abolishcancer: February 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Today We Host Another Micro Twitterthon

For every new follower of @abolishcancer today, @Broelovindivas will donate $1 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help fight cancer. (up to $500). @abolishcancer starts the day with 50,270 followers.

@abolishcancer started Twitterthons in November of 2009 with the hopes of raising $ and awareness in the fight against cancer. Little did we realize that 16 months later, we would have raised $49,000 for various cancer charities by simply tweeting and following on Twitter. While most of our Twitterthon sponsorships exceed $2,000 we decided to dedicate the month of February to smaller “micro” Twitterthons to allow more people to be involved. Today concludes our micro Twitterthons with the support from @Broelovindivas.

About today's sponsor

Here is how today’s sponsor best describes their site…..

“The Broelovindivas site is in support of the Brady and Chloe pairing from Days of Our Lives. One of their big storylines was the leukemia storyline, where Chloe had cancer. There are many of us that support this pairing and the cause of finding a cure for leukemia. So many of us Broe fans have seen, unfortunately, firsthand what this can do. In a way, we look for the hero (Brady) in our own lives. We want to help this cause because of our devotion to their story, the fans that support them and lost the battle with cancer and leukemia, for Nadia Bjorlin's (Chloe's portrayer) own personal cause, and those still fighting this horrible disease. We hope what we raise during this twitterthon will help find a cure.”

We appreciate @Broelovindivas sponsorship today and the opportunity to raise more awareness and support to end this disease. Contact us at abolishcancer if you would like to partner. Abolishcancer.info@gmail.com

“Power of the People, To UNITE, To @abolishcancer”

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Many Thanks!

We are so grateful for our sponsor yesterday @FireHouseAgency in their support of @ChildrensTheOne Hospital in our Twitterthon to benefit @1Million4Anna.

You, our Twitter followers, helped us raise 500 new followers which = $500 to help fight cancer. Since we started our Twitter movement 15 months ago you have helped us raise $49,000 for various cancer charities ALL BY TWEETING & FOLLOWING!

This is not just a web site..... it's a MOVEMENT. A movement to end cancer.

"Power of the People, To UNITE, to @abolishcancer"

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Today’s Twitterthon Supports 1 Million Prayers For Anna

As part of our “micro” Twitterthons, @abolishcancer is excited to host another Twitterthon to help raise $ and awareness to fight cancer. Today’s sponsor is @FireHouseAgency who will be supporting @ChildrensTheOne Hospital in honor of Anna Basso. (@1MillionAnna)

For every new follower today of @abolishcancer, $1 is donated to the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas in honor of Anna and all children battling cancer. (Up to $500.) Today we start with 49,775 followers.

Today’s Charity

Below is a brief history of Anna and her movement as described by one of their supporters….

“When 17-year-old Anna Basso was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, inaction was never an option. As doctors at Children’s Medical Center did everything they could to help Anna, Mark Hall, her neighbor and founder of Firehouse Agency, began to think of other ways to help her. The idea came to him almost instantly; if one prayer can help, what can 1 million accomplish? Almost overnight, Firehouse focused all of the agencies resources to make this dream a reality. With a goal of 1 million prayers, the website, http://1millionprayers.com, was started to encourage Anna as she battles Ewing Sarcoma. Participants are asked to sign up or “promise” to pray everyday at 12:12 PM.

Why 12:12? It’s two fold really. First, 12:12 is a direct reference to Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” It’s a call to love in all circumstances, especially in trials. So we pray at 12:12 as a reminder of our joyful hope in the Lord and His healing power, our patience knowing that God is sovereign and in control even in times of trial, and that collectively we will be unwavering in our commitment to lift up Anna and her cancer to the Lord.

So what’s the second reason? We pray at the same time to show our solidarity. Matthew 18:20 says, “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” We ask for people to pray at the same time as a symbol that we have “come together” in His name.

Anna continues her battle, and we continue to pray, with over 650,000 prayers and counting. As we approach the 1-year anniversary of launching this initiative on April 22, 2011, we hope to reach our goal of 1 million prayers for Anna. This Twitterthon aims to continue to raise that prayer count and honor those helping to abolish cancer at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.”

About Our Sponsor

Firehouse Agency is a collection of creative problem solvers who believe that every challenge, big or small, deserves a big idea. This has resulted in an impressive track record of getting (and keeping) brands on the path to success. From radical strategic overhaul to nuanced communication and tactics, we're experts in uncovering meaningful consumer insights and translating them into ideas that make a difference.

