The Great Charity Hunt

Erin al'Denael

Keeper of the Chronicles
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Keeper of the Chronicles
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Back in May, I asked everyone to complete a survey about the Department of Community Outreach and possible endeavors we might pursue in the future. In that survey, I asked people to pick their top 2 philanthropy or charity choices. I was hoping to find that some options stood out among the rest. Instead, I discovered that our community is as broad and diverse in their philanthropic choices as we are in life. :laugh:

I have also been approached by several members, from different membership groups and levels, wanting the Tower to step up and support something near and dear to their hearts.

So in order to meet the wants of the community, and to give all groups say in what they want to pursue, The Great Charity Hunt has come to be. I hope everyone joins in, has some fun, and does some good for the world -- or their chosen piece of it!

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What is the Great Charity Hunt?
The GCH is a year-long philanthropic challenge to the membership groups of TarValon.Net! :giggle It will run from today until October 31, 2021. During this time, membership groups will select a focus that is near and dear to their hearts. All participating groups will work toward supporting their chosen focus throughout the year. At the end of the year, the group that does the most (as determined by the Hall) will rise victorious! You'll feel good, and you'll do good, and it's a win-win.

Groups and Causes
Your "group" is your membership group. That said, we have some membership groups that are small and others that are large. Because of this, 2 groups may join up and compete together. The goal isn't to have a ginormous super-group competing here, but to give small groups a chance, numbers-wise, to even things up. Two groups might also have a shared purpose and want to pursue similar initiatives. Discuss this among your respective groups, and decide what you want to do.

A few caveats:
  • All Citizens and Junior Members will be united under @Serinia Edoras, Amyrlin Seat...of all and none. ;) She has volunteered to lead this group of members throughout this competition.
  • If you end up not liking whatever focus your group chooses, that's okay. Anything you do as an individual counts for your group.
Groups, please select your focus and let me know by December 1, 2020. When your group decides things, please email outreach@tarvalon.net with the following:
  • selected focus for an individual group
  • notification of your group joining with another group for this competition, along with your chosen focus
  • any requests for help or assistance in either finding a group to join with (if your group desires) or help in selecting a focus
Servant of All Support
During this process, the Servant of All team will assist with any requested research and assistance from a what-can-we-do perspective. For example, say your group decides they want to focus on childhood literacy. The SoA team, by request, will help find ways that your group can support this initiative. Some ideas might be donating to Room to Read, reading to kindergarten students at schools (or via Zoom, considering this year :look:), donating childrens books to a school, or tutoring a struggling reader. I say "by request" because some groups might not want assistance with this. That's perfectly fine! But if you do, our team will be able to help.

We do ask that all groups post a thread in the Servant of All forum to share their focus and let the community know what they are doing. This way, we're sharing and communicating with everyone about what's going on. Your group thread might also give other groups ideas they can use as well. Help each other out; it's all in the pursuit of something good. :)

The tracking form for efforts is also linked in the Servant of All forum via stickied thread. Whenever your group completes an activity or does something that is a donation of time, money, or goods in pursuit of their cause, fill out the form. This way, we know what you are doing and we can keep track of it throughout the year. Data will be shared throughout the year to tantalize and tease. All data will be shared with the Hall in October 2021 in order for them to decide which group wins.

Feast of Lights
This year's Feast of Lights, rather than focusing on a separate charity, will be a celebration of what our membership groups have chosen to do. :) Each week (dates TBD) we will focus on promoting and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over group efforts throughout the beginning of winter and the holiday season. Look forward to it!

T-Shirt Fundraiser
Remember that survey I mentioned above? In it, a large percentage of members expressed an interest in buying a T-shirt (or some other sort of merchandise) to support a charity. I get it; I like T-shirts myself. :pleased-1: The beautiful GCH logo (created by @Venric Methalion and @Siera al'Cere) will feature prominently on the T-shirts, available in membership group colors. T-shirts will be sold at a set rate, including shipping, for all members. Any funds raised above and beyond the cost to produce and ship the shirts will be donated to the winning group's cause at the end of the competition. This way, not only are you getting a souvenir to remember this event, but we'll all be kicking in to reward the group that did the most!

Dates and deadlines regarding the T-Shirt Fundraiser will come out in 2021.

