Sharing About Giving: Let Your Light Shine

“Hi! I need your help…”

A friend reached out to me last year asking me to take part in her client’s social media campaign to share acts of kindness of social media. An organization called Alight used the hashtag of #AlightChainReaction to inspire good works from individuals throughout the 2023 winter holiday season. Alight is a global humanitarian organization dedicated to providing support and resources for over 4 million people displaced by conflict, exclusion, and climate change.

Image: Cindy with a stuffed Pikachu pokemon
donated to Toys for Tots

What started out as a favor turned out to be a fascinating social experiment for me. As an author and speaker with a brand about advocacy and helping others, it’s common for me to post about acts of advocacy actions. Yet I rarely post about local, personal volunteering. Maybe part of me feels like it’s bragging to say “look what a good person I am” when I know I’m full of little foibles and bigger flaws. Reactions to my posts on #AlightChainReaction turned made me rethink that attitude. I quickly lost those awkward feelings when I my friends started asking where they could join in or reporting that they, too, took the same action because of my post.

Image: Cindy in front of a Red Cross van

A great example was my post about giving blood. Donating blood to the Red Cross is just something my mom (a nurse) taught me to do when I became an adult. But there’s a physical limit to the amount of blood one person can give! Once I give my pint, that’s all I can do for the next 8 weeks. So, when I saw a couple of friends jump into the comment section of the post right away, saying they made appointments, I thought, “Wow! That’s 3X what I could do alone!”

Image: Cindy's hand with wrapped gifts

Another fun action was gift wrapping presents for kids experiencing homelessness at a pop up wrapping station in a mall. I stopped by and gave an hour of my time doing that fun task, but my schedule didn’t allow me to sign up for another shift. I was thrilled when I got a text of a family member who loves wrapping gifts and had the spare time!

Image: A box of snacks with a note saying,
"THANK YOU for delivering our packages!
Please help yourself to a snack"

The last one I’ll mention is the snack box for delivery people. I got the idea off of social media during COVID-19 isolation in 2020 to make a box of snacks and water for folks delivering packages to my door. They work very hard during the holidays to make sure gifts get delivered on time. It brings a smile to my face to see USPS and UPS drivers walking away from my door with water, granola, or chips. I liked the enthusiastic responses I received when I posted about it, but I am genuinely touched when I visit my friends that commented and see that they’ve made their own similar boxes!

This is proof enough to me a chain reaction of kindness is possible. I’m grateful to Alight for teaching me that sharing about caring can spread kind actions throughout our community.

How appropriate that after the campaign ended, the scripture assigned to me to read at church was from the book of Mark when Jesus said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.” If no one can see your light, it can’t spread around and inspire others to have their own experiences like it. Which is to say - as the children’s song puts it best- “Let your little light shine!”

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Advocacy Made Easy: Twitter Actions

Tweeting with Jennifer Burden about poverty from the 

World Bank for World Moms Blog

I have a confession to make. I don't really like Twitter all that much.

"OMG! Have you seen your own Twitter account?! You're on it all the time," I imagine my friends saying.

Yes, well. Despite that, I came slowly to Twitter. It's not a super-easy format for me to use. However, it’s one more tool in the advocacy toolbox. To quote Kolleen Bouchane, Policy and Advocacy Director of A World at School, “I know great advocates who use Twitter and wonderful advocates who have no idea what Twitter is.” You don't need a Twitter account to create real change in the world. But if you use one already, by all means use it to advocate as well! Twitter has connected me to many wonderful activists who wouldn't be in my life otherwise. 

I hesitantly started tweeting when I attended the first-ever Shot@Life Summit. Many participants were social media pros and they encouraged me to get on the Twitter wagon. Mistakenly, I thought I should build up a big following so people would take the actions I suggested in my tweets. Wrong! Maybe I’m just not very convincing with a 140 character limit. Followers may take action with me if they’ve seen me in some other venue, but Twitter seems to act mainly as a reminder to take an action. It’s rare that my tweets move people to action even among my steadfast advocacy friends.

But enough about what Twitter won’t do for you! Over the years, I've actually become pretty proficient at using it to the point where I even get paid for my live-tweeting skills. Here are 5 ways Twitter has been quite effective in my advocacy work and can be in yours:

#1 Add leverage to an Action Day or a movement 
If you see a hashtag (a keyword preceded with a "#" to make it more searchable) about one of your issues showing up in your Twitter feed a lot – like #EndPolio – it might be alerting you to a day of action started by an organization connected to your issue. When your organization has a phone call-in day, your tweets about it with a link to the action and the appropriate hashtag will act as your endorsement that the action is a good thing to do. Note: The action must be SIMPLE, like asking someone to "re-tweet" a message to the White House or member of Congress. (Example: "Pls RT: @ClairMC Pls sign onto S. Res. 108 to help us #EndPolio & give kids a @ShotatLife ")

The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag went globally viral very quickly after the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted in Nigeria by terrorists in 2014. As of today none of the girls have been recovered yet, but the movement lives on and I've had the privilege of meeting and working with Aisha Yesufu, one of the activists who has dedicated every day since the kidnapping to forcing her government to be accountable for the return of the girls. I would not be in contact with her at all were it not for the Twitter movement.

