Why Comments Matter! For Blogust: Shot@Life’s Blog Relay
by Cecily Kellogg on August 1, 2012
When I was in the hospital in 2004, waiting to find out if my babies and I would survive, Sarah printed out ten pages of your comments and brought them to me in the hospital.
I didn’t have a smart phone back then, so I couldn’t get online when I wasn’t at home. I didn’t have a laptop yet, and the hospital didn’t have wifi anyway, so there was no way I was going to see your words of comfort and support other than on paper.
I cannot tell you how much reading through those comments as I lay in the hospital meant to me. They kept me sane. They gave me hope.
And when the boys died, the only thing that helped me stay connected to this world was all of you, reading, supporting, listening to my anger and grief and rage and sadness. It mattered.
Today, we have so many distractions. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – it can be easier to connect there instead of leaving a thoughtful comment, and one of the things we bloggers talk about is the slow death of commenting on blogs, on how it used to be the only way we connected with our readers, but now it’s a totally different time.
Each time you guys are kind enough to read my words and post a response here – even (especially) when you don’t agree with me – my heart fills with joy. Yes, I don’t respond to your comments as much as I used to; I do try, though, to get back to you when I’m not working (which is hardly ever anymore, sigh).
But this time? This time I really need you to comment.
Because today, each comment that gets left here means a $20 donation – YES, TWENTY WHOLE DOLLARS – will be given to Shot@Life.
What is Shot@Life?
Shot@Life educates, connects and empowers Americans to champion vaccines as one of the most cost-effective ways to save the lives of children in developing countries. A national call to action for this global cause, the campaign rallies the American public, members of Congress, and civil society partners around the fact that together, we can save a child’s life every 20 seconds by expanding access to vaccines. By encouraging Americans to learn about, advocate for, and donate vaccines, the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign will decrease vaccine-preventable childhood deaths and give children a shot at a healthy life. To learn more, go to ShotatLife.org.
So, please, take a moment to comment here today. Help a kid get vaccines in a developing country. You can save a life just by typing.
How awesome is that?
If you want to know more about Shot@Life, you can follow them on Twitter and find them on Facebook.
……….
If you want to do more than just one comment and one $20 donation, tomorrow go visit my friend CC Chapman at his blog. He’ll be picking up the Blogust torch on his site. CC is a rare bird; a man who works in marketing and social media that is full of heart, generous to a fault, and smart as shit. I like him a lot.
***comments are now closed as I pass the baton to CC Chapman! But 370 of you commented, thank you!***
Here’s a video that talks a bit more about Blogust. Thanks for reading, and THANKS FOR COMMENTING!
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Great work – thank you!
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This is a fantastic initiative, raising awareness, raising funds and making it easy for us mouse-potatoes to get involved and help out.
It should also encourage us to think – and discuss – the necessary education campaigns that should accompany such immunisation drives. There is still a lot of ignorance to be overcome, even in developed countries such as the USA, and unfortunately, we are now also dealing with the backlash of the covert operations in Pakistan that took place under the guise of vaccination campaigns.
Lots of work to do, but, as the famous proverb says, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
Thank you for participating!
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Coming back to comment again. I feel strongly about getting this done.
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I’m so grateful for everything that we have here in the US as parents. My hope is that one day no child anywhere will go without a life saving immunization. What a wonderful mission that Shot@Life has undertaken. Commenting has always been valuable but now it can be lifesaving too.
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What a great cause, and awesome way to connect bloggers again! Have a great day!!
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You said comments closed, but I’ll leave one anyway in the chance that it might count… worth it for one little life.
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I know I’m late but I thought just in case . . . .
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thnak you so much for this post and the chance to participate in this wonderful project! xo
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Sept. 6, 2012–First I have heard of this wonderful en devour. I will follow the blogs mentioned with delight and perhaps next time, my blog will receive the torch. Just having returned from Africa, where I was immunizing hundreds of children in the Nyakabande Transit Refuge Camp for Congolese refuge’s, I thank you personally and for all the children who benefited from your good work. ——————Marie McGee “New from Africa, Arkansas and Anywhere I happen to be at the moment”
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