Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Fighting Childhood Cancer

Will OPRAH highlight childhood cancer as part of #Oprah25?

Many of you are aware that this is Oprah’s last season on air after 25 unbelievable years. As her farewell season begins, we are hoping to land a moment of her time to focus on pediatric cancer.

How? Well, first of all, our wonderful friends at @delprado have agreed to sponsor another Twitterthon with us at @abolishcancer for an upcoming day. (A Twitterthon is when a sponsor agrees to pay $1 for each new follower of @abolishcancer over a 24 hour period to a cancer fighting charity of choice.) We want to gain the attention of Oprah by connecting with the show’s Executive Producer, Sheri Salata, (@SheriSalata on Twitter). @Delprado agrees to sponsor a Twitterthon with us IF @SheriSalata follows both @abolishcancer AND @Delprado.

The point of having Sheri Salata following us is to accomplish our second goal, --- to get exposure for all the children and families who are battling cancer on a national level. Feeds on Twitter such as @Bradenshope, @LiftUpEllie, @LaylaGrace, @brittmerrick and @Aprayerforasher all represent kids who either have cancer or passed away with cancer. Sadly there are hundreds more that could fill up this blog who have been impacted by cancer. We want to give these children and all families hope.

So what can we do? Well, ask @SheriSalata to follow @abolishcancer and @delprado so we can have a Twitterthon and raise awareness for childhood cancer AND hope that we can get the attention of influential individuals to shine a huge spotlight on pediatric cancer on the Oprah show in its last season. Heck if friends on Facebook can get Saturday Night Live to agree to have Betty White as host, why can't we have Oprah do a show on pediatric cancers?

What do we have to lose? Nothing really, just a little time tweeting. What can we gain? A great platform both on Twitter and perhaps national television to help abolish this dreadful disease that needs to be abolished.

Help spread the word and remember that anything is possible!
“Power of the People, through Twitter, to @abolishcancer”

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Be The Power Of ONE

The Power of ONE

We firmly believe that social media tools and new ways to communicate and form communities are allowing ONE person to make a significant difference in social causes.

While our focus is on abolishing cancer, other social causes are increasingly forming communities of support to inform, network and promote change. Access, and the use of technology tools, provides this connection and networking to occur and not be blocked by barriers of geography, culture, or language.

In creating and developing @abolishcancer, it was clear that while having Twitterthons and raising funds for a cancer charity was important, as critical was raising awareness. We have morphed into a bulletin board for cancer fundraisers, cancer charities and those who are fighting cancer. Since we started in November, it’s evident that the forming of a global community to fight cancer is both possible and needed.

So what can ONE person do? Well, raising awareness doesn’t always require money. With the social media tools at our disposal, a person’s passion for a cause will grow just as long as the message resonates with those on the other end. There does have to be a “market” for the cause, but a person’s passion and determination can help form a network of support.

In the past 10 months we have had 17 Twitterthons where sponsors agree to pay $1 for every new follower we receive donated to a cancer fighting charity of their choice. Over $17,500 has been raised through these Twitterthons, all by people who were tweeting and following. Along the way, the 21,000 plus followers of @abolishcancer have helped share stories and offer support to one another who have been afflicted with cancer.

More importantly, we all have ONE common goal- to abolishcancer. Our community will continue to grow and we will continue to support each other in this fight. We also realize that we all make a valuable contribution to this battle, one that we are confident the power of the crowd can help defeat.

So what’s your social cause? What are you waiting for? Be the Power of ONE…..who knows what you may accomplish.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Power of the People to abolishcancer

Power of The People To Unite For A Cause

Yesterday was another amazing day on Twitter. We hosted another Twitterthon with proceeds going towards @46Mommas, a wonderful group of ladies who are on a mission of keeping our children cancer-free.

