Flag Idea -- Can I get your thoughts?
Posted: 24 Jul 2007 14:28<LONG POST ALERT -- BEAR WITH ME PLEASE>
Hey, folks. I had a thought that I wanted to open up to the forum. I want to STRESS that if this idea were to be approved by you guys, it would be ABSOLUTELY VOLUNTARY, and NO ONE should feel pressured in any way to participate. Dig?
So we here at SC.net have this Flag. Maybe you've heard of it? Big, green, loud, obnoxious. Trust me -- you'd know it if you saw it. Anyway, it's traveling around the world, collecting signatures and showing the love to Stewart. And in return, Stewart -- the minx -- is showing the love right back. In addition to being fairly fabulous for the people involved, it has also rallied people together on a global scale in a way that I cannot even describe. It's a krazy beautiful thing to see the generosity and dedication that people have displayed for this silly little piece of cotton.
But way back when this crazy Flag Tour first got started, Moeskido (my husband) had said something that has stuck with me. He said, "It's too bad we didn't attach a charity to the flag." (As in the way that one might pledge a certain amount of money for every mile that a person runs in a charity marathon.)
The thought has popped in and out of my head ever since.
It is an insanely wonderful and touching thing to see this Flag bring together fans around the world and to bring them into "communication" (if you will) with The Stewart. But I -- personally -- can't help but wonder if we couldn't somehow make this project beneficial on a larger scale somehow?
So I wanted to find out how you folks would feel about "attaching" a charity to the Flag's journey, i.e., if those who wanted to (again, no pressure here) perhaps donated money in "honor" of this Flag project of ours.
Originally I was thinking that Water-Aid seemed a good choice since it is the charity attached to the Police Tour. But because this project is specifically for Stewart, perhaps an organization more related to Stewart's brother Ian might be more appropriate? For example, Ian's daughters had asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Live4Life Foundation for melanoma research ( http://www.live4life.org/ ). (Thanks to sockii for digging up this info.) Perhaps Live4Life (or similar) would be a better choice?
(Or perhaps people might just want to donate money to whomever they want (various charities) in the name of the Flag?)
Once again, I want to stress that I don't want anyone to feel pressured or compelled to participate in any way. Most of us are scraping together pennies to attend shows as it is, and I do NOT want anyone to feel pressured to take on any kind of financial burden. The Flag is flying WAY too far for any of us to even be able to afford a penny per mile for the whole journey -- but I was thinking that people could, if they wanted, choose a tour leg or even just a section from point-to-point and go from there. For example,
By the end of this first North American leg alone, the Flag will have flown more than 12,000 miles. (It will literally have traveled 20,000+, but it's way easier to just calculate from concert to concert.)
Here's the breakdown of the first North American leg:
DM's house to Vancouver, BC = 2418 miles
Vancouver, BC to Manchester, TN = 2091
Manchester, TN to Los Angeles, CA = 1833
Los Angeles, CA to Houston, TX = 1382
Houston, TX to New Orleans, LA = 328
New Orleans, LA to St. Louis, MO = 591
St. Louis, MO to Miami, FL = 1062
Miami, FL to Cleveland, OH = 1086
Cleveland, OH to Philadelphia, PA = 358
Philadelphia, PA to Hershey, PA = 82
Hershey, PA to Toronto, ON = 192
Toronto, ON to Boston, MA = 433
Boston, MA to New York, NY = 190
New York, NY to East Rutherford, NJ = 13
Total miles for first North American leg = 12,059
So if someone attended, say, the Miami show, they might look at the fact that it took the Flag 1062 miles to get to Miami, throw a decimal point in wherever, and call that a donation of $1.06 or $10.62 or $106.20. Or I, since I will have transported the Flag for three journeys, might add up those three journeys, throw in a decimal point, and write a check. (etc.)
The math is all up to whatever is most appropriate to your life and to your pocketbook, and I think it best to leave that decision to each individual.
But the main questions are
* whether or not you guys think it's a good idea at all?
* if so, if you think one particular charity should be chosen?
* if so, which charity?
None of this even has to be done in any kind of formal way. Someone could, of course, volunteer to be a point person (I've already got my hands full here Flag-wise, so it can't be me) -- but if people prefer, I can just post occasionally with the list of miles that the Flag has traveled so that people can act -- or not -- on their own without feeling obliged to any one organizing person. Informal can be a good thing, especially when it comes to financial stuff. All up to what you guys prefer.
I've already contacted Giovanni before posting about this as I wanted to make sure that I was not over-stepping. He has said it's okay for me to bring up the idea and leaves it to the forumers to decide how (if at all) to proceed.
So I wanted to open it up to SC.net. Thoughts?
BTW, STEWART, if this idea makes you feel unhappy/uncomfortable/uneasy/un-anything, please just send word through the grapevine, and I'll nix it without another thought. You may not be able to talk, but you do get to vote.
