WOW.  Where do I start?

Twenty professional women who engage on the social network Twitter, spent some time offline last night connecting & reconnecting with those they Tweet while at the same time raising much needed funds for a very worthy cause. 

At only $5 to get in the door (at downtown Raleigh’s Hi5 Restaurant), $5 for menu items, $4 drink specials, and a little extra cash for those extra raffle tickets for a chance at some really terrific prizes, as of this morning, we were able to raise close to $400 for Horne United Methodist Church’s Ryan Epps Orphanage in Haiti.

Raffle items donated by our sponsors

I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our raffle sponsors as the items came in during the planning phase but even more overwhelmed by the generosity of these women in donating to the cause as they purchased their tickets to get in the door, as well as those extra raffle tickets (each lady received 1 free ticket as they signed in).

Helen Little tells her story to the Tweet Divas

I have no doubt that hearing Helen Little’s story about what Horne is doing for the Haitian people, what it was like to be on a bus traveling a dirt road as the Earthquake hit, what her group did after the initial Quake, what they continue to do, and what their plans are going forward, was of inspiration to those gals.  BUT, I’ll bet it was more than that – it was listening to the passion this wonderful 79 year-old woman has for the Haitian people.  Watching her eyes sparkle as she talked of the children they have helped or her mouth curl into a smile when she’d simply say, “I believe that once the children are educated leading to a leadership that becomes educated, there is hope for Haiti”.  It still warms my heart as I type.

The Tweet Divas connecting & reconnecting

A very BIG THANK YOU to all who attended and supported this event!

@marciebarnes

@renewabelle (Jess Commins)

@erinedesign (Erin Conigliaro)

@KellyDuffort

@Ilinap (Ilina Ewen)

@LearnPleasure (Christine & Charlotte)

@jkennedy93 (Janet Kennedy)

@EllenLynch

@DeirdreReid

@Tcaldsimon (Tera Simon)

@KimberlyVC (Kimberly Van Cleve)

@Anj121 (Anjanette)

@Julierosemk (Julie)

@Rachealy (Rachel Healy)

@resume_writer (August Cohen)

@LovingHeartLLC (Jean Schnaak)

@Jennbw (Jennifer B Williams)

@swerves (Christy Meyer)

@CharityJen (Jen Newmeyer)

@bethlavin

and

Crystal Roberts

The money we raised will go a long way.

If you could not attend but are still interested in supporting the efforts in Haiti from a local standpoint, we encourage you to keep the dream of Horne United Methodist Church alive to rebuild their orphanage.  Please visit their website – www.hornememorial.org.  There you may contribute online through Pay Pal or via USPS (instructions are on the site).

I was asked if there was a list of  the Tweet Divas. I’ve begun a list at http://www.twitter.com/tweetdivas/triangletweetdivas based on the current followers to the Twitter Tweet Divas account.  If you’re not following us, please do, especially if you’re a Triangle Tweet Diva that has attended previous events.  I can then add you to that list as well.

The next Tweet Divas event will be held in April.  Stay tuned here for more!

WOW, finally.  It’s here!

Beginning at 7pm and running until 9pm, “Tweet Divas For Haiti” will be an inspirational event complete with a raffle with amazing prizes donated by some wonderful local businesses & individuals.  In addition, Helen Little, from Horne UMC, will tell us all a little about what it was like to be in Haiti when the Quake hit as well as give us the short story behind the needs of the Orphanage (In other words, why we ARE making a difference!).

A few things to help you plan your night:

• The event officially runs from 7pm-9pm but feel free to stay longer if you so choose!
• As usual, appetizers & drinks are on your own ($5 menu items, $4 drink specials).
• You will receive 1 raffle ticket upon entrance.  After that, we’ll be selling tickets at the rate of $1 per ticket, $3 for 5 tickets, $5 for 10 tickets.  You MUST be present to win.
• If you reserved tickets to purchase at the door, please remember the ticket charge is $5 PLUS a small service fee of $1.11 (online purchases are an additional $1.26).  Please bring EXACT change to make it easier for us.  Thank you!
• Don’t forget your business cards either!

It’s going to be a FUN evening.  There’s still time to register.  Just click this link – http://tweetdivas4haiti.eventbrite.com.  Any Triangle-area lady is invited to attend even if they’re not on Twitter.  This cause is too important not to include all professional women of the Triangle!

Any questions? Please contact me directly at lisa@lisasullivanpr.com.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow evening!

Mountain Cabin NC (@MountaincabinNC) for donating an April 2010 weekend getaway to one lucky winner and her many guests!

The Loving Heart Collection for donating a signature jewelry piece (note: item shown may not be the exact item donated)

@julierosemk for donating a facial complete with the very best in Mary Kay products.