Background

@abolishcancer was formed in November 2009 by Darah Bonham who combined his interest in social media and charitable work to create a site that supported cancer charities. Darah created the “twitterthon” which not only raised funds for cancer charities but also created awareness through the extensive tweeting that occurs through one of their sponsored events. Twitterthons combine celebrity support, a generous sponsor, and thousands of tweeters and followers that support cancer charities in their work. Since @abolishcancer started in November of 2009, over $48,000 has been raised for various cancer charities, all BY TWEETING.

@abolishcancer has been fortunate to partner with some great celebrity support for our twitterthons with individuals such as Shannon Tweed, Dina Manzo, Michael Smith, Erin Andrews, Kendra Andrews, Jeri Ryan and Alyssa Milano. It proves that so many are passionate about the need to abolish cancer no matter their age, race, income or gender. We feel at @abolishcancer that social media is providing a platform for a global community to unite in the fight to end cancer.

Resources

CaringBridge: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annabasso

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=371688425882

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/1million4anna

Children’s Medical Center: http://www.childrens.com/

Sponsor: http://www.firehouseagency.com

Sponsor’s Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/firehouseagency

We are thankful to @FirehouseAgency for their support for Anna and all those “in the fight” to abolish this disease.

“Power of the People, To Unite, To @abolishcancer”

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Major Awareness Campaign Soon To Be Launched

Over the next couple of weeks a huge, global awareness campaign will be launched. This campaign will unite cancer charities and people from all over the world in a show of support to help abolish this disease.

While we can't quite "unveil" the campaign just yet, we are working with a number of high profile and local comedians to team up with our movement. You can help us by connecting with more comedians to get on board. We are looking for both "headliners" and up-and coming comedians to get involved.

If interested, have them contact us at bonham.darah@gmail.com for more details. Stay tuned...

"Power of the People, To Unite, To @abolishcancer"

Monday, February 7, 2011

Comedians Needed For Upcoming Awareness Campaign

We have a major global awareness campaign set for the upcoming months and are looking for comedians to get involved. While we can't divulge the exact campaign specifics yet, we can tell you that it will be a HUGE awareness campaign that will benefit ALL cancer charities.

We have started to reach out to many of the men and women across the globe that make us laugh with the hopes of them coming on board our movement. Our first comedian, Sarah Colonna, just committed and we are looking for more.

Please contact us at bonham.darah@gmail.com for us to share our ideas. Trust us, it's going to be GREAT!

"Power of the People, To UNITE In The Fight, To @abolishcancer"

Saturday, February 5, 2011

An AMAZING Day of Tweeting to Abolish Childhood Cancer

Just over 24 hours ago we kicked off our Twitterthon with @THON hoping to raise a great deal of awareness and $ for this great student-led philanthropic organization based out of Penn State University. What we received in return far exceeded our expectations.

If you are familiar with our Twitterthons, you realize that we get sponsors to donate $1 for every new follower we receive that all goes (100%) to a particular cancer charity or organization on a given day. We worked previously with @THON last January (see previous post) and knew that Friday's Twitterthon would have an incredible amount of support. And it did......

4,000 followers in less than 8 hours= $4,000 donated to @THON
over 6,500 new followers of @abolishcancer
over 1,000 web site hits of AC linking THON story
record setting 8 hours to complete Twitterthon
600 new followers in first 4 hours, over 3,000 in the next four~from 11a.m. to 2:30p.m.
thousands of tweets and retweets throughout the day
numerous celebrity tweets of support

While the statistics of yesterday's Twitterthon were impressive, nothing can describe the passion and energy for which everyone tweeted and retweeted our partnership with @THON. As early as 6a.m. we began to tweet about seeking followers and immediately our community of supporters began to assist. We knew that @THON would bring an army of Penn State University students and alum on board in a tweeting frenzy and they did not disappoint. The Penn State community was buzzing.

Not only did the @THON contingent embrace the campaign but a unique synergy occurred as @abolishcancer followers connected with PSU students in support of a common cause. In the end, the money is always important, but what was more important, as exemplified in yesterday's Twitterthon, was the collaborative effort by cancer fighters across the globe to raise awareness in the fight vs childhood cancer.

All along, this has been our motto, "Power of the People, to UNITE, in the Fight to AbolishCancer!" We believe that the great things that cancer fighting groups like @THON are achieving shouldn't be in isolation from all of the other groups, organizations, and people who are fighting cancer in their own separate ways. Social media has provided a means for all of us to join forces and connect~ a true "global community".

