we all have, collectively.

Since that Thanksgiving, my father and I have also had the opportunity to bring warm meals to the homebound on a few Christmas Eves. The recipients have been some of the most gracious and thankful people I’ve ever encountered, bringing me just as much joy, if not more. They were happy for the company and the conversation, and I was blessed with the knowledge that this was the proper usage of my time. These moments define the true meaning of giving and the holiday spirit.

Tweet Drive is a wonderful cause because it’s not just one mission or one charity. It is a community of people across the country uniting for the goal of Social Good. I’m so excited to hear what everyone else has to share and what they’re local Tweet Drives are brewing for the holidays. Hopefully I can share more stories of cheer closer to Christmas!

TWEET DRIVE PARTNERS WITH BLUE KEY CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND REFUGEES WORLDWIDE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

NEW YORK, N.Y.- Tweet Drive, which spreads holiday cheer to underprivileged children through social media, today announced a national non-profit partnership for its 2011 events with USA for UNHCR’s “Blue Key Campaign”, which works to raise awareness and support in the US for the worldwide refugee crisis.  The symbol of a blue key has been adopted to represent the need to allow those who have fled their homes to return home. 

There are more than 43 million refugees around the world, approximately 47% of whom are children under the age of 18.  “Tweet Drive supports the Blue Key Campaign as another way to give back to children in need, particularly those who are in no position even to receive a gift during the holidays,” said Harrison Kratz, founder of Tweet Drive.

Inspired by the idea that giving back is the greatest thing one person can do during the holidays, Tweet Drive’s mission is to form communities in the real world through the tools and culture of social media in order to help under-privileged children around the globe.

Tweet Drive events are organized as “tweetups,” a term that was coined when event organizers started using Twitter to arrange happy hours or informal meet-ups. 2011 will see X number of holiday Tweet Drive events around the world, in cities as far-flung as Melbourne, Australia, San Francisco, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and New York City.

This year, each city’s Tweet Drive will support a locally-based children’s charity by encouraging attendees to donate a toy at the event, in addition to encouraging attendees to purchase a $5 Blue Key to show support for refugees on a national level.

“We started the Blue Key Campaign to help raise awareness for refugees around the world. Refugees need a voice; they need to know that they matter and that there are people around the world that care about them. We’re grateful that Tweet Drive is helping Americans show their support,” said Marc Breslaw, Executive Director of USA for UNHCR.

In 2010, 25 participating cities raised $7,000 for children’s organizations and donated 2,000 toys via Tweet Drive. Over fifty 2011 Tweet Drive events will take place around the world during the week of December 12, 2011. To learn more about Tweet Drive or to volunteer for your local Tweet Drive, please visit TweetDrive.org.

Another Halloween has passed, but was loads of fun! Before we are full steam ahead into the holidays, we wanted to share how some of our Tweet Drive Champions celebrated Halloween 2011.

Dana Bubonovich aka “Robin” - Chicago

Elisabeth Rosario aka “Mario” - New York (National)

Kimberly Lucio - Chicago 

Han Ma aka “Cop” - New York

Yasmine Gila aka “Paper” - Fort Worth

Brian Hernandez aka “Adam Lambert/Sanjaya” - New York

Harrison Kratz aka “2torian” - New York (National)

Please share your photos with us on Twitter! @TweetDriveHQ

Happy Halloween Tweet Drivers!

Candy, spooks, and fun costumes will fill the streets tonight and our team here at Tweet Drive wanted to join in on the fun! Tomorrow we’ll hopefully have some pictures of costumes from some of our champions; but for now, our @TweetDriveHQ team wanted to share their favorite scary movies!

Harrison Kratz, Founder

“My favorite has to be the original Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. The master of suspense was at his finest in a movie that I don’t only appreciate as a great horror movie, but just a great movie in general. From the movie’s score to Norman Bates, the entire film is a must-see thriller. Oh, and did I mention the infamous shower scene?”

Kyle Harty, Community Director

“Scream. I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking - this could really happen. And living in a area that is almost like what’s depicted in the movie, made it that more real and frightening.”

Stephanie Kornblum, Social Media Manager

“My favorite scary movie would definitely have to be House on Haunted Hill. Now if you haven’t seen this movie you must. Basically these people are in this house that used to be some sort of psychiatric center and if they spend the whole night in the house they get $1,000,000. Obviously it isn’t that easy. I’m not going to go into detail but let’s just say I’m still terrified of being in a basement alone. Or even at all…”

Jason Mollica, PR and Media Relations Director

“My favorite scary movie is the original Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock with Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins from 1960. Since it is in black and white, it made that more chilling and scary (to me). The famous shower scene was so shocking at the time and when I saw it, it freaked me out. Still find myself edgy when I watch it! “

Brian Martinowich, Community Assistant

“In terms of my favorite scary movie, I’d have to say that it would be the Scream movies, or the Chucky movies. There was always just something about that mask and that little freakish doll that just gave me the creeps! But in general I’m always open to watch a horror movie or something suspenseful.”

Now it’s your turn… What is your favorite scary movie?

Halloween is almost here and we’re officially one year old this month! Jack O’ Lanterns and costumes are starting to creep into our daily conversations and we’re already reserving space in our stomach for pounds of candy. To welcome in the unofficial start of the (extended) holiday season, we would like to invite you to the October #SoGoodChat!

Please join us next Monday night, 10/24 at 9pm EST to discuss Building Global Communities in Social Good with our special guests, Meghan Peters, Community Manager for Mashable and Jessica Murray, Community Manager for Social Media Club! Can you think of bigger communities in social media? Nope, neither can we…

Meghan and Jessica will be sharing their experiences with managing global communities and how those communities can translate into social good initiatives to help us celebrate another month of the chat that just keeps on giving. So, we hope you stop on by with your fall drink of choice for another great discussion!

If you have a question for Jessica or Meghan, be sure to tweet @TweetDriveHQ between now and the start of the chat. We just may use it J

See you Monday night and be sure to follow the hashtag #SoGoodChat!

Cheers,

Team Tweet Drive

Can you believe its already nearing the end of September? With fall blowing into town, we can already feel that cold winter air that fills our holiday season and has us screaming for Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Apple Cider at Starbucks. To wrap up the month, we would like to invite you to a very special edition of #SoGoodChat.

Please join us next Monday night, 9/26 at 9pm EST to discuss Partnerships and Sponsorships in Social Good with our special guests, Ashley Jacober, Director of Klout Perks at Klout and Rachael King, the President of Social Media Club D.C. and Social Media Manager at iostudio!

Ashley and Rachael will be sharing their experiences with partnerships in social media and helping us celebrate another month of the chat that just keeps on giving. So, we hope you stop on by with your fall drink of choice for another great discussion!

To give a little extra push to spend time with us, we’ll buy a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte for one of our participants and a person of their choice! How do you like them apples… err, pumpkins?

See you Monday night and be sure to follow the hashtag #SoGoodChat!

Cheers,

Team Tweet Drive