Thanks, everyone.
Hey, folks. I had a thought that I wanted to open up to the forum. I want to STRESS that if this idea were to be approved by you guys, it would be ABSOLUTELY VOLUNTARY, and NO ONE should feel pressured in any way to participate. Dig?
So we here at SC.net have this Flag. Maybe you've heard of it? Big, green, loud, obnoxious. Trust me -- you'd know it if you saw it. Anyway, it's traveling around the world, collecting signatures and showing the love to Stewart. And in return, Stewart -- the minx -- is showing the love right back. In addition to being fairly fabulous for the people involved, it has also rallied people together on a global scale in a way that I cannot even describe. It's a krazy beautiful thing to see the generosity and dedication that people have displayed for this silly little piece of cotton.
But way back when this crazy Flag Tour first got started, Moeskido (my husband) had said something that has stuck with me. He said, "It's too bad we didn't attach a charity to the flag." (As in the way that one might pledge a certain amount of money for every mile that a person runs in a charity marathon.)
The thought has popped in and out of my head ever since.
It is an insanely wonderful and touching thing to see this Flag bring together fans around the world and to bring them into "communication" (if you will) with The Stewart. But I -- personally -- can't help but wonder if we couldn't somehow make this project beneficial on a larger scale somehow?
So I wanted to find out how you folks would feel about "attaching" a charity to the Flag's journey, i.e., if those who wanted to (again, no pressure here) perhaps donated money in "honor" of this Flag project of ours.
Originally I was thinking that Water-Aid seemed a good choice since it is the charity attached to the Police Tour. But because this project is specifically for Stewart, perhaps an organization more related to Stewart's brother Ian might be more appropriate? For example, Ian's daughters had asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Live4Life Foundation for melanoma research ( http://www.live4life.org/ ). (Thanks to sockii for digging up this info.) Perhaps Live4Life (or similar) would be a better choice?
(Or perhaps people might just want to donate money to whomever they want (various charities) in the name of the Flag?)
Once again, I want to stress that I don't want anyone to feel pressured or compelled to participate in any way. Most of us are scraping together pennies to attend shows as it is, and I do NOT want anyone to feel pressured to take on any kind of financial burden. The Flag is flying WAY too far for any of us to even be able to afford a penny per mile for the whole journey -- but I was thinking that people could, if they wanted, choose a tour leg or even just a section from point-to-point and go from there. For example,
By the end of this first North American leg alone, the Flag will have flown more than 12,000 miles. (It will literally have traveled 20,000+, but it's way easier to just calculate from concert to concert.)
Here's the breakdown of the first North American leg:
DM's house to Vancouver, BC = 2418 miles
Vancouver, BC to Manchester, TN = 2091
Manchester, TN to Los Angeles, CA = 1833
Los Angeles, CA to Houston, TX = 1382
Houston, TX to New Orleans, LA = 328
New Orleans, LA to St. Louis, MO = 591
St. Louis, MO to Miami, FL = 1062
Miami, FL to Cleveland, OH = 1086
Cleveland, OH to Philadelphia, PA = 358
Philadelphia, PA to Hershey, PA = 82
Hershey, PA to Toronto, ON = 192
Toronto, ON to Boston, MA = 433
Boston, MA to New York, NY = 190
New York, NY to East Rutherford, NJ = 13
Total miles for first North American leg = 12,059
So if someone attended, say, the Miami show, they might look at the fact that it took the Flag 1062 miles to get to Miami, throw a decimal point in wherever, and call that a donation of $1.06 or $10.62 or $106.20. Or I, since I will have transported the Flag for three journeys, might add up those three journeys, throw in a decimal point, and write a check. (etc.)
The math is all up to whatever is most appropriate to your life and to your pocketbook, and I think it best to leave that decision to each individual.
But the main questions are
* whether or not you guys think it's a good idea at all?
* if so, if you think one particular charity should be chosen?
* if so, which charity?
None of this even has to be done in any kind of formal way. Someone could, of course, volunteer to be a point person (I've already got my hands full here Flag-wise, so it can't be me) -- but if people prefer, I can just post occasionally with the list of miles that the Flag has traveled so that people can act -- or not -- on their own without feeling obliged to any one organizing person. Informal can be a good thing, especially when it comes to financial stuff. All up to what you guys prefer.
I've already contacted Giovanni before posting about this as I wanted to make sure that I was not over-stepping. He has said it's okay for me to bring up the idea and leaves it to the forumers to decide how (if at all) to proceed.
So I wanted to open it up to SC.net. Thoughts?
BTW, STEWART, if this idea makes you feel unhappy/uncomfortable/uneasy/un-anything, please just send word through the grapevine, and I'll nix it without another thought. You may not be able to talk, but you do get to vote.
Thanks, everyone.
) that would definitely be a leg I'll throw some sponsorship toward.
