Click For ALS

[Laurie P]

Hi There!

ALS Canada is trying to get shortlisted for the TwestivalTO fundraising event. This is a fundraiser held by twitter users in Toronto. They are letting people vote on the charity that will benefit from the event. It's a great way to raise funds and awareness for ALS and ALS Research.

The initial vote is to get on the shortlist. If we're not on the shortlist, we won't get in the final vote.

Please consider taking a quick moment to click on this link: http://twestivaltoronto.uservoice.com

There's no registration required. You get 3 votes. We hope you'll spend them all on us, but even if you'd like to spread them around, we'd be happy to have just one.

Thanks so much for your help!

Laurie Pringle ~ ALS Canada

[Laurie P]

Just one more note... You can vote from anywhere in the world. Although this event is for Toronto, ALS Canada funds research across the country and collaborates with ALS Researchers around the world.

Thanks again for your support - and clicks!

[GlenBrittle]

Hey Laurie,

Just a note , for you to see
121 votes , plus another three
For our cause , just from me.

Glen

[Laurie P]

Thanks so very much, Glen!

Really appreciate it.

[trying to stay positive]

Great idea Laurie. I love how people are so creative with ways to get the word out about ALS.

You got three of my votes too.

[Cbear]

Done.. we need more visibility and funds.
Dennis

[BarryG]

Laurie, it was a tough decision given the other really good causes listed but in the end there was really only one choice. So you got my three votes and I'm sure you will get many many more from the forum members.

Barry

[Al]

You got mine Laurie.

AL.

[Laurie P]

Wow - thanks so much!

Al, Barry, Cbear and trying to stay positive!

I appreciate all your help. This is just the shortlist and no doubt if we get to the final choice, we'll have a run for our money. But I do think it's a great new way for us to spread the word about ALS. Media buys cost huge amounts of money. If we can harness the grass roots, word of mouth, power of twitter, I think we'll enjoy a new level of awareness amongst some new people... and perhaps re-energize some old friends too!

Thanks again!

[hopingforcure]

got mine, come on guys let's see how many we can get..

[joelc]

We now have 172 and the next best has 98.

[Laurie P]

Great job guys! This is truly outstanding.

Thanks so much. I'm off to bed for the night. It's after 1am and I've got an early morning.

I'll check in first thing tomorrow.

Thank you all so much!

[Laurie P]

Good Morning!

Just a quick update: We now have 188 votes to get on the shortlist - thanks to you! Our closest competitor now has 98.

They're already tweeting this morning, so we're going to keep pressing on twitter, facebook and other online forums.

Thanks again... couldn't do it without you!

[dldred]

I just did my 3 and that makes it 228.

Dana

[Laurie P]

Thank you Dana!

[Laurie P]

We're still holding the lead... but it's tightening.

If you have friends who use the internet and are comfortable asking them to click a vote for us, please do!

[BarryG]

Ok, come on everybody lets get behind this. To make it even easier I have even brought forward the link to this page so you don't have to go back to post #1

Please consider taking a quick moment to click on this link: http://twestivaltoronto.uservoice.com

You don't have to get out and vote, you just have to click

[DgtofTNfan]

I voted. It is at 311.

[KeeKer]

It's 314 now.

[momof three]

It's at 320 now!

[Laurie P]

329!

Thank you so very much, everyone!

This is just wonderful.

[dldred]

I voted earlier from work and just voted at home, it is at 358.

Dana

[GlenBrittle]

I may have snuck the link into a Harley board that I admin also

Its for a good cause ... US !

[BarryG]

A Harley board? A biker bunny, Yahoo!!:grin:

[GlenBrittle]

HA .. thats ex-biker ..


Come on people , there is only a gap of 82 , they are catching up , click Click CLICK !!!

[hopingforcure]

We cannot let them get us click, click, click, I have voted on every computer that I can find, library, book store, home, father's, they are getting close, we will not have this.

[KeeKer]

369 now!Come on guys! We can win this one!!

[hopingforcure]

372 We want over 425 in the next hour.. Can we do it?

[GlenBrittle]

A Harley board? A biker bunny, Yahoo!!:grin:

OK ... I could not resist .. Ahhhh ... the old days .

[DgtofTNfan]

Took Dana's lead and voted from home 'puter too. 384.

[Laurie P]

We sent out an eblast to our email list.

