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.”

Social-media giant, Twitter, has endorsed YYC4Haiti as an official Tweetup, allowing the organizational team to use its logo for promotional purposes.

Jon Holden, a.k.a. @holdencalgary, approached Twitter representatives for permission and received the go-ahead late Saturday evening.

An email from Sean Garrett approved all use of the Twitter logo.

“Good luck,’ he said in his email.

It’s incredible news to have Twitter’s endorsement. The YYC4Haiti team was amazed at the email.

“The company recognizes our efforts to mobilize a metropolitan city via social media and join forces to help people in need,” said Camilla Di Giuseppe. “Viral messages through social media generated several million dollars of texted donations in the first few days following the earthquake.”

Join us for Western Canada’s largest Tweetup ever! It starts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 28, at Flames Central.

Sold out in two locations on Friday!

Crave Cookies and Cupcakes, a.k.a. the company with the best darn cupcakes anywhere, is on board with YYC4Haiti.

The Calgary business, which Tweets at @craveYYC, created a special YYC4Haiti cupcake.

The delicious treat comes in a chocolate or vanilla base with white buttercream icing topped with blue and red sprinkles to symbolize Haiti’s flag, Carolyne and Jodi writes on their blog.

All proceeds from the sale of the YYC4Haiti cupcake will be donated directly to the Red Cross.

Crave also is donating two Crave cupcake baskets to the list of items for the raffle and live/silent auctions.

Crave has four locations — but you’d better get there quick! YYC4Haiti cupcakes are a hot item!

The YYC4Haiti team is pleased to welcome Steve Pollard into the fold.

Steve is an experienced emcee, who will entertain the Flames Central crowd when the good folks of Calgary take breaks from the NHL pay-per-view game between the Calgary Flames and Phoenix Coyotes.

During the day, Steve is the Director of Business Development for Cleanmax.

With his experience, he was a natural choice for emcee.

He is happy to donate his time to help the cause.

“Like many others, I simply wanted to help wherever I could,” he said.

Strategic Group of Calgary has donated a generous destination package to beautiful Kelowna, B.C., this spring.

The prize includes:

• Four days and four nights at the Okanagan Delta Grand Royal Private Residence Club,
  May 6-9, 2010 – coinciding with Okanagan Wine Festival
• 3,000-sq-ft waterfront villa
• Suite sleeps six comfortably – all rooms have king-size beds and views of the waterfront
• Kitchen, dining room and all amenities of home
• Brunch for up to six people at the Grand Bay Cafe
• Return flight for two to Kelowna, via WestJet

Strategic Group is one of Alberta’s largest private owners and developers of commercial real estate. The company owns 71 properties which equal approximately 4.5 million sq. ft. of space, including office buildings, shopping centres, industrial facilities, residential units and development projects.

“We are absolutely overwhelmed by Strategic Group’s generosity,” said Camilla Di Giuseppe, who leads the YYC4Haiti team with Alex Ruiz and Angela MacIsaac.

“So many people are coming forward with donations in the form of door prizes and items for raffle and auction. This prize is the piece de resistance for our event.”

All proceeds from YYCHaiti – a night watching the Calgary Flames-Phoenix Coyotes on Pay Per View at Flames Central – will be donated to Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief.

The destination package will be available through a big-ticket raffle with a second prize of two return tickets anywhere WestJet flies and a third prize of a Calgary Flames jersey, signed by the entire team. Three individually autographed Flames jerseys, along with other autographed NHL jerseys, will be available through live auction.

“The donations have been rolling in fast and furious,” said MacIsaac. “Businesses and individuals are sending us their donations from as far away as Ottawa and the United States. We received a Tweet from Canadian rock legend Ra MaGuire of Trooper who is coordinating a prize on behalf of the band.”

The entire effort has been coordinated via social-media platforms. To date, the Twitter account, @yyc4haiti, has attracted 201 followers, the Facebook page has 425 fans and, last but most importantly, the Facebook event page has 228 confirmed guests for YYC4Haiti.

“These social-media tools have given us an amazing ability to connect with people, not only to get them interested in attending the event, but also in volunteering their time and donating to the cause,” said Ruiz.

“We are so excited to see everyone out at Flames Central and we are thrilled with the support we have received to date.”

Contact Information

YYC4Haiti.com

Alex Ruiz: (403)519-4308; alex@calixmedia.com; Twitter: @alex_ruiz

Camilla Di Giuseppe: (403)589-8506; Camilla.digiuseppe@ctv.ca; Twitter: @C_DIG

Angela MacIsaac: (403)466-3574; angela.macisaac@gmail.com; Twitter: @that_angela

Customized T-shirts, with your Twitter handle on the back, can be pre-ordered with payment in advance.

We intend to sell generic T-shirts during the fundraiser event. Pre-ordered T-shirts will be available for pickup at the event on January 28.

A limited number of non-custom t-shirts with just the #yyc will be available at Flames Central the night of the event.

Prices for T-shirts are as follows:

* #yyc logo (front) – $20
* #yyc logo (front) and username (back) – $25 Requires pre-order.

Available sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL. Both guys & girls.

Proceeds of the sales will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief.

(Click on the image for bigger file)

We’re exactly one week away from our big event and we’ve already had an incredible response.
So many of you have come forward to offer to volunteer, make donations, or help us in recruiting donors – thank you!

Now we want to make this even bigger. Our next step, while we continue to spread the word and get people to join us on the 28th, is to get big businesses on board. We want to challenge corporations, in Calgary or elsewhere, to match the donations we raise on the 28th. Once we get one company on board, we can spread the challenge to others!

We need your help!
Please continue to spread the word about the event, tell your friends to join us for an amazing party at Flames Central with some AMAZING raffle and auction items, and SO many chances to win!

But to make this the biggest fundraising event in Western Canada for Haiti (which we think it can be!), please approach your company, or any companies you know  and get them to come on board!

Tell them to join us … the people of Calgary and beyond, the Flames, Stampeders, Roughnecks, Hitmen, local entertainers, businesses, media and, of course, the Haitian community here whose family and friends still desperately need help.

Let’s show the world that we, as a city, can come together and help the people of Haiti.

Thank you again for all of your support, and hope to see you at Flames Central on the 28th!

- The organizers of YYC4Haiti

Here’s another great way to spread the word. We have had great success with the Twibbon and the T-shirts, but now you can print out a poster for your work, home, car or wherever and get everyone in Calgary excited about YYC4Haiti!

Half letter size page poster
Full letter size page poster
Tent card

Printable logo Photograph yourself with our logo and send it via Twitter to @yyc4haiti

We are so grateful for your help.

-Oscar

We all have stood in awe, and sometimes sorrow, of stories, pictures and video clips, scrolling across our computer monitors as another disaster of natural or human cause devastated hundreds or thousands.

We all have, at one point, felt helpless, wishing we could do more.

Last week, as we heard, read, watched or announced news of the 7.0 earthquake near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, we felt that helplessness all over again.

This time, however, we’ve chosen to fight against that feeling.

Spurred by a single late-night Tweet from Camilla Di Giuseppe, Alex Ruiz and I jumped at Camilla’s lead and thought, ‘yes, let’s not feel helpless this time, let’s do something.’

And thus was born YYC4Haiti.

More individuals have come forward, encouraged to do something – even one small task – to assist the estimated million who have been rendered homeless by the tragic January 12 event.

Thirteen Canadians have been confirmed dead, as of today, and 665 remain missing.

The death toll in Haiti is expected to reach 200,000.

We, in Calgary, may never know such a disastrous natural event.

We give thanks for such a blessing by turning out our hearts in goodwill for those stranded and injured, their lives and families torn apart.

Donations of items for door prizes and silent and live auctions have been steady and quick.

The Calgary Flames, Calgary Stampeders, Calgary Roughnecks and Calgary Hitmen all are donating precious memorabilia to the cause.

Gyms are donating memberships, photographers are offering their framed prints, decorators and wedding planners are giving away experience packages.

We have iPods, cellphones, hockey tickets, resort passes, gas vouchers … you name it, we might have it in our growing prize pile.

Now all we need is you.

You … to come out and watch the Calgary Flames take on the Phoenix Coyotes at Flames Central on Thursday, January 28.

You … to give from your heart by donating at the door, buying raffle tickets and bidding on items.

You … the business community to rise to the challenge and match what we raise.

And you … to show the people of Haiti that the world cares about their plight and wants to do something to help.

Please come join us.

We’ll be there.

@that_angela