If you are unfamiliar with how our Twitter feed, @abolishcancer, works, here’s a quick review. We created our Twitter feed last November with the intent of raising awareness and money to fight cancer. We ask for sponsors of our site, for a day, with the purpose of pledging to donate $1 for every new follower we get towards a cancer fighting charity of THEIR choice. Since November we’ve had 17 sponsored days with a total of $17,500 raised for various cancer charities JUST BY TWEETING.

On Friday Debra Goldberg @Goldie22 agreed to donate a max of $3,000 towards helping @46Mommas. The Twitterverse was filled with tweets such as this “For every new follower today of @abolishcancer, @Goldie22 agrees to donate $1 to @46Mommas to fight cancer”. In fact, this tweet was so prevalent that it became a “top tweet” according to Twitter.

The morning started off rather slow (we are on eastern standard US time and have many west coast as well as international followers) with about 100 new followers shortly before noon. The tweeting intensified after lunch with a unified team of 46Mommas pushing to get others to support our cause. By early afternoon we had about 600 followers and were wondering if we would get to our 3,000 goal.

Then the tweets went viral. With the support of some passionate tweeters, like @mamaplug, several prominent individuals started to pick up on our message.

First was Chris Brogan.

then ….Michael Cuddyer

…..Pat Forde

…..Ron Artest

…..Sophia Bush

…..Jenni Woww

…..Erin Andrews

and then Lance Armstrong.

That’s about all it took. After these last three tweeters gave us a Shout Out we gained over 2,000 new followers in less than a 2-hour time period.

What’s amazing about yesterday’s Twitterthon was not only the fact that we got some influential tweeters to have our message go viral, but the idea that every person made a difference in the battle vs. cancer. Thousands of individuals became new followers of our mission, and thousands of tweets were sent out to raise more awareness for our wonderful sponsor @46Mommas. (see more about 46mommas in our previous post)

Twitter has truly provided a unique opportunity to create community of cancer fighters, all doing their part in the fight to abolishcancer. We now see the evidence that everyone can make a difference in this fight. There is the power of numbers to support a common cause combined with the power of the ONE to make change.

What’s the future hold for us? We believe it’s unlimited. We truly believe that we can unite a global community to take on this enormous challenge of defeating cancer. We are not doctors or research scientists, but we are a devoted community experiencing a point unlike any other time in history, where revolutions can be formed to unite and conquer- through the support of social media.

Yesterday was fun and rewarding and put the spotlight on another great cancer charity at @46Mommas. It also helped demonstrate the devotion of the “common man (woman)” with Debra Goldberg @Goldie22 sponsoring our day.

Cancer, you better watch out, we’ve only just begun.

“Power of the People, through Twitter, to @abolishcancer

Darah Bonham is the creator and president of @abolishcancer, LLC and can be reached on Twitter at @abolishcancer, or @darahbonham or by email, bonham.darah@gmail.com

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Today We Fight For 46 Mommas & The Children They Represent

Today we have the fortune of having another Twitterthon at @abolishcancer. If you are unfamiliar with Twitterthons, basically we get someone to sponsor our site for a day, and with every new follower we receive, $1 goes to a cancer charity. This allows us to not only raise money in the fight but to also send out hundreds, if not thousands of tweets to also raise awareness.

Today Debra Goldberg, @Goldie22 on Twitter, agrees to donate $1 for every new follower of @abolishcancer to @46mommas, a wonderful cancer-fighting group. The day starts with 17,410 followers.

A little about @46Mommas( http://46mommas.com/ )from one of the mommas herself, Karla Knudson

"Tiffany Beamer started a group on the People Against Childhood Cancer Website www.curechildhoodcancer.ning.com to talk about her idea of getting 46Mommas to shave their heads for the St.Baldrick's FoundationThe original members of 46Mommas we're all members of PAC2 - a grassroots organization of parents & other supporters -- a clearinghouse of resources, accurate info, contact info for appropriate legislators, childhood cancer awareness events, etc. With about 25 mommas or so to start, we began reaching out to individual circles. Eventually we had all 46 - the number chosen because 46 children are diagnosed each weekday in the US with some type of cancer. We started raising funds with just an idea! We were all confident the details would fall into place! We began fundraising across the nation in our own communities, and had made $80,000 before we even had a venue finalized!! Much of our success has to do with the wonderful logo and web-identity created for our team by one of the Mommas, Heide Randall. We have a lofty goal of $1million -- but we are confident and Hopeful that we WILL BE HEARD! Awareness of pediatric cancer is the most important goal -- we KNOW the money will come, because---AWARENESS leads to FUNDING leads to RESEARCH leads to CURES! (this is the mantra of PAC2)

