If you’ve been reading here long enough then you know that I’ve participated a few times in the Blogathon. Last year they didn’t hold one because of some changes they were making, but it’s back on this year. For those who have never heard of it before, the Blogathon is a 24-hour way for bloggers to raise money for organizations that they care about. The only guideline is that the cause you choose must have an online donation page.
I’m participating again this year. As I have always done, I am blogging to raise money for my pet cause, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – the UNHCR. As most of you know, I write over at PittWatch.com and I started there over three years ago because Angelina Jolie is my favorite actress. However, acting skills aside, what really moves me about her is her tireless work with the UNHCR. It’s because of her that I learned about the organization and the work they do to provide relief, shelter, food, and communication for refugees all over the world. I would love so much to go to a UNHCR post one day and really help out in person, but in the meantime this is the next best thing.
During the Blogathon I am required to post every 30 minutes for 24 hours. I know! It’s about as exhausting as it sounds. But it’s worth it. This year the Blogathon starts at 9:00 am on July 25th and runs until 9:00 am on the 26th. (Those are in Eastern time zones) During that frame I will update every half hour.
In return I ask two things of you.
1. If you can, please consider sponsoring me. You can do so by going here. You simply make an account and then decide what you would like to donate to the UNHCR if I complete the Blogathon successfully. This is an important detail so forgive the bold and caps lock: THE MONEY DOES NOT EVER COME TO ME IN ANY WAY. You don’t send the money to me and hope that it will be sent on as promised. When the Blogathon ends you will receive an email within a couple of days telling you where to go to make your donation TO THE UNHCR DIRECTLY. You don’t need to donate a ton of money. Even five dollars helps, and if a lot of people donate a little, it WILL make a difference to a refugee’s life – I’ve read Angelina’s journal notes from her first four UNHCR trips. Trust me, that little bit of cash is huge on the other end.
2. If you can’t sponsor me (and even if you can!) please support me by dropping by whenever you can during the 24-hour period to leave a comment, shoot me an email, chat me up on gmail, whatever. The beginning isn’t so bad, it does pass quickly. By late night though, it slows way down. I get tired, it’s quiet, it’s lonely, and the time drags like you wouldn’t believe. Interacting with me keeps me going and keeps me from falling asleep (well, that and the extra caffeine that I ingest!). People in different time zones come in really handy during the Blogathon because it spreads out the support!
That’s it! So you can basically expect a whack-load of posts from me this time next week. The summer has been craptacular so if it’s a nice day and we’re invited out to go swimming (our friends have gotten a new pool) I’ll be going but so will my laptop – hooray for knowing so many people with wireless connections! – and I will be out of the pool every half hour to update! That should be a whole new challenge, trying to stay up all night long after swimming, woo!
Please, PLEASE consider sponsoring me here. As of this moment this is my first time mentioning the Blogathon so I have a grand total of ZERO sponsors. Help me out? Thanks!