@learnpleasure, @sienahotel, @avamuseum, @sewicked, and of course, our hosts -

@hi5nc for not only providing the location but also two $25 gift certificates (to be redeemed at a later date)

If your business would like to donate an item to this very worthy cause, please contact me at lisa@lisasullivanpr.com to arrange. 

Been thinking about attending this unique ladies-only fundraiser, register here – http://tweetdivas4haiti.eventbrite.com.  Even if you’re not on Twitter but are interested in networking with a terrific group of Triangle-area ladies, you are most welcome!

Thanks again to all of our sponsors.  We appreciate ya!

See YOU on the 23rd at “Tweet Divas For Haiti”.  Don’t miss it!

All images courtesy of Mountain Cabin NC, The Loving Heart Collection, the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield NC, and Lisa Sullivan.

There was one story that really stood out for me, though.  While we talked of the efforts the team at the Ryan Epps Orphanage are making, Helen told me other stories of her many trips to Hait in the last 40 years.  Slightly paraphrased from memory this was the gist of the conversation from the one story that resonated with me:

Helen: I was in a clinic one time and there was this woman, a woman who had nine children.  While they live in mud huts, these children were well cared for and very clean.  The woman had come to the clinic not because she was sick.  She kept touching her arm vigorously.  Through the enterpreter on site, she was trying to tell the nurse that she wanted birth control…on her arm.  She had heard a rumor that birth control could be a shot in the arm.  She wanted a shot.  She wanted to stop having babies.

Me: That’s awful.  Sad.  Why doesn’t she just tell her husband that she doesn’t want to have sex.  I mean, not never having it again but during that time of the month?

Helen: Because in their society, it’s considered a sin against your husband if you refuse to.  So, they have to and they don’t really understand how not to continue to engage in marital intercourse without getting pregnant.  That’s the reality. 

Isn’t that sad?  Now, add the magnitude of what the Earthquake has done for the families that are alive or for the thousands of children left homeless, without parents, not knowing if their own parents are dead or alive.  The Ryan Epps Orphanage provides a safe haven for as many children as they can take in.  Right now their numbers are very small but in the future, with our help and the help of our local community, we can assist them in their efforts.  That’s why it’s so important to be a part of “Tweet Divas For Haiti”.

Helen told me the children recently received tents to live in.  Since the initial Quake, the staff, families, and children have been living in the least protective of conditions.  Think bed sheets stringed together as covering over mostly sandy grounds between two walls and a building, about a 20 x 40 foot space.  It’ll still take roughly $40k to at least erect a building with four walls and a roof on a concrete slab, which for the rainy season that hits beginning around April, that would be a major blessing for them.

If you haven’t registered for our event – “Tweet Divas For Haiti” – please do so.  Go here: http://tweetdivas4haiti.eventbrite.com.  If you can’t make it but you would still like to contribute to the event, please contact me directly at lisa@lisasullivanpr.com and I will get the proper information to you. 

But, I really hope the attendance is high.  This is for a really good cause AND Helen herself will be there to mix & mingle with the Ladies as well as she spend just a few minutes telling her story of what it was like to be there during the Quake, what she felt, saw, & how her heart continues to lie with the Haitian people.  Helen is an inspiration.  Come listen for yourself.

Thank you.

(Note: all images courtesy of Horne Memorial United Methodist Church.  Thank you!)

Nearly three weeks have passed since that devastating Earthquake hit the poverty stricken country of Haiti killing an estimated 150,000 innocent lives.  Amid aftershocks that were still being felt (some strong) last week, the people left behind continue to struggle with such daily activities as the ability to bathe, wash or drink clean water, eat, receive adequate medical attention.  Let’s not forget the thousands of children that are now left without parents, some without relatives even.  The magnitude of the problems the Haitian people are experiencing are so vast that in some ways it’s hard to comprehend it all.

We, the Triangle Tweet Divas are going to make a difference.

Much effort has been made & achieved through nationally known charities – the Red Cross, UNICEF, the Bush/Clinton Foundation, etc.  However, our own locally-tied organizations also need the assistance.  That is why the Horne United Methodist Church’s Haitian Disaster Relief effort has been chosen for this fundraiser.

Courtesy of Horne UMC

Prior to the Quake, Horne UMC built and ran an orphanage for abandoned Haitian children and it was a ministry of the heart for them.  Many years went into the planning & much money was raised to build, staff, and maintain the orphanage.  The Quake destroyed all that.  Now, Horne’s mission is to provide medical assistance where the need is most dire.  With the help of local Rotarians, community members, and the team from the nonprofit organization, Bahamas Habitat, which is flying supplies & medical personnel to the reegion, Horne UMC continues their efforts despite the loss of their beloved orphanage.

Tweet Divas want to help!