Winning Group
The winning group will be determined by the Hall. They will be given all data collected throughout the year, showcasing what groups have done. They will also be given a list of criteria to consider in their assessment of efforts, such as overall funds/hours/donations, percentage of group participants, and the scale and scope of efforts. The list of how efforts will be judged is still under development, simply because I don't know what everyone will do yet. Please, amaze me with your efforts! What you do will shape the metrics by which the Hall will decide. :)

...I know this was a bit of a massive Wall O' Text. Thank you for taking the time to read it! I will do my best to respond to any questions, comments, and concerns in a timely manner. Let's have some fun, yeah? :D

If you'd like to help promote endeavors within the community, feel free to use any of the images below. Please save them and re-host them on your own account. :)

Signatures:
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Serinia Edoras

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Hey all Junior Members and Citizens!

I'm really looking forward to leading our crew through this campaign and hope you are excited too! We're going to put up a new forum that we can all use to share ideas and plan activities. Stay tuned for details very soon! Thanks!
 

Lyndo Shiranui

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This will be the most fun challenge!
 

Erin al'Denael

Keeper of the Chronicles
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Well, everyone. Our year has passed, and the Great Charity Hunt is officially over. :) I want to thank everyone who helped make it possible. Serinia and Mieriana, thanks for letting me run with my ideas. Siera and Lilli, thank you for your invaluable help throughout the year with any number of tasks related to this endeavor -- from graphics, to T-Shirts, to the Heroes of the Horn initiatives, and many, many more. Thanks to Venric for designing the horn image. Thanks to Cassie for helping with the money aspects. And thanks to everyone who took the time to do something more, and share it with us all. :hug

From November 1, 2020 until October 31, 2021 we...
  • donated medical supplies, journals, crocheted stars, bags of food, clothing, shoes, furniture, kitchen tools, books, and T-shirts to those in need
  • we volunteered 183.5 hours to soup kitchens, the SPCA, the IMALIVE crisis line, to policy and abuse teams, replanting trees, staffing book giveaways, and helping at vaccination centers
  • we gave $16, 292.01 to aid others across a huge span of activities, too
Y'all, we did good. :)

Awards were announced yesterday at the Online Anni 2021. Recipients are as follows:

@Jaryd Kosari - You weren't the only member who organized an event, but yours was influential and broad in scope. Thank you for your work!
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@Vivianna L'antreau - Viv, you astound me with how much you do. Any time I saw a log from you in the spreadsheet, I wanted read on to see just what you'd been up to. While we had many members do a lot, you stood head and shoulders over everyone with the breadth and depth of your assistance. Thank you!
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@Alora Sionn - I know you were showered with praise yesterday. :hug But I hope you appreciate that we appreciate you, and the work you do. Your ongoing project has helped many families in need. You, quite simply, rock.
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The cumulative focus of the GCH was to see which group collectively put in the most effort over the course of a year. Information logged through October 31, 2021 was presented to the Hall, and over the course of 2 weeks they voted and decided that the Green Ajah was that group. Thank you, Hall, and thank you, Green Ajah! @Faeril Munlear let me know when you know! :p
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Again -- thank you, everyone. Thank you to those who helped make this possible. Thank you to those who participated and helped others. Thank you. :hug
 
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I love this whole effort. Thanks Erin for all your work on it! Congrats everyone!
 

Alora Sionn

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Congrats to everyone and huge thanks to Erin for this truly epic campaign!! :hug

I really appreciate this award, this project I think everyone knows is really important to me, but the impact of it goes beyond all the NICU families, nurses etc. This project pretty much saved us too, we were in a really dark place for awhile and when you're in the dark you can either let it seep into your bones or shine even brighter out of defiance, and that's what we were trying to do, make our son proud of us.

This project would be nothing without everyone who ever bought something off the wishlist, shared it around, or showed support in any way. Without all of you these NICU families wouldn't have this touch of kindness, and without you things would be that much darker for us as well. So I want to thank everyone for helping us honor our boy and bring some light to others going through it.

This award and the fact that there are so many caring people here that don't even know us well but open their hearts to helping just really gets me in all the feels and I don't forget these things. Even the littlest thing to you makes a difference and matters so never forget that :hug
 
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Cassie Dainar

Darth Dainar
The Amyrlin Seat
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Really great job by everyone and congratulations to those who went above and beyond. This was a wonderful idea and well done so thank you Erin for making it happen.
 
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Great work everyone. You are an inspiration.
 

Melisande Arneil

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Congratulations everyone! Amazing and wonderful!! :joy
 

Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum

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Congratulations, everyone!! :joy
 

Nymala Ingasy

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Congrats to all!
 

Elia LePhant

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Wow. I’m in awe of what was accomplished. What an incredible charity effort. :hug
 

Vivianna L'antreau

The Vivrylin
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Thank you for organizing and tracking this all year, Erin! Your words are so incredibly kind :hug Thank you!
 
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