“I’m often asked how I came up with the idea for 12for12k. While much of it is to simply help as many charities as possible, there was a key reason that turned me from being supportive to being active. This post originally appeared on my personal blog last October – I’ve reprinted it here to let you know that just one person can change the world; here’s that one person who changed it for me. Thanks.” Danny.

The weekend just gone was a bit of a milestone for me, as I celebrated my 40th birthday. As well as getting into that “life begins at…” era of my life, I had an absolutely amazing weekend, thanks to my wonderful wife and great family and friends who threw me a surprise party on Saturday night.

Yet one thing that stood out amongst all the wonderful things that happened at the weekend was an example of how – as a race – we’re still pretty anti-social, despite all our protestations that social media is bringing us together. Perhaps this may be the case in the online world, but offline we’re still pretty lacking in social interaction (or so it would seem).

What caused me to think about this was something that happened while I was away for the weekend. My lovely wife took me to Niagara Falls for a break, and it was truly amazing, awe-inspiring, majestic – all these words and more that I would have thought were being over-expressive had I not seen the Falls for myself. So yeah, the Falls were simply amazing.

While we were there, we had some time to kill on the last day before catching our train, and so we did a bit of walking. After 2-3 hours, we thought it’d be nice to relax and have a break. So we found a food court with a bunch of empty tables and sat down. This is where I found myself wondering how social we really are.

While my wife was at the ladies room, this elderly lady came in and bought herself an ice cream. She looked as if she may be about 70-80 years old, and she was by herself. She had a wedding ring on her wedding finger, yet as I say she was alone. And that got me thinking.

Was she alone because her husband was simply at home having a restful day? Or was she alone because her husband had already passed away, and she was simply whiling away her time? If that was the case, did she have any family? Did she have any friends that she could spend time with? And if so, why weren’t any of them with her now?

This led to another train of thought – perhaps she had no-one to turn to. Perhaps she was at that age where all her friends had either passed away as time caught them up, or were infirm and in an old people’s home. This thought saddened me.

Every day, I talk to strangers that I’ve never met via the likes of Twitter, or FriendFeed, or even via comment boxes on blogs. I discuss everything and anything with people on the other side of the world, and don’t think twice about starting a conversation with them. Yet I couldn’t strike up a conversation with a lonely-looking old lady who may have really appreciated the company.

Have we really come so far as to only communicate via technology now? Has the art of real conversation died, or is it still there? Do we need the facade of technology to allow us to open up to people?

I couldn’t help but think of that lady on the way home, and of the missed opportunity to offer some company for even just a short while. I’m sure it would have been easy enough for my wife and I to ask if anyone was sitting beside her and strike up a conversation – but we didn’t. And I feel bad about that.

So here’s the thing. The next time I’m in a similar situation, I’m going to strike up that conversation. I’d rather be gently refused than to not speak at all. After all, it’s easy enough on Twitter – surely real life should be the same?

photo credit: Bu-ZeiD

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE TWEETATHON!

While details are still to be finalized and will be released very soon, the current plans include:

• Using Tinychat to broadcast multiple live streams, chats, interviews and guest panels.
• Special comedy skits including Soul Possum and a New York comedy troupe.
• Special event by the Looking Glass girls.
• Awesome business webinar by Amanda Hite and her cool Talent Revolution team.
• Special musical performances by some interesting guests (under discussion).
• Giveaways, call-ins, co-host duties from Aronado and more.

These are just some of the ideas and confirmed events already in place. There are more to come, which hopefully we can share later today or tomorrow.

The event itself will kick off at 10.00am on Monday June 29 Eastern timezone. Details of the video stream, as well as other special events taking place, will be released as we confirm. To make sure you get the latest updates, you can always follow 12for12k on Twitter or the 12for12k hashtag. Additionally, join the 12for12k Facebook group for updates as they happen.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE TWEETATHON!

If you’d like to donate services or gifts for the giveaways, please email me and let’s see what we can do!

I hope you join us on Monday or Tuesday and let’s end our June charity and the first six months of 12for12k in style, and lead off into the second half of our challenge.

Thanks for your continued support – you’re all making a difference every day of the year.

Danny Brown
Founder, 12for12k.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE TWEETATHON!

