Stars & Stripes article: Charity Needs YOUR Help!

[AEOakley]

Are you a Facebook user? If you are, then this article may be of interest to you...Of course, as a Operation Gratitude volunteer, I'd HOPE you would cast a vote for my cause this Memorial Day weekend, but there are nine other excellent charities vying for $$, too:

Operation Gratitude needs votes for prize

Operation Gratitude, which sends some 100,000 care packages downrange each year, is asking for a little something back — via Facebook.

The charity is one of 10 organizations "competing" for votes in a program sponsored by Target and called "Bullseye Gives."

Whichever organization receives the most votes on Facebook receives the largest share of the $3 million being donated by Target. The voting already has begun and runs through May 25. The Web site can be found at www.facebook.com/target (http://www.facebook.com/target).

"The timing of Bullseye Gives is perfect for Operation Gratitude," Carolyn Blashek, the Operation Gratitude founder, was quoted as saying in a news release.

"The campaign is taking place during Military Appreciation Month, when we hold our annual Patriotic Drive to assemble and ship 40,000+ care packages to our military men and women in harm’s way."

Operation Gratitude was founded in March 2003 and has since sent some 430,000 packages downrange. The care packages contain items ranging from snack foods to entertainment items and hygiene products, along with personal letters of appreciation.

According to Blashek, the funds raised through the Bullseye Gives campaign will be used to pay the $1.2 million in postage expenses needed to send 100,000 care packages.

The other nine charities in the running are the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Feeding America, HandsOn Network Generated by Points of Light Institute, Kids In Need, Parent Teacher Association, National Park Foundation, Red Cross, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The Salvation Army USA.

Article source: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62632

[ImNewHere]

Fine. I did. But they don't have a chance in hell of winning. St. Jude and the Red Cross are beating the hell out of the care package people. If they knock each other out, then the Salvation Army steps in and cleans up.

[AEOakley]

Fine. I did. But they don't have a chance in hell of winning. St. Jude and the Red Cross are beating the hell out of the care package people. If they knock each other out, then the Salvation Army steps in and cleans up.

You're right, of course. The top three together have something like 65% of the vote and are going all out to keep their hefty leads. Good for them -- they work hard and do great things. I've just come back from the Army National Guard Armory -- spent the day volunteering with OpGrat and we assembled 7,000 care packages that were out the door and are on their way to 7,000 troops in Iraq, Aghanistan, Kuwait and elsewhere across the globe.......

THANK YOU for your vote. Someone figured out that with the current trend, for each additional vote we get now through the May 25 deadline we will collect about $8 more. Since postage to mail our care packages is $11 per box, each vote pays for 75% of another one to go out.

It's all good. Happy Memorial Day, everyone.....God bless our troops, past and present! :flag:

[AEOakley]

Our local CBS affiliate came to the armory as we assembled care packages yesterday:

http://cbs2.com/local/Operation.Gratitude.Soldiers.2.1017724.html

And at the end of the story, they mention the Facebook/Target contest! :) Two more days to vote!

[Molliegoch]

In fourth place when I voted.

[AEOakley]

In fourth place when I voted.

THANK YOU for your vote! We stayed in fourth place, and even though the rules said "The last day to vote is May 25" -- which is today, of course! -- the voting is now closed! I'm disappointed that we didn't have more time, but very thankful to Target for its generosity. Operation Gratitude will receive more than $227,000, which is WONDERFUL, and will go a long way in helping to send more care packages. :clap:

God bless ALL our troops -- past and present -- this Memorial Day, and every day! :flag:

[AEOakley]

THANK YOU for your vote! We stayed in fourth place, and even though the rules said "The last day to vote is May 25" -- which is today, of course! -- the voting is now closed! I'm disappointed that we didn't have more time, but very thankful to Target for its generosity. Operation Gratitude will receive more than $227,000, which is WONDERFUL, and will go a long way in helping to send more care packages. :clap:

God bless ALL our troops -- past and present -- this Memorial Day, and every day! :flag:

Target RE-OPENED the voting! Woohoo! Since it was their own rules that stated it would stay open through 11:59 pm, I'm glad they honored their word on this.

Even better, Operation Gratitude is up to around $229,000 at this point -- THERE'S STILL TIME TO VOTE (http://www.facebook.com/target), everyone! :) Please help us send more care packages to the troops!

http://www.facebook.com/target

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

Target is awesome.

http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/index.php?id=8212

Each week Target Corporation distributes 5 percent of the company’s income – or about $3 million – to charity. This month the retailer is giving the public a say in how it allocates its next $3-million through an online campaign that lets Facebook users vote for one of 10 national nonprofit groups they would like the company to support.

Visitors to Target’s Facebook page can vote once a day during the two-week campaign, which ends on May 25. The percentage of votes each nonprofit group receives determines what percentage of the $3-million it receives.

Facebook voters are also encouraged to volunteer through a link to VolunteerMatch, an organization that pairs volunteers with local nonprofit groups.

The competition was designed to help the charities Target supports get comfortable using online social networking tools, says Laysha Ward, Target’s president of community relations.



Sorry. St. Jude gets my vote.

[AEOakley]

Target is awesome.

http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/index.php?id=8212

Sorry. St. Jude gets my vote.

I agree, Target IS awesome! And no apologies necessary -- St. Jude's is an amazingly wonderful place doing amazingly wonderful things. They earned 26% of the vote -- as did the Red Cross. The Salvation Army came in third with 13%.

Truth be told, if I weren't an Operation Gratitude volunteer who knows how much this money means to our tiny, fairly new (started in 2004) and 100% volunteer and donations-based organization, I would have been persuaded to cast my votes for St. Jude's, too.

OpGrat was up against these three giants from the world of non-profits...years and years of solid reputations and helping millions of people which rightfully has earned them each huge name recognition, huge numbers of paid staff and infrastructures of mass market advertising, etc., and many other advantages we couldn't even begin to compete with! Together they garnered a full 65% of the votes -- obviously well-deserved!

By comparison, OpGrat has a couple hundred semi-regular volunteers here in Southern CA. No advertising budget and no paid employees. Our most recent OpGrat care package recipients (several thousand men and women of our U.S. Armed Forces) couldn't pitch in with votes on Facebook because they're currently outside the U.S. in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and the voting was only open to people in the States.........so, truly, to come in fourth and earn 7% of the votes spread across 10 charities was really wonderful. I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining! I'm marveling at the odds we were up against and am thankful we did as well as we did.

THANK YOU, Target, for your CONTINUED generosity to so many great causes. The $232,900 you're donating to Operation Gratitude is very much appreciated and will help us meet our budget towards sending a total of 40,000 individually-addressed care packages during this May-June "Patriotic Drive". :clap:

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

It wasn't a slam at your thread; it was personal. I have a friend whose son was treated at St. Jude. They saved his life.

I will, however, make a donation to Operation Gratitude :hug: