[event]Menu for Hope II

All,
Pim of Chez Pim sent me this to post on her behalf. She hadn't signed up for FBS yet. I'm sure she'll be happy to answer any questions/concerns in the comments section.

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Hi blogging friends,

It's that time of year again. Last year, with the help of many of you and your readers, we raised a substantial sum of money for the victims of the Tsunami with our first Menu for Hope campaign.

This year, the holidays are near again, and while we celebrate our good fortune with our loving family and circle of friends, I propose that we, as a food blogging community, do something together to help some of those who are less fortunate.

You must have heard of the devastating earthquake in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan. With the remote nature of the region and some political stupidity on the part of the two governments, help still hasn't come quick and adequately enough to the victims. Now, the fast approaching Himalayan winter is yet another menace to the survival of these people. Perhaps we could all pitch in to do something for them?

I have an idea that I think might help us collect a lot of money to donate to this particular cause. It will be our second Menu for Hope, and this year it will be a little different, so that we could have more participation from this ever expanding foodblog community. I will
again use the Just Giving site, which we did earlier this year for the first Menu for Hope, Adam also used it successfully for his campaign for Katrina.

This time, I would like to ask each of you to donate something to be added to the menu. It can be anything, an old or rare cookbook, a special gadget, a treasured recipe, even an autographed photo or a chance to have dinner with you. Anything that you think your readers might want to have, and might be willing to donate 5 dollars for a chance to participate in a drawing to win it.

My plan is to have people donate $5, or the equivalent in other currencies, and buy an 'electronic raffle ticket'. When they donate the $5 they can choose from the menu and specify which one of the donated gifts they would want to have. At the end of the campaign, we have a drawing and pick a winner for each item.

I am a big believer of micro donations. I think a lot of people each helping a little can add up to a huge helping hand. Before I settled on this idea I thought about doing an auction for each item on eBay, but I think getting more people to give $5 would probably be easier than getting people to outbid each other.

When we have a list of winners, I will ask each of you to be responsible for the shipping cost as well. If this shipping cost is too much of a burden, please do not let it stop you. Email me
privately and I will find a way to help.

As for the recipient organization, the Red Cross comes to mind, or perhaps UNHCR. I am willing to hear suggestions and perhaps run a vote amongst those bloggers who will participate. If anyone has a lead on a local organization, I'm willing to look into that as well.

Let me know if you want to participate, and let me know what you want to donate. I'm going to ask some graphic savvy friends to create the menu, with the listings of all the donated items from all of you. In a few days, I will send out the file so we can all post it on our blog and try to entice our readers to donate. We should try to wrap up sometimes before Christmas, mid December or something, so people can get their gifts before the end of the year.

Thanks so much for your help!
Pim

This post was written by Derrick from An Obsession with Food on behalf of Pim from Chez Pim