Honest Foods is a retailer of healthy granola bars. All their food is made with organic product wherever possible, and they don’t use spray on vitamins or soy protein powders. This ensures their bars are a healthy snack alternative to junk food snacks.

For April, Honest Foods will donate 100% of all profits from the sale of their products through the Honest Foods online store. This is an amazing gesture by Honest Foods and we’re incredibly grateful to them for this offer. Special thanks go to our PR partner Rachel Kay for getting this all together.

To ensure all donations go to the charity, just put 12for12k in the comments section of your order and Honest Foods will allocate the profits to 12for12k and the April charity, Yehu.org.

Again, our thanks to Honest Foods. Now you can eat good and do good at the same time!

Visit the Honest Foods store for more details on their products and how you can contribute to the 12for12k/Mom It Forward April charity push.

• Note – at the moment, Honest Foods only deliver throughout the Continental U.S.

Bloggers: Please use this link for trackback: http://12for12k.org/2009/04/06/eat-good-do-good-with-12for12k-and-honest-foods/

Main Prizes

• Victoria Tuncan – $500 reservationless conferencing (courtesy of AccuConference)

• Robert Anderson – 1000 business cards (courtesy of VPG Printing)

• Sarah Robinson – Amazon Gift card (courtesy of Webspreads)

• Michael Booker – Butler Bag (courtesy of Jen Groover)

• Robert Anderson – Career Renegade package (courtesy of Jonathan Fields)

• Michael Woo-Ming – Flip Video camera (courtesy of Ross Beckham)

• Robert Rose – Fuse Bootcamp (courtesy of John Morgan)

• Sean Omlor – iPod Touch (courtesy of Amanda Hite)
  

• Marco Hansell – Amazon Kindle 2 (anonymous donor)

• Ryan Mayer – Laptop stand (courtesy of ErgoTron)

• Sean Hughes – P90x fitness program (courtesy of Dai Manuel)

• J Kevin Nations – Pearl Bracelets (courtesy of Michael Schechter)

• Yanik Silver – Pearl Necklace (courtesy of Michael Schechter)
  

• Danielle Miller – She Factor marketing system (courtesy of Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero)

• Timothy Byrd – Sterling Mama Necklace (courtesy of Tali Gillette)

• Ryan Ledendecker – Twitter background (courtesy of Jason Tryfon)

• Mary-Kay Perris - Wii Fit (courtesy of M.J. Leonard)

• Roland Von Ohlsen – Authority Blogger package (courtesy of Chris Garrett)

Flash Prize Giveaways

• Raquel Soto, Deirdre Reid, Christa Watson, Denise Wakeman, Louise Hawthorn, Geoff Manning, Dana Groves, Mike Garrett, Melanie Rudolph, Gina Sanchez, Dane Miller, James Armstrong, GinaLaGuardia, Elizabeth Potts, Wanda Morgan, Jennifer Rozenhart, Allison Farquhar, Lisa Hoffman, Jeanette Fisher, Drake Coker, Melissa McReery, Katie Clay, Leah Fitzgerald, Aaron Foster, Louise DiCarlo, Jon Aston, Derek Denney, Lesley Bohm, Scott MacIver, Zena Weist, Amy Schildknecht – $100 premium WordPress theme (courtesy of Danny Brown).

• Nadav Saltsman, Leesa Barnes, Darin Berntson, Carissa Rogers, Tiffany Jones – ProBlogger book (courtesy of Chris Garrett).

Congratulations to all the winners, and my sincere thanks to Scott Stratten for organizing it and everyone who donated prizes and to the charity itself. It was truly an amazing day.

All prizewinners will be emailed within the next 7 days with details of the prizes and how to claim them. If you haven’t heard within 7 days, please email us with your name and prize and we’ll look into it for you.

Thanks again – here’s to the upcoming April charity and the rest of 2009 joining the success of the March one.

It’s very simple – $12 gets you one entry into the draw for the prizes on this page.

Simply make your donation using the ChipIn widget either in the sidebar or at the bottom of this page. You’ll get a tax receipt from Share Our Strength as well as an automatic entry into the draw. We’ll do the rest for you. All you need to do is follow the #12for12k hashtag on Twitter to keep up with what’s happening, as there will also be special flash giveaways every time we break a $1,000 threshold.