We consider our shaving event at Hollywood & Highland to be the KICK OFF event to the '46Mommas Shave for the Brave' Campaign! There's already a 2011 team gearing up!

During our 'planning phase' a friend of Momma Mimi Avery, approached her with the idea of having our team on the Stand to Cancer Telethon. The friend happened to be one of the @SU2C producers... and that is how we happened to be invited! We are likely to appear early on in the broadcast, and probably just for a short stint -- but the amount of NATIONAL AWARENESS for childhood cancer will be amazing! We can't divulge too many details about our appearance due to production being 'flexible,' but we are totally PYSCHED for the opportunity!”

Watch the video below to see the beautiful faces of the children that 46Mommas fights for, every day.






Now, a little info about our sponsor, Debra Goldberg, @Goldie22 on Twitter, who agrees to pay $1 for every new follower we receive today (up to 3,000) all out of her own pocket, to help end this disease.

Debra explains below why she is so involved in this fight…..

In January 2004 I received a call at work, “mom has cancer”. Unknown primary, metastatic, squamous cell carcinoma of the head & neck. In a split second your whole world changes. My mom, sense of humor sharp, intelligent, she was a warrior never giving up. Before this happened she was helping my dad with his prostate cancer. It was time my dad started to take care of my mom. 19 months later, September 15, 2005 cancer beat my mother. Then four years later, on October 24, 2009 metastatic prostate cancer beat my father.

Cancer is a devastating disease, yes what a cliché. But more often that not they become clichés because it is true. Cancer does not care if you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Atheist. Cancer does not care if you are young, old, black, white or orange. In 1971 President Nixon declared a war on cancer. We have had several other wars since then, but this battle keeps raging on. We need to win this war and win it now.

I did not only lose my mother (65 yrs old) and my father (74 yrs old), I have lost my best friends. I remember the good times, the laughs and how lucky I was to have them as my parents. I also remember all the heartache, tears and anger I have felt in the past few years and still sting now. People say in time it will be better. No, time makes the pain easier, but it never goes away.

Go ahead; ask me if I would change anything about my life. No, not one second, because if I did, I would not have had the time I did with my mom and dad. No, not one second because I would not be the person I am today. “

It is evident from the words of Debra that her passion is to end this disease, and today she helps fight that battle by supporting a great group in @46mommas.

So….”for every new follower today of @abolishcancer, @Goldie22 agrees to pay $1 to @46mommas to help end this disease.

Better watch out cancer, we are coming after YOU!

“Power of the People”, through Twitter, to @abolishcancer!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Dina Manzo Sports @abolishcancer tee

Dina Manzo, BRAVO Housewife, sports our new @abolishcancer tee in her introductory YouTube video. Check out Dina's role with Project Ladybug, a nonprofit organization supporting children with cancer. http://www.projectladybug.org/

Yeah, we know, the shirt is hard to see, but it's the thought (and message) that counts.



Sunday, August 22, 2010

Uniting in the Fight, #CancerSummit

Proposing a #CancerSummit

Since we began our @abolishcancer Twitter feed and organization in November of 2009, the number of groups, agencies, and charities that are “doing the work” to help fight and end cancer in this world has overwhelmed us. While the sheer volume of organizations in this fight is impressive, it also appears that most of these agencies work independently of each other without any collaboration. With this in mind, we are proposing the first #CancerSummit.