We are also grateful for our celebrity followers and tweeters who helped our awareness campaign yesterday. The following is a brief list of those who helped spread the word~ as indicated by their Twitter handles...

We are certain we missed some influential tweeters (our apologies) but yesterday's tweets were coming at a furious pace and often hard to keep up with. Our many thanks to all those influential supporters of our movement and their support for @THON.

We would also like to thank all of the @THON Captains and organizers for helping to secure yesterday's sponsor, Real Christian Business Associates, especially @PatHowley and @JonyLaura for their support.

What's Next?

Our Twitterthons will continue and we are always looking to partner with cancer charities and donors willing to get involved. We also have an exciting announcement coming up soon for an April campaign that includes a new celebrity spokesperson for our movement. We are growing as an organization and looking for financial partners as we expand the abolishcancer movement. If interested, shoot us an email at bonham.darah@gmail.com.

"Power of the People, To Unite In The Fight, To @abolishcancer"

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Today's TwitterTHON Supports the Great Work of @THON....#FTK

(We wanted to thank ALL of our supporters today for their endless tweeting and support of our Twitterthon and the great work of @THON. Our Twitterthon ended around 2:30 eastern time with 4,000 followers = $4,000 given to @THON to fight pediatric cancer. Today is evidence that social media can bring a global community together to unite and eventually abolish cancer. )

It is only fitting that on World Cancer Day, we support a cause that is near and dear to our heart…..@THON. It was just over a year ago that @abolishcancer was just starting as an organization. Last January a Penn State University junior decided to sponsor one of our Twitterthons. Eighteen hours and 1,734 followers later….a "movement" was born.

@PatHowley’s sponsorship captured the attention of celebrities and a huge extended @THON family. We realized after this event the power of people to connect for a common cause, in this case, to eradicate childhood cancer.

Thirteen months later it’s only fitting that we once again sponsor a Twitterthon to raise awareness and $ to support our great friends at @THON. With the help of the dedicated team of PSU @THON Captains we have once again secured a sponsor for today’s Twitterthon through the help of Real Christian Business Associates.

Today, for every new follower of @abolishcancer, $1 will be donated to @THON to help fight pediatric cancer (up to $3,500)

About @THON

The Penn State Dance Marathon, affectionately known as THON, is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. THON is a yearlong fundraising effort, culminating in a 46-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon. The mission of the Penn State Dance Marathon is to conquer pediatric cancer by providing outstanding emotional and financial support to the children, families, researchers and staff of The Four Diamonds Fund.

The partnership between THON and The Four Diamonds Fund began in 1977. Throughout the past 33 years, THON has donated more than $69 million to The Fund. Thanks to the support and dedication of THON, no child diagnosed with cancer at the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital has ever been turned away by The Four Diamonds Fund. The Fund offsets the cost of treatment that a family’s health insurance does not cover as a well as non-medical costs, including food, specialists, a music therapist, a nutritionist, nurses, a psychologist and researchers, in addition to other hospital staff including child life specialists and social workers.

Charles and Irma Millard founded The Four Diamonds Fund in 1972 after they lost their 14-year-old son, Christopher to cancer. The Fund’s name comes from a story Christopher wrote, The Four Diamonds. Christopher believed that the four “diamonds’-courage, wisdom, honesty and strength-were necessary traits to overcome cancer. Today, the mission of The Four Diamonds Fund is to conquer pediatric cancer by assisting children treated at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital and their families through superior care, comprehensive support and innovative research.

Since The Fund was established, survival rates for some cancers have increased to 90 percent due to continuous support of pediatric cancer research. Each year, THON is the largest donor to The Four Diamonds Fund, raising more than $7.83 million in 2010. This year, THON will take place from February 18^th-20^th at the Bryce Jordan Center.

You can help support the wonderful work of THON by donating at www.THON.org.

Today's TwitterTHON

We start the day with 43,630 followers with the hopes of gaining 3,500 new members of our movement which will equal $3,500 to support @THON. We, at @abolishcancer, believe in the "Power of the People" to unite for the common cause of ending cancer. We believe there is strength in numbers and combining forces with the THON community gets us that much closer to one day finding a cure......#ForTheKids!

Thank You

Many thanks to all for the last two days of our "micro" Twitterthons which helped raise an additional $1,000 in the fight to abolish cancer. All total we have now raised $44,500 for cancer charities by Tweeting & Following over the past year.

Our special thanks to everyone for their tweeting and following. A big Shout Out goes to @AMarkowitz33 and @HeatherVSJ (on Twitter) for their $500 sponsorships.