Now, in his own inimitable way, I’ll let Scott tell you all about it and his special offer for anyone donating $120. Thanks for your support, and let’s feed some hungry kids together.

Prizes

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Donated by Tweep: TaliGillette

Sterling Mama Necklace ($250)

TaliGillette.com

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Donated by Tweep: sexythinker

iPod Touch ($229)

iPod Touch

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Donated by Tweep: MSchechter

HONORA Sterling Silver. 9+mm ringed freshwater pearl necklace, 17″ ($140)

Honora

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Donated by Tweep: MSchechter

HONORA 9+mm ringed freshwater cultured pearl bracelets, set of 3 ($140)

Honora

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Donated by Tweep: JenGroover

Butler Bag, Hybrid – 2009 collection ($165)

Butler Bag

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Donated by Tweep: Anonymous Donor

Kindle2 eBook reader. Valued at $359

Kindle2

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Donated by Tweep: RedHotCopy

She Factor Marketing System (DVD’s, CD’s & Workbook) (value $697)

Red Hot Copy

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Donated by Tweep: ergotron

Neo-Flex™ Notebook WorkBase Perfect for extensive laptop computing ($99)

Ergotron

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Donated by Tweep: RossBeckham

Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Orange) ($149)

Flip Video

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Donated by Tweep: webspreads

$AU250.00 Amazon Gift Card (Australian Dollars)

Amazon

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Donated by Tweep: daimanuel

P90X complete fitness program. Value $119.

FitnessTown.ca

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Donated by Tweep: Anonymous Donor

$500 worth of free reservationless conferencing (Toll Free Conference Calls and/or Web Conferencing)

AccuConference

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Donated by Tweep: jonathanfields

Signed copy of the book “Career Renegade” and a 1-hour, private phone marketing/strategy/brainstorming consult (normally $500 value) CareerRenegade

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Donated by Tweep: mjleonard

Wii Fit is a combination of fitness and fun, designed for everyone, young and old. By playing Wii Fit a little every day, you, your friends, and your family can work towards personal goals of better health and fitness. ($90)

Wii Fit

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Donated by Tweep: johnmorgan

Internet Fuse 6-Month Marketing Bootcamp Enrollment (date TBA) ($1800)

InternetFuse.com

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Donated by Tweep: jasontryfon

Custom Epic Twitter background like mine that you see on my profile ($150)

MassiveSocialMedia.com

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Donated by Tweep: VPG_Printing

1000 Full Color Biz Cards from

Vertical Printing

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12for12k Tweet-a-Thon – click here.

Using the social network Twitter, this Tweet-a-Thon will take place between 10.00am and 10.00pm Eastern on (Thursday March 19). Items up for grabs include:

* iPod Touch
* Amazon Kindle 2
* Flip Video Camera
* Nintendo Wii Fit
* $250 Amazon gift vouchers
* $500 toll-free conference calling
* Tali Gillette Sterling Silver Necklace
* Honora Pearl Necklace and Bracelets
* Butler Bag

This promises to be an exciting and very different approach on Twitter. My sincere thanks to Scott Stratten of Un-Marketing.com for organizing it, and all the kind donations of items that are making it possible.

12for12k Tweet-a-Thon – click here.

If you’re on Twitter and you wish to take part, simply be online between 10.00am and 10.00pm Eastern tomorrow, and follow the events by using the #12for12k hashtag.

For every $12 donation you make to the Tweet-a-Thon, you will receive one entry to the Grand Draw. For every $12 increment (if you wished to donate more), you receive an extra ticket. If you donate $120, not only do you get 10 tickets but a free website review from Scott Stratten (a $300 value).

It promises to be an amazing day and we’re really excited to have it happening. I hope you can join us at some stage and raise some holy charity Hell on Twitter!

12for12k Tweet-a-Thon – click here.

The way to help is by making a pledge. This can be to either Give, Volunteer or Share. By helping spread the news about and join in Pledge to End Hunger, we can all start to make a real difference in the fight against child hunger in the US.

All the donations made to this month’s 12for12k charity Share Our Strength will cover the Give side and we’re delighted to be making this happen with your support.

