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Bloggers “chip in” more than $4,000 in a day to #getwellliz fund
By Justin Goldsborough | November 13th, 2009
Big causes are important. Komen Foundation, American Heart Association, Salvation Army, #movember, #stopdiabetes. But it’s the smaller, more personal causes that still surprise me a little and bring awareness to the generosity that’s on display in the social media world.
Take Liz Strauss (@lizstrauss). I’ve never met Liz, but she’s a blogger whose reputation precedes her. I’ve heard many people I respect talk about her and I’ve seen those same people and others tweet about the value and perspective she brings to the table many times.
Over the past couple of weeks I had seen tweets here and there alluding to the fact that Liz was in the hospital. For what reason, I never knew and I’m still not sure. But tonight I sent @KrisColvin a direct message to ask what had happened to Liz when I saw her tweet that she had donated to Liz’ “cause.” And Kris filled me in.
It seems that Liz went to the hospital for a mandatory check up and ended up there for several days. What’s worse, her insurance claim for the stay was rejected. So the blogger community came to her defense.
@DebNg, @GeekMommy and @JennFowler wrote a post describing Liz’ situation yesterday. They attached a ChipIn widget, set a fundraising goal of $5,000 by Dec. 31 and wrote: “If everyone donated the price of a Latte we could set her back on the track to financial health as well a physical health.”
Today, just one day later, more than $4,000 has been contributed to the #getwellliz fund. Click the image below to check out the post and donate.
I think people have always been willing to help their friends out when they get in situations like Liz is in. Social media has just drawn more attention to that generosity. But what I’m not sure has ever existed before is people’s willingness to “chip in” a few bucks here or a retweet there in order to tell someone’s story and be a part of the solution.
The fact that $4,000 has been raised for Liz is an awesome story about the human spirit. But so are the 223 retweets of the blog post by Deb and friends and the 135,000 people the “Get Well Liz Strauss Fund” has reached according to Tweetreach (it’s actually reached a lot more because tweetreach only calculates the most recent 50 tweets).
People used to spend an extra $10 on fast food or some extra time playing video games. Yet in a down economy where we’re all working as hard as we can, people are finding more time and more money to help each other out. I keep hearing the media call this last year plus of economic hardship a depression. But for me, it’s been an impression, or at least it’s left a lasting one.
Best of luck, Liz. Here’s to your health :).
National Blog Posting Month 30 Causes in 30 Days
- Apartment Fund for Daniela’s Family (@davearmano)
- 12for12k (@dannybrown)
- #Iamsovereign Twitter Birthday Project (@jasonstoddard)
- Jaeli’s Syndrome (@AngEngland and @BrandyBrow)
- #GebenGives (@prtini)
- 11-11 Veteran’s Day (@JoeTrippi)
- #stopdiabetes (@JessicaLHansen, @AmDiabetesAssn)
- #noahbiorkman (several thousand people)
- #applebeesvets (@scottmonty, @arikhanson, @valeriesiimon, @prtini, @sonnygill)
- #movember (@jasonfalls)
- Harvesters Thanksgiving food drive (@TackleHungerKC)
- #getwellliz (@DebNg, @GeekMommy, @JennFowler, @KrisColvin)
November 14th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Justin,
Thank you. The story is that I came back from WordCampNL, Amsterdam and ended up in the ER with kidney stones, pneumonia, and a blood infection. Eight days later they let me go home. The treatment won’t be over for another week. No private insurance can handle what that costs.
I am embarassed, grateful, and in awe of what everyone has done, offered, and said in the meantime. I still stare at the effect this has had on my life and how the community has rallied.
Most of all, I get to meet people like you. Thank you for this …
Liz