#2 Tweet content to build relationships your allies
If you're a blogger, tweet links to your blog posts and tag other people who are interested in the same issue. Also re-tweet related content from people you admire and want to work with. If they like what they see, they may start following you and re-tweeting. When they do, you’ll have new allies helping you build a bigger audience. These are also people you should seek out at conferences or ask to meet, so you can work on joint projects and extend your mutual reach. Occasionally, I’ve also been asked by national organizations for permission to re-post my writing that I tweeted to them. 

Live-tweeting doesn't lead to pretty pictures of yourself,
but it gets the word out!

#3 Live-tweet an event
When a special event is going on with your organization, sending out tweets about it in real time is a great way to help your followers feel engaged with the action. It extends the impact of the event. Live-tweeting is a tricky skill to learn, but here are the basics.

• Have Twitter open and at the ready. 
• Listen for key short, quotable sound bites from a speaker 
• Quickly type it in and include the hashtags of the event and any associated with the topic, so that interested people can find it even if they don’t directly follow you 
• Tag speakers by including their Twitter handle in your tweet, so they and their followers can see it and re-tweet 
• Try to tweet every 10 minutes or so during a speech 
• Re-tweet other people also live-tweeting the same event. 
• Warning: Don’t live-tweet too many events too close together or this will become annoying and people may start un-following you. At some point, we all get tired of one person dominating our Twitter feeds.

An example of a Twitter Party invite graphic 
from World Moms Blog

#4 Participate in Twitter Parties to raise awareness
A "twitter party" is a virtual event that brings people together to discuss an issue on social media while raising awareness with their followers. Generally about 1 hour long, they are especially effective if a celebrity participates to bring hundreds of fans to the conversation, but a smaller party can get help your connections, too, if you have fun and informed people involved. Before you organize one, it can be helpful to join one to see how it works in person or team up with someone who has hosted one before.

These are the general steps to putting together your own Twitter party:

• Think up a short, original hashtag to identify tweets as part of your discussion. 
• Advertise your event with organizations in line with your issue by distributing a graphic that can be shared across social media platforms. It should describe what topic you want to discuss. Line up a few participants who have sizeable social media followings to advertise it and ask their followers to join in.
• Think of 10-12 questions to ask during the event. 
• When the party begins, open a window to type your tweets and a separate one to monitor your hashtag. 
• Post a tweet welcoming everyone and reminding them to use the hashtag every time they make a comment. 
• Post numbered questions one at a time with the hashtag for your party. Example: “Q1: How do you involve your kids in fighting poverty? #KidAction” Experienced twitter partiers will leave their answers in a similar format like, “A1: We collect food for our local food bank and deliver it together #KidAction” 
• Leave enough time for everyone to chime in with answers, which you will see in your hashtag window. 
• When the hour is up, thank everyone for participating and give them a website to either continue the conversation or find more information about your issue.

My first viral tweet showed tween-aged fans of 

Percy Jackson books that kids can lobby with 

the ONE Campaign

#5 Get the attention of a Twitter celebrity to boost your message

Getting a celebrity re-tweet for your org could be as simple as wearing your logo T-shirt and taking an awesome picture in front of the poster of a movie they are starring in on opening night. You just never know!

While waiting for a ONE Campaign lobby meeting, I looked over to see my daughter reading a book by her favorite author Rick Riordan (a.k.a. "@CampHalfBlood" on Twitter), creator of the popular Percy Jackson books. Since she was wearing a ONE t-shirt, I tweeted her picture while tagging both ONE and the author. After the meeting, I was shocked to see so much activity on my normally quiet account. It turned out that Riordan himself had re-tweeted it to his 302,000 followers, ensuring his rabid pre-teen and adult fans put eyeballs on the ONE logo and spread the word that kids can lobby and save the world. Twitter reported that 52,393 people saw my tweet on Twitter and 4,755 people interacted with it in some way.

Words of Caution

Twitter can be an ugly world. If you step out in public to speak out for something, chances are likely that someone someday will speak back to you against that thing. Don't take it personally. Block especially viscous people if you have to. As with all advocacy, you'll get much farther and earn more quality allies by keeping your message positive and inspiring. 