Therefore, for the first time since the inception of Tweet Divas (aka “Triangle Ladies Who Tweet”), we will be charging an admission charge of only $5 with ALL proceeds* going to Horne United Methodist Church’s Haiti Disaster Relief Fund.

A raffle filled with varioius prizes is also in the works, again with the money raised also solely going to the Fund.

Join us on Tuesday, February 23rd from 7-9pm for a night of networking at Hi5 in Downtown Raleigh.  Meet the Ladies with which you Tweet, get reaquainted with those you have already met, and give back to this very worthy cause.

To purchase tickets, please click this link – http://tweetdivas4haiti.eventbrite.com

Hope to see YOU on the 23rd!

*Please be advised Eventbrite charges a $1.11 processing fee for tickets purchased online OR at the door.

ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR THE RAFFLE

If you know someone or your company would like to donate an item for the raffle, please have them contact me at lisa@lisasullivanpr.com.  Thank you very much!

This is exciting news as I have amazing plans for the Tweet Divas in 2010 starting with a fundraiser for two local organizations involved in the relief efforts in Haiti. 

Mark YOUR Calendars!

Our first evening gathering will be held on Tuesday, February 23rd at Hi5 in Raleigh. 

More details coming Monday, February 1st so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I want to personally thank Lisa and Diane for all of their support and guidance as this transition is made.  They are two wonderful ladies who believe in the power of Women and the power of Twitter.  As a matter of fact, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/tweetdivas.

See you in the Twittersphere!

Then come on down to the first (annual?) Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, to be held from 7pm to 9pm on Thursday, October 22 in the Folk Festival Tent at the NC State Fair!

You can sample some of the Fair’s fried delicacies, participate in fun activities, hang out with interesting people, win prizes… and benefit charity at the same time. October 22 is also Hunger Relief Day (benefiting the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina), so if you bring four cans of food, you can get free Fair admission. (Sweet!)

If you plan to attend, you will need to register — attendance is limited to the first 500 who sign up, so don’t dilly-dally or you could miss out. You can find the registration form here.

The event will be co-hosted by the State Fair and by Wayne Sutton, Jeff Cohen, Ryan Boyles and Kipp Bodnar from OurHashtag.

Yes, it’s the Tweet Divas, but the Tweet Divas are simply hosting; ALL Tweeple (Diane/@torka sez “Tweet Divas and He-vas”) are invited to come to Krispy Kreme to celebrate the founding of the Hershey Chocolate empire with a chocolate iced custard filled donut, chocolate iced glazed donut, chocolate iced cake donut, chocolate iced glazed cruller, chocolate caramel kreme crunch donut, glazed chocolate cake donut, or a chocolate iced kreme filled donut. You’ll have plenty of choices, and you can celebrate Hershey, ruin your lunch, and catch up with some tweeps, all at the same time. What could be better?

Well, a tour of the factory, of course. So we’ll do that as well. Herman the tour guide will be showing us the whole place at 10 am sharp! Now some of you have already realized (because you keep these dates in your head) that technically the founding of Hershey Chocolate is February 9th, but since we can’t get a Krispy Kreme factory tour on Monday, we moved our tweetup to Tuesday the 10th. We feel comfortable celebrating all week long, in fact. All month. Well, I think you get the idea.

And if you are still feeling hungry after your Krispy Kremes, you can set up your own lunch gatherings to follow.

Oh, yeah: The Krispy Kreme Challenge is the Saturday before our Ruin Your Lunch Tweetup. Those of you who race/gorge/vomit/race or even those of you who support the runners (or even those of you who watch the carnage on video) may not want to got to Krispy Kreme a few days later for a Tweetup. We totally understand. Those of us dedicated to chocolate will raise a donut in your honor.

It’s been awhile since the TweetDivas have gotten together, we know. Plans are afoot for a TweetDiva gathering soon (stay tuned!), but in the meantime…

Our friends at TriangleTweetup.com have announced plans for the first Triangle Tweetup of 2009, on January 29, 7pm at Edge Office. I know some of our Divas will be there, so if you can, come on down and Tweetup!

And for the early birds among us, there’s a Social Media Breakfast on January 21, 7:45am at Café Carolina in Cameron Village. If you can crack your eyelids open early enough to make it, come on down. Be sure to RSVP in the comments section at the SMBreakfast site to let them know you’re coming so they can plan for enough space.

See y’all there!

The date is August 28th, the time is 7 pm. There IS a dress code so show your swank, ladies! We’re planning to gather in the rooftop lounge, but we hear there is a glass dance floor on the second level and it may be necessary to test it out!

If you are planning to go, you can leave a comment here (and tell us what your favorite glam cocktail is!), or you can add your name to the Triangle TweetUp wiki. And of course, you can always just show up in style. See all you frock-princesses there!