Exciting things are happening..... Cancer, we're coming after you!

"Power of the People, To Unite, To @abolishcancer"

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Another Twitterthon For A Great Cause

Yesterday started our "Sponsor A Day in February" campaign where we push to support a different cancer fighting charity or organization during the month.

Wednesday, February 2nd, our "Micro" Twitterthons continue...... Today for the next 500 followers of @abolishcancer, @HeatherVSJ agrees to donate $1 to the Brigham and Women's Hospital International Mesothelioma Program to help fight cancer. @abolishcancer starts the day with 42,750 followers.

Heather Von St James @HeatherVSJ is our sponsor today and is supporting the International Mesothelioma Program for good reason. Heather is a cancer SURVIVOR. On February 2nd, 2006, 5 years ago today, Heather had her lung removed at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Her story touches your heart as she explains going through the procedures to fight the cancer and the impact on her family. (watch her testimonial here). We are so amazed at the courage of cancer fighters such as Heather who are willing to tell their story to others, many of whom are facing similar battles.

Heather appropriately tags today's Twitterthon as #LungLeavingDay. The International Mesothelioma Program provides a great deal of support and quality medical care and Heather wants to ensure that more people are knowledgeable of the work that they do. At the Brigham and Women's Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, approximately 2,000 new patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer each year. With over 300 consultations each year and more than 180 patients, the International Mesothelioma Program is the largest program of its kind in the world. Follow their great work at www.IMPMESO.org

We are so inspired by Heather's story and hope that you will help spread the word through our Twitterthon today. Our many thanks to Heather for her support.

History of the Twitterthon

We created the Twitterthon to allow people to raise $ and awareness for their favorite cancer charity by tweeting and following. Over the last 15 months we have raised over $44,000 through Twitterthons with 100% going towards the cancer charity. Most of the sponsorships of our Twitterthons have a minimum of a $2,500 donation.

While our goal is to have a "sponsor each day" for our Twitterthons, we realize that a $2,500 donation is a hefty price tag for most people. So for the month of February only, we are providing opportunities for "micro" Twitterthons where the minimum donation is $500. Our goal is a $500 sponsor a day (20 workdays in the month) to accumulate $10,000 once February is over, with ALL proceeds going to cancer charities by TWEETING & FOLLOWING. How easy is that?

We have the following commitments (charities being sponsored) to this point

Feb 1 Susan G. Komen by sponsor @AMarkowitz33~ $500 raised!

Feb 2 International Mesothelioma Program @HeatherVSJ

Feb 4 ***Surprise Announcement

Feb 8 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Feb 18 Dallas Children's Medical Center

Five down, 15 to go. Help us achieve our goal for a "Sponsor A Day in the Month of February". If you are interested in sponsoring, email us at bonham.darah@gmail.com. Help spread our movement......

"Power of the People, To Unite, To @abolishcancer"

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Today the Micro Twitterthons Begin

Today, February 1st starts our first day of "Micro" Twitterthons. Today for the next 500 followers of @abolishcancer, @AMarkowitz33 agrees to donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help fight breast cancer. @abolishcancer starts the day with 42,200 followers.

Aaron Markowitz and his wife made the decision to sponsor a Twitterthon because their family has been closely affected by cancer. Both his wife's mother, Janice Sitter and her aunt, Cynthia Ciotti were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004-05. While their treatments were successful, and they have been cancer free for over 5 years, they realize the fight is never over and it could come back at any time.

Aaron and his wife are dedicating their sponsorship to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in the names of those in the family who have been impacted by breast cancer. We thank Aaron and his wife for sponsoring today's Twitterthon to help raise more awareness in the fight to end cancer.

History of the Twitterthon

We created the Twitterthon to allow people to raise $ and awareness for their favorite cancer charity by tweeting and following. Over the last 15 months we have raised over $43,500 through Twitterthons with 100% going towards the cancer charity. Most of the sponsorships of our Twitterthons have a minimum of a $2,500 donation.

We have the following commitments (charities being sponsored) to this point

Feb 1 Susan G. Komen by sponsor @AMarkowitz33

Feb 2 International Mesothelioma Program

Feb 4 ***Surprise Announcement

Feb 8 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Feb 18 Dallas Children's Medical Center

Five down, 15 to go. Help us achieve our goal for a "Sponsor A Day in the Month of February". February 3 is the next available. If you are interested in sponsoring, email us at bonham.darah@gmail.com. Help spread our movement......

"Power of the People, To Unite, To @abolishcancer"