Let me tell you about Charlie Brown (a true Joplin hero)

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Support Charlie Brown of Joplin

Just 1 week of voting left! Keep it up, we are doing great!
Thanks so much for everyone's support!

http://www.examiner.com/adoptive-families-in-joplin/an-unlikely-hero

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Last May, my hometown was almost blown to smithereens when an F-5 tornado buzzed through town, taking thousands of homes, dozens of churches and schools and over 150 human lives.

Shortly after, a memorial service attracted national attention and attendance, including, on the positive side, the President of the United States.

On the negative side, however, the bizarre and hateful Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) announced plans to protest the memorial service.  Westboro Baptist Church's web address is godhatesfags.com. The group despises the United States of America and pickets the funerals of US soldiers.

While many Joplinites were concerned about WBC, the organization is a particular anathema to one complex man named Charlie Brown: a Christian, a patriot and a gay man with a heart even bigger than his energetic, 6'3" self.

Using Facebook, Charlie set up a page to recruit people to counter demonstrate and shield the memorial service from the effects of a WBC event. Along with other formal and informal efforts, Charlie's plan was so successful that almost no one from WBC even showed up.

At the time, Charlie Brown knew roughly what any thirty-something man in 2011 knows about social media; no less but not much more, either.  But the WBC effort set in motion a learning process that has turned Charlie into an expert in the use of Internet social media for mobilizing advocacy and charitable action.

Since May of 2011, Charlie has spearheaded or significantly assisted about a half dozen separate on-line undertakings, raising the equivalent of over quarter-of-a-million dollars for restoration of public and private property in Joplin. The efforts and outcomes have now spread well beyond the Internet, but Facebook, Twitter and the Internet continue at the center of much Charlie is accomplishing.

In June, for example, Joplin was named "Tea Town USA 2011" by the Midwest deli chain, MacAlister's. The title, based on on-line votes, came with a $7,500 award. Using the network he'd begun building in response to WBC, Charlie helped bring this one in for Joplin.

As the hot-hot summer of 2011 wore on, Charlie and his colleagues recruited more area residents, Joplin 'Expats' and sympathetic friends everywhere. The next big project was Coca-Cola company's annual park grant. Also based on an Internet voting effort, the project brought in $25,000 to help restore Joplin's Cunningham Park, a key venue destroyed by the tornado.

Working with others, Charlie and his nearly angelic followers have contributed to a Craftman Tool contest, helping win $10,000 for a companion town in North Dakota. They spearheaded a major fundraising success involving the Oscar Mayer company, Homes for Hope Joplin and Christian Associates of Table Rock Lake that raised $100,000 to be applied to building new 'green' homes in Joplin.

Homes for Hope Joplin as opened a thrift store in Joplin, offering great bargains for area shoppers while generating additional revenues to support redevelopment.

Currently Charlie and his ever-growing group of responders are vigorously pursuing positions in two significant on-line contests, one sponsored by Examiner.com and the other organized by Reader's Digest.

Examiner.com

Examiner, an on-line magazine with broad U.S. coverage, is conducting a search 

for heroes national-wide in several categories. Charlie is a strong contender in 

the leadership category. If you'd like to join the effort on Charlie's behalf, follow 

this link, register, click the Leadership link and click the block next to Charlie's 

name -- obviously! 

A WIN FOR CHARLIE IS A WIN FOR JOPLIN.

Support Charlie!

Reader's Digest

'We hear you America 2012" by Reader's Digest will provide $10,000 grants 

to numerous communities and a $50,000 grand prize to the top vote getter.   

Repeated and unlimited voting is not only allowed, but encouraged!  If you've 

not voted yet and want to support Joplin, go to 

Reader's Digest, We Hear You

Enter the zip code 64801. Then register and start voting.

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You can follow Charlie on Twitter at CharliesCharity

Helping Restore of a Treasured Joplin Park

UPDATE: This FB cite has pictures of the restored park -- and it is impressive!  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cunningham-Park/105438306180656

The May 22nd tornado that destroyed 25-30% of Joplin, MO, took this treasured park along with everything else it took.

[Pre-tornado image of Cunningham Park, Joplin, MO from Google Earth]

That is what Cunningham looked like before the tornado. Here is what it looked like on May 23, 2011, the day after the tornado.




The spirited people of Joplin, MO -- with the help of many others -- have worked through one of the hottest summers on record to put their town and their lives back together.

Now they are asking friends and supporters everywhere to help a bit more -- this time with some clicks of a mouse!

Coca-Cola is running a grant contest this summer to assist park improvements. The Coca-Cola grant could be worth $100,000! -- if we take first place.

The winners will be determined by an on-line show of support. Here is how we can win together: follow the link below and click as directed to vote for Joplin's Cunningham Park.

There is strong competition for the funding. But the winning strategy is to have as many people as possible vote as frequently as possible. There are no limits on the number of times you can vote.

Vote for Cunningham Park

A kind and thoughtful friend of mine worried that he might be acting unfairly to vote over and over for Cunningham. "Aren't there other parks worthy of the funds?" he asked. And I told him what I will tell any of you who might share the same concern: yes, we have worthy competition -- but worthy in every respect.
Yes, like us, they have projects to fund that mean a great deal to the people involved. Yes, in at least some cases, they have sustained losses through no fault of their own, like we have.
But, like us, they are using every tactic and working every angle in this most honorable and vigorous competition. They, too, are power voting. They, too, like us, are asking for the support of family and friends throughout the country and throughout cyber-space.
It's like a game we are playing with very real prizes for the winners.
So as our kids are asking --

from
http://www.facebook.com/CokeVoteJoplin

Vote for Cunningham Park



More?

Check out the Facebook page for our voters: Coca-Cola Voting Marathon for Joplin! Online
Or read about the contest at Coca-Cola's Live Positively website.

Seeing It

We've always heard how a picture can communicate so much more than words alone and many friends have asked to me share or show or email or post my photographs of my hometown, Joplin, MO, in the aftermath of the May 22nd record-setting tornado.

Yet, despite the value of photographs, I want to tell you what my brother told me before I returned to Joplin about two weeks after the disaster: no matter how many photos or videos you see, pictures cannot compare to seeing it yourself. After two days of driving and walking the area and taking pictures, on the late afternoon of the second day, I went out again and felt as stunned by the sight as I had when I first saw it.

Nothing can do this justice, but here are about twenty of my best shots.