What we’d love for  you to do is take an extra minute after you’ve donated to us to make a pledge. This can be to blog about the event, emailing/telling your friends, wearing a badge on your blog or similar. If you’re in the US, you might even want to volunteer to help – the choice is yours.

For every pledge that is made, Tyson Foods, Inc. will donate a 35lb food bag to the cause (the equivalent of 140 servings of food).

Think about it – you can make a huge impact on child hunger in the US this month alone. Your donation to the 12for12k Challenge will go a long way to combating child hunger in the US for good and we hope you’ll offer your support to Pledge to End Hunger as well.

The 12for12k Challenge is delighted to announce that Share Our Strength will be the supported charity in March.

Also known as simply Strength.org, Share Our Strength is a national organization that makes sure no kid in America grows up hungry.

While a lot of the news about hunger normally concentrates on third world countries – and rightly so – there is a growing problem within national boundaries as well.

For instance, more than 12.4 million children in America are at risk from hunger. 12.4 million – that’s one in six children. Consequences include poorer health, fatigue, hospitalization, behavioral difficulties and impaired scholastic performance.

Share Our Strength aims to change that.

By partnering with leading corporations as well as charitable organizations and pioneering culinary events, Share Our Strength work to provide children and their families with the healthy food they need. As an idea of the difference donations can make, this is what your support does:

• $35 can help feed a child three meals a day for more than a month.
• $50 can help provide 48 preschool children with a nutritious lunch for a day.
• $100 would provide 25 healthy bags of food for a family at a food bank.
• $250 could help connect 9,300 families to programs that provide free meals for their children during the summer.
• $1,000 would help provide over 24,000 glasses of milk to a school.

The 12for12k Challenge’s aim has always been to raise $12,000 for each charity we support in 2009. Looking at the numbers above, you can see how much a difference your donation would make to hungry kids across the United States.

To help us towards this goal, we will be announcing a collaboration within the next 48 hours with an amazing cause that is also highlighting childhood hunger in America.

No child should feel hunger. While sadly we can’t help feed every single child in the world, we can make a huge difference to some of them. Please support us in our challenge for March and help 12for12k raise some much-needed funds for Share Our Strength. $10 is all it takes.

As the February charity comes to a close this weekend, we’ve decided to hold a special raffle. This will end at midnight tomorrow and has some great prizes on offer.

• From Sarah Robinson – donate $25.00 or more and be entered into the draw to win over $800 worth of goodies:

http://www.themaverickmom.com/uncategorized/support-stop-silence-win-great-swag/

• From John Haydon – donate $25.00 or more and get the chance to win 3 months of social media coaching ($750 value)

http://www.corporatedollar.org/2009/02/enter-win-months-free-social-media-coaching-supporting-12for12korg/

• From April Tara – donate $20.00 and she will make you a customized Twitter background if you’re a Twitter user.

http://www.thatcrazymom.com/499/stop-sexual-abuse/ (and watch April’s video in support of this month’s charity while you’re there – very powerful).

• From AccuConference – donate $25.00 and receive $500 worth of free audio conferencing (1 winner). Keep your receipt and email to charities@12for12k.org and we will make the draw for the lucky recipient.

http://www.accuconference.com/

So as you can see, some great ways to not only support this month’s amazing charity (dealing with child sexual abuse) but the chance to have some great stuff too! You can make your donation by using the ChipIn widget to the right or via this link.

As always, thanks for all your support guys. Have a great weekend, don’t be afraid to invite more people to 12for12k, and good luck in the raffle!!

My sincere thanks to our creative partners Susan Murphy and Cheryl Gain for bringing together the collection of images and videos into what you see here; Rob Lane and his incredibly talented team at Overlay.tv for their post-production work; Jack in the Pulpit for allowing us to use their song for our theme; and last, but by no means least, you guys for sending us your own video clips of support.

We’ll be releasing slightly different versions of the video throughout the year to make sure we include everyone that’s been involved – you can see who they are here. In the meantime, please share with your friends; tweet and re-tweet  it on Twitter; have it on your blog; have it on your Facebook profile; and let’s get the video out to as many people as possible and spread the word about what we’re all trying to achieve.

For now, enjoy the video.