CALGARY—Three women, two weeks, with the help of Twitter and the people of Calgary.

It all comes together to total $35,000 for Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief.

The YYC4Haiti team is so very pleased to announce it will be presenting a cheque worth almost $35,000 to the Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief. The total becomes $70,ooo with the federal government’s dollar-for-dollar match.

A single Tweet from Camilla Di Giuseppe on Jan. 13, one day after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, turned into the one snowflake that starts a blizzard.

Co-organizers Di Giuseppe, Alex Ruiz and Angela MacIsaac used Twitter, which endorsed the event, to spread the word and gather volunteers, donations and gifts to be auctioned off or drawn for. A Facebook page and event page were created as well.

The event, also endorsed by NHL Tweetup, took place one week ago today at a packed Flames Central on Stephen Avenue in Calgary.

“We reached out to Calgary, especially the #yyc Twitter community, and people were jumping at the opportunity to help — whether it was volunteering, attending or donating,” says Di Giuseppe. “We are so very proud of the way Calgary turned out to support this event and the people of Haiti.”

Crave Cupcakes, a local business with four locations in Calgary, created a special edition cupcake, marked by sprinkles of red and blue, the colours of the Haiti flag. All proceeds from the sale of the cupcakes, which quickly sold out each day for a week, were donated, along with contributions from the staff Christmas party and a tip jar.

“Crave came through with a cheque for $5,000, bringing us to our amazing total,” says Ruiz. “It’s a huge help and we greatly appreciate the way Crave contributed, along with all of the other donors, from Strategic Group to the  Calgary Flames and large and small businesses in Calgary and throughout Canada and the United States.”

Strategic Group donated a $15,000 destination package as a grand prize.

WestJet also was a lead donor, contributing return airfare for two to anywhere the airline flies. The Calgary Flames, Calgary Roughnecks, Calgary Stampeders and Calgary Hitmen all donated jerseys and/or tickets, showing a united effort by the city’s major sports teams.

The Calgary Stampede and Kinsmen Club of Calgary sent volunteers to the event to work side by side with members of the Twitter community, keeping the night running smoothly.

“It’s impossible to thank everyone individually but we offer our deepest gratitude to everyone who supported YYC4Haiti,” says MacIsaac. “We had more than $30,000 worth of donations to give away or auction off and we had almost 60 volunteers to help the event keep running smoothly.”

The YYC4Haiti hashtag reached ‘Trending Topic’ status on Twitter for most of the night of the event. In addition, the Ustream webcast had 2,000 viewers at one point of the night.

“Our fundraiser truly shows the power of social media,” says Di Giuseppe. “It’s incredible how we were able to generate such interest and involvement just by using Twitter and Facebook.”