With your amazing support and that email, we're now up to 655 votes. Don't let that stop you!

The other charities could do the same at any minute and we may be back in a tight race. Lets keep them chasing their tails for as long we can!

Thank you again... I know I'm saying that a lot, but we REALLY appreciate all your support!

[laurel]

I just voted my three votes to ALS and it said the number was 1227!
Laurel

[tdamess]

i did mine it say 1,228 hope thwet is right

[tdamess]

ss about miss spelling that'

[pamnandy]

Done! What a cool way to raise funds if we can get the votes! I will share it on my facebook. xo

[Laurie P]

Thanks again folks.

We're knocking it out of the ballpark, but I don't want to get over confident. Still it's nice to see us doing so well - particularly when compared to some of the more "well known" causes and charities.

This is so exciting for us - to see everyone jumping in to help and support the awareness that this will bring!

Cheers,
Laurie

[abhayk]

2600 now with my 3 votes.

[Laurie P]

Click/Vote for ALS Continues!

It looks like they’re allowing the existing votes to stand and just extending the votes until Friday. (as opposed to building a shortlist and having a re-vote between a few charities)

Here's the link again: http://twestivaltoronto.uservoice.com

So there’s still time for people to vote. We have a good lead, but that can change at any time. It’s important that we keep the votes coming. Here’s how you and your friends can help:

• Blog about it
• Put it on their facebook status update
• Post it on any groups they belong to – either on facebook or yahoo groups… anywhere they have online friends.
• Emails friends, coworkers and anyone else who they know.
• Vote from different computers and/or locations – if they have access to a computer at work, school etc. they can vote again.

Everyone here has made a HUGE impact. We can’t thank you enough!

We think this is a tremendous opportunity to get the word out about ALS. The event last year received coverage from several major media outlets and this year we expect to see even more of that. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need assistance.

Thanks again for your support!

Please keep up the enthusiasm and effort. I'll post a new thread, in case people think this one is dead.

[thelma313]

I just added my 3 and we are now up to 3151 votes! Yay us!
Thanks Laurie P, for all your hard work. :)

[KeeKer]

Added it to my Facebook page. We're going to win this one!

[Laurie P]

Thanks guys.

I'm getting a bit nervous. In the past few hours, the Make A Wish and Rethink Breast Cancer folks have gained hundreds of votes and while we're gaining.. we're doing so at a much slower pace.

Essentially, at this rate, they'll be in the lead by morning.

If you have any suggestions or ideas - or any other groups or forums you belong to - please ask everyone you know to vote.

Thanks again - you've all done tremendous work!

Sincerely,
Laurie Pringle

[pamnandy]

Get your teenagers involved. They have HUNDREDS of friends on myspace.

[Laurie P]

Excellent idea - Teens love pitching in with this kind of stuff!

[thelma313]

I just posted it to my Facebook... keeping my fingers crossed!

[Laurie P]

Thank you, Thelma!

[thelma313]

Whatever I can do to help! :)

[Laurie P]

Just a quick note to update the link on the new page:
http://twestivaltoronto.uservoice.com

Thanks all.

[Laurie P]

A quick update.

More folks are helping out and posting to their various networks. We picked up some over night.

As an FYI - I am going to be offline intermittently on Thurs. evening and to a lesser degree on Friday. I'd scheduled a day off, before we knew about this and planned a trip. I'll continue to tweet and update facebook from my phone and check-in here as best as I can when I'm not driving.

I remain hopeful that all the work everyone here has put into this will help see us through to success.

Thank you all for your amazing effort!

[pamnandy]

Enjoy your day off! Try to relax a bit! :D

[kelly]

You got my three votes...way to go..looking good for ALS!

[Laurie P]

Thanks guys.

I'll enjoy my day off after midnight, when the vote is over :)

Mount Sinai Hospital has come out of nowhere and got over 2000 votes overnight. They have a huge following, but we can pull this out if we keep working at it.

Thanks again for all your help and support!

[hopingforcure]

My son sent it out on twitter, and facebook, anyone who has not voted ... Vote now.. Vote NOW....VOTE NOW... PLEASE...

[Laurie P]

Hi Everyone.

Just a final note to say thank you to everyone whose helped, along with their family, friends and colleagues. We've posted a large number of votes and each of you made a huge impact on this.

