5.14.2009

Gwendomama Fund: Make a Real Difference for a Real Person

Gwendomama is one of my favorite people and bloggers. She is a loud-mouthed, small-business-owning, straight-shooting, food-loving, empathetic woman and dedicated mom. She is a wonderful friend to folks both inside and outside of the computer, to parents who advocate for special needs kids, and especially to parents who -- like her -- have faced the unimaginable in losing a child.

The unimaginable happened to her again. Last month, she became a victim, and to literally add insult to injury, she has found herself in a financial hole. Please, please help us help our hardworking friend gather funds for her and her children's immediate needs: food, rent, utility bills.

We are bloggers. Our superpower is connectivity, and when we use that power for good, we can save and change the world. Please forward, blog, connect, and -- especially -- donate. The campaign will end next Friday, 5/22. No amount is too small, and the sky's the limit. Thank you.

updates (because the widget doesn't update consistently):
  • 5/15 | 12:15 PM We have raised over $1000 so far, from 40 generous people, many of whom are scraping by, themselves. Blogosphere superheroes, I heart you!
  • 5/15 | 6:00 PM: $1,765 from 59 contributors!
  • 5/16 | 1:00 PM $2,240 from 70 contributors. Zowie!
  • 5/18 | 7:30 AM $2,545 from 85 contributors. Four more days, thank you and keep it coming!
  • 5/19 | 9:00 AM $2,940 from 96 contributors. Surely we can push it over $3K today?
  • 5/20 | 5:30 PM $3,310 from 103 of the awesomest people ever linked by the Blogosphere. Two days left!
  • 5/22 | 8 AM $3,450 from 107 scions of amazingness. Fundraising ends in 13 hours, so please give now if you can.
  • 5/22 | campaign over: Volcanic thanks to the 108 of you who contributed to the Gwendomama fund; you gave us $3,475 reasons to believe in the Blogosphere!
Click on the widget to contribute money DIRECTLY to Gwendomama's PayPal account. Click the COPY tab to get the widget embed code:

16 comments:

  1. I am not in a position to help financially right now (in a trying to keep the utilities on position myself). But I just wanted to say, thank you for doing this, I still remember the people who helped my Mom to leave an abusive husband when I was a child

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  2. I couldn't do much, but no one should have to worry about money when they're dealing with such emotional heartache. I'm thinking of her and so thankful she has some support.

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  3. Anonymous10:34 AM

    Everyone can spare at least a couple bucks to help someone out. You never know when it might be you needing the help.
    @goaliemom31 (twitter)

    http://www.morcstars.com

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  4. Any idea who created this widget? It would help if it linked to a page actually describing what people are giving to - I'm thinking that it would get more that way as a sidebar widget.

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  5. @sarcastic mom Thanks for the feedback. I created the widget; it puts money directly in Gwendomama's PayPal account. I've updated the page information to reflect where the money's going. Let me know if you have any more questions, and thank you so much for stopping by.

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  6. Ahhh... I was wondering if the widget itself could link to a descriptive page instead of just a page telling people how to start their own chipin campaigns. Was just thinking it would bring in more as a sidebar widget on other people's blogs that way.

    No worries. I added the widget to my sidebar and a link to here above the widget so people can make sense of it.

    Thanks!

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  7. It are done. Click-thru URL now on widget's INFO tab. Click CODE tab for embed code. Thank you, again!

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  8. ...I meant "COPY" tab for embed code.

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  9. @Gwen, so sorry you're going through this. My heart goes out to you. You're so lucky to have friends to help see you through. @Shannon, the widget is a great idea!

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  10. You people have no idea....this is what I was trying to explain to the DA when he gently suggested leaving the blogging community...I can't.

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  11. good luck, stay strong

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  12. Anonymous8:19 PM

    I've made my contribution and I'll spread the word. May I suggest publishing the direct PayPal account email? It'll mean more spam to that account, but it'll also mean more PayPal donations as people know PayPal and may be leery of the widget.

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  13. Thanks - I've been mostly a lurker on gwendomama. Love her writing, grieve for her and her family - I just put the widget on my site, hope I can help even a little.

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  14. Hi! I've been following Gwendomama since I saw her post on V.U. However, today when I clicked on her blog it told me that it was only viewable to those who she specifically invites. I'm assuming she changed this setting due to safety issues that I oh so dearly understand. However, PLEASE get a message to her. Let her know that I can still read her posts in my "Blogs I'm Following" even though I can't link to her page. This means that anyone else who chose to "follow" her blog before hand is still seeing her posts. I'm not sure how to fix this, but she does need to be aware of it! I attempted to find a way to contact her directly and let her know, but have not been able to do so. Thanks.

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  15. Hi Mel, I'll let her know for certain. Thank you for looking out for her.

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Respectful disagreement encouraged.