• Don't engage in a Twitter war with critics. Twitter moves too fast and is to impersonal for good judgement to reign. The only person who can keep up is comedian and animal lover Ricky Gervais tweeting with big game sport hunters, but he's a quick witted insult comic by trade. Leave that to the professionals!
• Be careful with your personal information Don’t share anything that would be dangerous in the hands of a follower that intends harm to you. Remember that people who oppose your viewpoints could be following you as well.
• Exercise caution with images and information about your children. For example, the picture of my daughter that I tweeted to Rick Riordan purposefully did not show her full face nor her name.

IN CONCLUSION...the only way to really learn to use this tool is to get in there and do it. Start by following some Twitter users you respect, re-tweet their posts, and learn from them. Experiment and see what works for you. It's not for everyone, but it can be a very fun way to connect with people you might never work with otherwise. Good luck!

Advocacy Made Easy: Writing a Blog Post

You may have seen my past posts in my Advocacy Made Easy series. (If you want to see them, type "Advocacy Made Easy" into the search bar of this blog) I'll admit up front that this particular action - writing a blog post - isn't as ready-made for step-by-step instructions as other advocacy actions. It requires creativity, introspection, and a willingness to put your views out into the public that many other actions don't.

I'm still stumbling along in this journey to create compelling posts, but here are a few lessons I've learned that I can share with you about creating blog content.

EPIC Format Still Works
I use the EPIC writing format for writing letters to Congress and letters to the editor. There's nothing wrong with using this tried and true method for a blog post. A blog tends to be more free flowing than a formal letter, so it's okay if you just want to write 6 or 7 haikus about your topic. Nevertheless, for informing readers and asking them to take an action, nothing beats a good EPIC piece of writing. "EPIC" is a handy mnemonic for remembering an order of statements to build your case for an action and engage your reader. Here it is:

Engage: Grab the reader's attention with a question or a startling statement. You could use a surprising statistic or a question. 

Problem: State the problem that you want the reader to address. 

Inform (or Illustrate): Inform the reader of the solution or illustrate how the solution can help. 

Call to Action: CLEARLY state what you want the reader to do. It's best if you can do it in the form of a question that should be answered with a "yes" or a "no."

THINK Before You Post
There are plenty of bloggers making names for themselves by being edgy, negative, or snarky. However, my advice to you, especially if you are just starting out and haven't found your voice yet, is to play it positive. It seems like the online universe trends toward the negative side of things. Isn't there enough name calling and disrespect out there? Why add to it? Remember, once you put something negative and nasty out there, you can't take it back once it starts being shared and re-tweeted.

I found a sign in the hallway at an elementary school and thought that its message is even more applicable to bloggers than school children. It encourages kids to think before they speak and ask themselves about what they are about to say: Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

I strive to hold similar standards in my blog posts. I want this blog to be uplifting and inclusive, so I also give consideration to "Who might I be alienating with the way this draft is written?" I know I don't always get it right, but stopping to think before posting helps a great deal.

Use Pictures (your own pictures!)
Pictures are a great way to get someone to click on your blog and hold attention. They don't even have to be award winning photography. Just something to give the brain a break from a solid wall of text. Case in point: In the bullet suggestion above, I could have just listed out the bullet points of the "Think Before You Speak" poster. But it was more interesting looking at the quilt-like bulletin board that a teacher spent a good amount of time putting together, wasn't it? I've taken pictures of legos spilled on my floor and heaps of my own dirty laundry to make my points. The main thing is that you own the pictures you use or credit the person who does own the photo (ideally with his or her permission). You can also purchase stock photos on websites for not much money if you wish. Sometimes if I don't have a good photo, I might simply draw a quick sketch like this one I used on a blog about sadness.

http://endpoverty-ccyl.blogspot.com/2015/07/sadness-is-underrated-emotion.html

Be Sincere and Find Your Own Voice
Frank Gilbert, English teacher and fellow RESULTS advocate, guides his students in the art of finding their own writing styles. He tells them, (paraphrased) "If anyone ever tells you that they can hear your voice when they read your writing, then you know you have found your genuine writing voice." When I began this blog, my own writing was quite stilted and - frankly - extremely boring. If you don't believe me, you can read my post from 2007 about the Farm Bill. Or - better yet - don't bother unless your having difficulty sleeping and want to be lulled to unconsciousness. Over time, I found that many more people respond to my posts when I write as if I'm writing an email to a friend. Sure, a post should be more strict about grammar (see Weird Al Yankovic's "Word Crimes" if you don't understand why) than your twitter feed. So, be casual while also being correct. Please also accept my apologies for the unintentional typos you may be reading over in this very post. Additionally, when I became more authentic in sharing who I am - a nerdly stay-at-home mom of two - and shared my opinions through that particular perspective, my posts became more interesting to more people.

Like I said, I'm still growing and learning. If you have more pieces of advice for new (or old) bloggers, please share them in the comments. I'd love to hear it!

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!