The Fandom Gives Back - Eclipse Edition

The Fandom Gives Back


Alex's Lemonade Stand


2


Welcome to The Fandom Gives Back, a Fandom-wide initiative, created to unite the fans of the Twilight Saga and raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand. ALSF is a children's cancer research foundation, borne from the vision of Alex Scott (1996-2004). In November of 2009, the worldwide Twilight community banded together to raise more than $87,000 in just 7 days! Join us this year for FGB: Eclipse, June 2010. We hope this sequel event will surpass our first inception and raise even more to help this important charity!

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One thing that I think defines who I am is the fact that I come from a REALLY big family. I have 28 aunts and uncles, 40 first cousins, and now several of them have children. You go into second cousins and beyond, and the numbers are astronomical. The point is that we have never had a case of childhood cancer in our family. According to the CDC, more than 16 out of every 100,000 children and teens in the U.S. were diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 3 of every 100,000 died from the disease. I can't help but think that for our family to have NO pediatric cancer means that there is some family out there where they all have it. So, I am not doing this for selfish reasons. I am doing it for that mother out there who has to stare into the face of her sick or dying child every day praying for a miracle and a cure.

There is no such thing as a “too small” donation. All of those add up to a big help in caring for families and children, and helping doctors work towards a cure. Thank-you to all who are giving in any way they can.

xo,
Bethie

Last year due to time/money constraints I was a small doner. Happy to have more of both this year to help! Here is where to find me around the auction (happily wearing my Wards t-shirt and drinking from my Swirl & Daisy mug from MyT_spot – thanks m81170!):

* Moderator of Teams
* 3 recipes for the Love Bites 2 Cookbook (Death by Chocolate, Mama Sabatino's Stuffed Shells, Grandma's Chicken Noodle soup)
* Donated autographed copy of "Lover Mine" by JR Ward
* Donated autographed copy of "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris
* Member of donation Team Swirl & Daisy
* Member of donation Team Take the Ice

Everyone knows i'm a lover not a fighter. Er i mean a reader not a writer. I'm just a huge supporter of this fandom and so many of the talented authors within and lovely friends I have made. In case you have lived on a canoe for a whiley and don't know what fgb is about? Its purely and simply a wonderful charity our dear friends and clever clogs Nina, Christina and Lo set up and has run. The charity is for kids cancer. Yes that's right. Its ALL about helping children who are seriously ill. Supporting them and their families during a really tough time. Who wouldn't want to help that? Really? Its all done through Alex's lemonade stall so you can read there more about the amazing work they do. . .

But please remember every donation and contribution goes directly to helping children suffering with cancer and their families. My wee contribution is being on some teams. I actually can't remember all the team's i'm on. I know for deffo i'm on Team Summerward & Team Swirl and Daisy. I've committee to at least one more. And I know I want to bid on a few more. I'm also going to be purchasing the fgb cookbook n cocktail book - Love Bites. I STUPIDLY forgot to send recipes in though this year. Doh me. I'm going to peruse the T-Spot for some fun stuff for ComCon in a few weeks. Oh, and I am also a mod on the auctions too again this year. Remember folks whatever you can afford helps. Really helps.

I'm a brit and I know that all our healthcare is provided through our taxes. But I know cancer effects more than just health and families need more than just medical treatment. I don't care that all the money from Alex's Lemonade charity goes on families in America. Because its helping really really ill children. So wherever you are in the world - make a difference to an innocent child. As well as getting amazing goodies fandom goodies for it – you can also know that you've helped someone who is severly in need. This fandom amazed me last year. Such amazing amounts of money raised. Be selfless again fandom. Do it for the kids. :)

thank you. X x x x


Hopey is proudly supporting Team MsKathy.


The highest/winning bidder will get get an exclusive peek of ONE of the fics offerings.

Once the auction is closed, the highest bidder will get to pick one of the fics offerings listed below. I will deliver it by no later than August 30th, 2010. I will not publicly post it (if I post it at all) until October 1st, 2010.

List of fiches: For more details on the fics and maybe even a teaser click the banners below.

• Moon & Nightrunner: The FULL story of Moon and Nightrunner (from Confessions of a Difficult Woman).
• Gentlemen's Choice: The first chapter of a (James centric) sequel to Whatever a Lady Wants, featuring James/Jasper.
• Confessions of a Difficult Woman Outtake: Minimum of 3k words.
• GRAB BAG: The first chapter of a WIP fic or one shot that has not been posted yet. Minimum of 3k words.

I have two one-shots available (FC, FS) and I'm part of Team Swirl + Daisy.

I am a mother. I am a fan.

Unfortunately, you hear stories from certain media outlets that mock Twilight fans. Calling us, not so nice names and lumping everyone into one uber fanatical category. It is unfair and in my opinion, not an accurate representation of the fandom.

Sure, there are people that take it to the extreme. But, it's not like Twilight is the only franchise that's caused such passionate feelings to be stirred within the fanbase. Hell, it's why it's a fanbase!

LoTR, Star Wars, D&D, WoW, Star Trek, Bradley Cooper fan groups (okay that's not real... is it?). Half the XBOX man-games have cult followings *coughCallofDuty&HALOcough* with huge forums and meet ups and they're just as passionate! 

The Fandom Gives Back is something that we started to raise money for charity. Plain and simple.

What has happened is that it's morphed into this juggernaut.  It's managed to educate some of those in the media that while yes, there are fans that take things a bit above the norm in how they express their love of The Saga, that there are also those that channel their passion towards helping those in need.

As a fandom you've accomplished something that no amount of negative media can take away.

Focus on that.

You've dedicated your time, your efforts, your hard earned money, your talents and your love towards something like Twilight to help those who can't do this for themselves. Children.

Nobody should suffer the loss of a child. Nobody.

As if losing a child wasn't bad enough, for a family to see them suffering at the hands of a disease that has no cure can only be described as excruciating. I thank God that I don't know what it's like.  But I have seen it tear apart families and it's unlike anything I could ever accurately describe.

You don't need to be a parent to grasp how hard that must be, only a human being.

What this fandom is doing this week is hopefully raising money for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Little Alex Scott -- even at four years old -- had the passion to want to help others.

The money raised will fund research.

The money raised will help those that are in already in need and fighting every single hour of the day.

The money raised will help those earn an education towards fighting pediatric cancer.

The money raised will help those that have dedicated their lives towards finding a cure for these despicable diseases that are taking our children away.

Focus on that.

The auctions open tomorrow 6/26 at 11:59PM Eastern for bidding.



The forums are open now where you can register and peruse the threads.

On our forums there is a thread about "How ALSF has touched you" http://www.thefandomgivesback.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=18

Please share a story. Even if it's just that you bought a cup of lemonade from a stand in your area.

xo
Nina