i voted today at 9 am after meeting a friend for coffee. i was in and out in less than five minutes.

how long did it take you to vote?

i need a small army who is willing to sign up, sight unseen, for a secret mission.

only those who sign up will get the details (and you’ll have the option of saying no once you do sign up). the rest of you lurkers will just have to wait until november 10th to find out.

three facts about the mission:

1) you want to help provide dignity and safety to those who are living in poverty by using social media

2) you need to have a blog and/or a trusted list of people you can email or message somehow (absolutely no spamming)

3) you are not afraid of audaciously scary big goals. like really big.

if this sounds like you, leave me a comment below (make sure to include a good email address in the email field) and by wednesday night i’ll be in touch with further details.

i am so excited about this mission…it’s unlike anything i’ve ever seen before!

could you imagine?

seth godin tells us about a super easy way for you to help some charities out…you just have to click! visit this link, pick a charity, and squidoo will donate $2, no catches.

why not?

now go!

I got an email from my buddy Brad at Catalyst. The Catalyst Vanagon is on a road trip and drove through the Baton Rouge area shortly after Hurricane Gustav ripped right through. Since it was not a hurricane of “Katrina” proportion, the media let it die pretty fast.

Healing Place Church, led by Pastor Dino Rizzo, is a great church in that area. I’ve known of the amazing stuff HPC has been doing locally for the last several years. LV Hanson (who I had the honor of meeting a couple months ago) met up with Dino to see how the blogging community can help.

Here is what they need:

“As of Friday, Sept. 5th, power is expected to be out in parts of southern Louisiana for 4-6 weeks; homes are destroyed, and many people in “the bayou” have yet to be reached.  They need help!  We asked Dino what they need and how the Catalyst audience might be able to help.”

His answer was simple - please send us blue tarps! 

Will you send one (1) blue tarp to Healing Place Church as way of helping the recovery efforts from Hurricane Gustav?  Our goal is 50 Blue Tarps by Friday, September 12th. 

You guys have pulled together and sent over 100 mosquito nets to malaria ravaged countries. 120 books to pastors in the Dominican Republic. You have fed 80 families for an entire month through the Compassion Global Food Crisis.

Another opportunity to be love in a very tangible and needed way is here!

To send a blue tarp, order one AT THIS LINK and have it shipped to:

ONE (1) BLUE TARP
Healing Place Church
19202 Highland Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
225.753.2273

When you have purchased the tarp, please leave a comment (anonymously if you wish) so that they can measure and prepare for how many they will be receiving.

I realize the tarps are a little expensive so if you’d like to chip in toward the purchase of a tarp, please send me a PayPal (flowerdust@gmail.com) with the amount you would like to contribute and I will purchase as many as I can on 9/11 (and send everyone who sent PayPal a receipt for accountability).

Thank you guys SO MUCH. I can’t tell you what an awesome example you have set to the blogosphere. BlogHer (a HUGE estrogen filled website) even picked up on what you guys have done and featured this interview on their HOME PAGE yesterday. WAY TO LEAD THE WAY!!! Let’s keep it moving!

Here is a video from Dino:

***PLEASE REPOST THIS ON YOUR BLOG!!!***