We are not naive to the fact that raising funds for cancer research, prevention, and the like, is big business. People’s lives and employment depend on raising funds for their particular group. We are also optimistic that inherent in the fundraising and exchange of funds with each group, is the ultimate goal of eliminating this disease. We have also seen through our Twitter feed that while one person can make a difference, it’s the power of the crowd that makes the greatest impact.

The same holds true for cancer fighting organizations. We believe that the time is ripe for collaboration. To provide a forum for those who are “doing the work” to come to the table to discuss their practices and to walk away with two or three collaborative possibilities for the future. We realize that some charities may see this as threatening to their “slice of the pie”. We see it as a powerful way to unite like-minded groups to make even a greater difference.

So, we are proposing the first #CancerSummit. We are proposing a one-day conference to be held in February 2011 in the Northeast portion of the United States. We also want to provide an electronic means for those who are unable to travel to virtually experience and be part of the conversation. No charity is too big or small to attend, we all contribute towards the ultimate goal.

What’s next? If you are an active member of a cancer-fighting group, email at Bonham.Darah@gmail.com to be part of the discussion. If you are simply a supporter of a cancer-fighting group, encourage your charity and charity representatives to get involved. Lastly, as we have seen through Twitter, it’s important to share the message. Help us raise awareness to this initiative.

As we say as part of our Twitter feed, “Power of the People to @abolishcancer”. If not us then who? If not now then when?

Unite in the fight to abolishcancer!

Monday, August 16, 2010

History of the Twitterthons


Here's a brief history of our Twitterthons since we started in November, 2009.


Total amount raised= $14,204. All by tweeting.


























Friday, August 13, 2010

Another Great TwitterThon

On Thursday, August 12, @Delprado once again stepped up to become our sponsor for the day. The recipient? @TheVFoundation (see previous post about their great work).

In the end, after a day long of tweeting and retweeting, the Twitterverse helped us get 1,526 new followers which meant $1,526 that Delprado agreed to donate to the V Foundation.

We can't thank delprado enough for all that they have done to support various cancer charities through our site.

To date, we have raised over $14,000 for various cancer charities, JUST BY TWEETING AND FOLLOWING. Isn't that amazing!

So, today was great but our work is not done until cancer is. We will be looking for the next cancer charity to partner with and the next sponsor to provide support.

If interested, email us at Bonham.Darah@gmail.com

"Power of the People, Through Twitter, to @abolishcancer"

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Jimmy V, The V Foundation, Delprado and our fight to abolishcancer

We are fortunate to have @Delprado back on board for another sponsorship for Thursday, August 12, 2010. For every new follower of @abolishcancer today, @delprado agrees to donate $1 to @TheVFoundation.

The V Foundation was established with the support of ESPN in 1993 in honor of Jimmy Valvano, legendary men's basketball coach at North Carolina State University. While Coach V may be known for his championship NCAA team that defeated heavily-favored Houston in 1983, he will forever be remembered as the man who inspired a community to help end cancer. Watch Coach Valvano's 1993 ESPY's speech CLICK HERE

Thanks to the generosity of @Delprado, we will get a chance to raise more awareness today, and money, for a great cause. @TheVFoundation prides itself in donating all monies towards finding a cure for cancer. Check them our here http://www.jimmyv.org/

To date, we have raised over $12,500 since the creation of @abolishcancer in November 2009, all by getting a community of cancer fighters to follow and support us, our sponsors, and the various cancer charities we support. We collect no monies, we simply connect the sponsors with charities. Who would have ever thought Twitter could be used for such a purpose?

We have to thank John Gallagher, CEO of MAPA Imports, LLC, for his generosity for today's and previous "Twitterthons" as we liked to call them. To date, John, and @Delprado have helped raise over $8,000 to various cancer charities with their sponsorships. @Delprado will be hosting their own Twitterthon next week to support their own charity helping to put a roof on a shelter in Peru. Please follow and support them.

So, what are you waiting for? Follow @abolishcancer, retweet our messages and let's end this disease once and for all. Our day starts with 16,200 followers.