We're tremendously grateful and even humbled by the way everyone rallied together to support this effort.

Thank you so very much!
Laurie

[pamnandy]

So we did it? Is it done?? We WON??

[Laurie P]

We certainly had the most votes - by far! We hit close to 5000 - the next closest was in the low 3K range.

However, the organizers seem to be changing the criteria and/or backtracking. They said:

Again, we are currently evaluating some extenuating circumstances - blog post to follow shortly.

Nothing has been posted since. So I have no clue what is going on. As soon as I know, I'll update.

[Al]

Methinks that once again we are screwed. They wanted a better known charity/ cause to win. They have no idea what ALS is and wanted something like breast cancer or little kids in wheelchairs to win. Us old people in wheelchairs just don't count. I think we wasted our time. I might be wrong. I never joined twitter because I figured some how some where they'd screw me. I hope I'm wrong but it doesn't happen that often.

AL.

[joelc]

I got the same feeling Al. I sincerely hope we are wrong! If they do disqualify us then we should start an email campaign. We should flood them with protesting emails! They would at least know about ALS then.

[BarryG]

Toronto strikes again! I agree with Al and Joel, this whole thing smells a little fishy to me. Maybe they just took the weekend off and will announce us the winner on Monday but I'm not holding my breath. I keep coming back to the idea that people don't really want to know about a disease that has no cure (yet) and no real treatment, people want happy endings.

[thelma313]

I am with Joel, if they backtrack and give this to a different cause we should flood them with protesting emails and publicize this as much as possible! We should go as far as contacting a news network as well!

[mare]

Boy, you Canadians are such skeptics! LOL

Remember what your Grandmother use to say: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar! Besides, their game; their rules!?!

[BarryG]

Boy, you Canadians are such skeptics! LOL

And we are all supposed to be so nice and polite all of the time. NOT! We can be tough and nasty too just don't get us riled up.

Sorry, I had to say that ;);)

[mare]

You mean "tough & nasty" like us Americans?!?
Gee, and I thought all Canadians were so nice all the time!!!

[GlenBrittle]

We are nice, tolerant, happy people.

Until we are pissed off.

I think its time .

Glen

[BarryG]

Mare, I would never accuse Americans or anyone else of being tough and nasty (unless they want to be). When I said "too" I meant that we Canadians can be tough and nasty as well as being nice and polite.

[tdamess]

rules should not be allowed change after voting is done,for the next fundraiser yes but not one that just finished

[mare]

I forgot to add LOL! I know you weren't accusing Americans, Barry, because you are too nice & polite!!!

(I was thinking about my town's sports fans- you wouldn't know this, but Philly sports fans have a reputation for being "somewhat nasty". LOL! I think some of them are actually proud of it. That doesn't include the guys from my household, though!!! )

[KeeKer]

Looks like it started all over again! Don't know what they are trying to pull. Maybe they think we will all be too discouraged to try again. Shall we show them they are wrong? It's up to 18 now. Don't have to sign up to vote Al!
Colleen

[KeeKer]

We Canadians may be polite, but the southern US has us beat!!! Want to meet nasty Canadians try Manitoba!
Colleen

[GlenBrittle]

Here we go again , lets kick ass.

One More Time for ALS (http://twestivaltoronto.uservoice.com/)

[tdamess]

Sign the Make July 4th National ALS Awareness Day Petition
Source: www.petitiononline.com i would post new but dont know how
i did start a post when i joined but for got how and cant figure it out hopefully one of you can copy and start a post for it thank you

[KeeKer]

The lousy jerks seem to have taken ALS canada off! It was 3rd when I last looked, now it's not there!

[GlenBrittle]

I just sent this email to satish.kanwar@gmail.com - the posted "contact us" at the site.


Twice now , you have taken down the option for ALS Canada from the website at http://twestivaltoronto.uservoice.com/pages/25874-general

Why ? Because we have a strong user community with a fatal disease that wants some charity funding ?

Please respond , as my next email will be to the Toronto Sun , The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail.

Glen Brittle

[GlenBrittle]

info@twestival.com;
amanda@twestival.com;
support@twestival.com;
media@twestival.com

just got the same email.

Glen

[thelma313]

I just sent similar emails to the above addresses.:mad:

[KeeKer]

Way to go Glen! They didn't know who they were messing with when they ticked off this group!