Twestival inspires Twitter for a good cause

It seemed like half of Twitter was partying at the Twestival last night. A great cause that inspired people in almost 200 cities around the world to help charity: water. At home in Seattle, there were about 100 people who helped raise about $1100 for the cause. As part of the event, several people and sponsors donated some great prizes. One guy donated a date (dinner and a movie) with himself! Desperate or ballsy, what do you think? I even won a prize in the raffle, no, not the date, but a Home Depot gift card. I met a bunch of new Tweeters and even got to catch up with a few friends that I’ve only talked to online like Veronica Wei Sopher and Charl Pearce. Danielle Morrill streamed the event which was pretty cool. It was also great to see and hang out with friends Amanda Wolfman, Claus Loos, Eric Weaver and Eric Berto.

As mentioned, there were close to 200 Twestival events, so many Twitter friends checked in and shared stories about their events.

Boston

From the home in my heart, over 200 people celebrated Twestival at OM in Harvard Square. It was an awesome time and a fantastic turnout for a great cause. Rachel Levy took some amazing photos of the event. Below are Rachel, Pamela Rosenthal and Todd van Hoosear.

Montreal – From Adele McAlear

Montreal was one of the first 25 cities to sign on to host a Twestival and we're excited to see more than 175 cities participating in what has become a truly global event. The Twestival Montreal event is in both French and English, reflecting the bilingual nature of our city. This means that Tweeting, blogging and event blog badges are in both languages. Twestival Montreal, at the chic and modern Suco Lounge had over 200 people with two local DJs and a local radio personality MCing the event. Renowned concert photographer, Eva Blue, staffed the photobooth where, for a donation, party-goers had their picture taken with water-themed props as a souvenir of the evening. Twestival Montreal raised over $5000 for the event. But most of all, we're proud that through all of our efforts - sponsors, volunteers, supporters and party-goers - we are helping to save lives with clean water. And that is something to cheer about! The Grand prize winner for the trip to Vancovuer was Jean Aymeri (below right), who sadly became another victim of the economy and lost his job this morning.

Dallas – Lauren Vargas Reporting

Three weeks ago, I did a crazy thing, I signed up Dallas/Fort Worth to be a participating city in the global Twestival. Three weeks ago, I put out a call over Twitter asking for volunteers to help put on such a venture. Thirteen other crazy people I had never met before volunteered to make Dallas Twestival happen. In three weeks, over Twitter, email and numerous conference calls, we organized our first Twestival…not to be our last. Although, we will start planning at least 51 weeks in advance of Dallas Twestival 2010! Dallas’ event was at Mockingbird Station, where tweeters and non-tweeters, alike met to enjoy live music by local artists, take in a free film at Angelika Theater and eat good food and drink. The Dallas Twestival was 100% volunteer and donation driven. There was no overhead for the event. All proceeds benefited Charity:Water. Dallas’ goal was to raise $4,000, roughly the cost of drilling one water well in Central Africa. We met and exceeded goal to raise $4,302 and counting! Thank you to the brilliant people I worked with to make this event a reality, our generous sponsors in tough economic times and to the Dallas Twestival goers who came to the event.

Denver – Erika Napoletano Reporting

The Denver Twestival gathered over 200 Tweeps and non-Tweeps from the Denver and Boulder area at the Fox and Hound in Littleton, Colorado. Between online donations, a book sale and a kickass silent auction, current funds raised over $4000 We with to thank Chuck Blakeman, Ringmaster of Ceremonies for the evening and the generous donation of venue by the Fox and Hound for making the Denver event happen. Chuck and Erika are below.

An amazing event for an amazing charity! As Laura Fitton pointed out on Twitter, there were over 6,600 Twestival photos posted on Flickr. As you can see from the Twist report below, Twestival was rocking on Twitter this week. Here’s to Twestival!

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• Hundreds of 'Twestival' fundraisers springing up tonight (news.cnet.com)
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Please Help David Armano Help Daniela's Family

You may have seen this on David Armano’s blog, Logic + Emotion. If you donated to help Daniela already, thank you. If you haven’t, please consider it. Even though, we may have achieved David’s original goal, kindness has no limits.

I’d like to address another component to this great story of a community working together. Many of us have spoken, tweeted, and blogged about the value of participating on Twitter for companies. We’ve also pointed out some of those companies that get Twitter and do it well. I think it’s only appropriate for the brands that participate as part of the Twitter community to give back and help Daniela’s family. So Wholefoods, Comcastcares, Popeyeschicken, Starbucks, Zappos, Delloutlet and all the others, what do you say?

UPDATE!
We have the account working now. Please refresh your browser. And we are freaking out.

I've been at this blog for nearly 3 years now and have never asked for something like this—I hope I've earned enough trust to be able to ask something back from you. Above is a picture of Daniela and her family. Brandon, age 6, Daniela, age 9 and little Evelyn age 4. Daniela recently divorced her husband after years of abuse. In recent years her mortgage went unpaid and she's lost her house.

As of this moment, Daniela's family is staying at our house and we are trying to help her find a one bedroom apartment for her family to live in. With Evelyn, her youngest having Down's Syndrome and Daniela herself being a Romanian immigrant with very little family support she literally has no one to turn to. Except us (all of us).
Daniela cleans houses when she can leave her family. I'm not even going to tell you what she gets paid—it's obscene. Right now her options are pretty limited, aside from an apartment, there is only a group shelter. Not very pretty.
Here's what we are asking. Right now, Belinda and I are opening our home, but it's tight as we have no basement. We've committed to giving as much as we can spare, diverting funds from other places. I'm asking if you could think about doing the same. Or at the very least, helping get the word out about this. We are looking to raise 5k for Daniela and her family. Enough so that she doesn't have to worry about a deposit or rent for a while.
I know this is the worst possible time to ask for anything. But would you consider the following:
1. Giving whatever you can ("Chip in" uses Pay Pal and it's very easy to donate and it's secure)
2. Spread the word. Please, please blog this, tweet this, re-tweet this.
3. Help find a donor (maybe a generous company or individual)

I don't have anything to offer back. Not an ego list or top donators directory. I can only hope that this thing we call "community" puts its money or heart where its mouth is. Please do whatever you can.

Respectfully, David and family

PS, if you don't feel comfortable using Pay Pal, please e-mail us here and we'll figure it out. And thank you.