I've just joined Laurence Simon in the 2002 Blogathon. He's going to stay up for 24 hours and fire off a post every half hour for Magen David Adom. I'm going to do the same for Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. They're the trauma center to which Magen David Adom brings the victims of the suicide bombings. They need a new, upgraded emergency room, and that is the charity for which I intend to deprive myself of sleep long enough so that you may very well be able to see incomprehensible ramblings before the 24 hours are up.
Here's the way it works: Between now and July 27th, you can go here and sign up to become a sponsor. Please let me point out that you can sponsor both Lair and me; we're good blog pals and not jealous at all of each other, and we're blogging for two great causes. (Their database lists me via first name instead of last, so I'm in the M, not Y field. Duh.) The more, the merrier. You don't have to put your real name in the fields if you don't want to. You can donate anonymously if you wish. But the Blogathon folks won't use your information for anything other than "David Yourish contributed $50.00" (hint, hint, Dave!).
On July 27th, you get to watch us post like crazy, starting at 9:00 EST. Then, on July 28th, you get to send in a check to the charities you pledged. No money crosses our hands or the Blogathon sponsors; it's all entirely up to you, and I don't even get your phone number so I can't call and make you feel guilty. This is the Shaare Zedek page with US addresses; you can also mail directly to the hospital. And here's the page for offices throughout the world.
Remember, I will have this weblog with which to make you feel extreme guilt if you don't pay up, and also know this: I come from a long line of Jewish mothers; trust me, I know how to lay on the guilt. I think it's safe to say I could guilt an atheist into going to Temple.
And let me add some incentive for you to contribute: The International Red Cross bars Magen David Adom from entry and gives Israel almost no funds. Mogen David Adom ambulances are the first on the scene after a terrorist attack. The terrorists try to blow apart innocent Israelis; Shaare Zedek puts them back together.
Hundreds of people read this weblog every day. If you contribute only ten dollars each, that would be thousands of dollars we would send to a great cause.
Choose life. The terrorists are worshipping a cult of death; Laurence Simon and I are blogging for the organizations that help save lives. Choose life, and spread the word. permalink
Leave it to Laurence Simon to start passing along rumors. Especially ones he's making up himself.
While it is true I will be about 350 miles closer to Texas when the Blogathon occurs, it is absolutely false that I'm moving so that I can be closer to Laurence. He is married. I am uninterested in married men. And no, there will be no streaming video sex, in spite of his pleading emails. I don't have a webcam, anyway. Damn. That last is going to land me in the search engine hall of shame, isn't it?
I'd like to thank those who have pledged already today. Somebody pledged $5 an hour for me. (I sure hope they didn't mean to pledge a flat $5 and just got confused.) Wow, I haven't earned that much since I was working for the Bergen Record as an Atex typesetter! (What a racket that job was. Sunday night, I'd come in around 6, wait until the races started at 7, reading the wires or doing homework, then every thirty minutes I'd type up the race results—which took all of five minutes—and read the wires or a book for another 25 minutes. Then I'd go home at 11:30 or 12. They paid me five bucks an hour to—hey! Write every thirty minutes!)
I'm trying to think of some kind of matching-fund pledge, as I intend to donate to the charity myself. Maybe a dollar for every pledge I receive, up to a certain amount? I'll have to think it over. In the meantime, click and pledge. For me and for Laurence.
Here's the Shaare Zedek Medical Center news page. Read up on why they deserve money for a new Emergency Room. permalink
My very generous readers are pledging more dollars to Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Thank you so much; I'm on my way up the donors list with $335 pledged so far. I would like to point out, however, that when the form is asking for an email address, they want yours, not mine, as I'm supposed to send out an email to all of my sponsors reminding them to pay up. May I say I salute your ingenuity in not wanting to give out your email address by giving out mine instead?
It's okay, the Blogathon won't give it out to spammers, and I am highly amused when I receive a letter that says, "meryl-at-sign-yourish.com has pledged xx dollars, bringing your total amount pledged to..."
I know I sometimes hear voices in my head, but I was unaware that they're also making donations in my name. I hope we can afford it.
I'm currently creating a little number counter that I will put on the top of the page to keep a tally of the amount pledged. I found some pretty sickly green-on-black numbers to email Laurence if he wants to do the same. Have to keep to his color scheme, dontchaknow. permalink