Posted by Paul Welsh

Saturday. 4 hours to deadline. The work over the past 44 has been amazing. We have videos shot, cut and posted. Web sites desgined, coded and launched. T-shirts printed. Key messages and media kits developed. Media interviews conducted on behalf of the non-profits. And three teams working like fine-tunde machines.

Operation Click (Trips for Kids) is out in the city today clipping 2,500 info cards to the wheels of bikes with clothes pins (remember doing that with playing cards when you were a kid?), driving people to Trips for Kids web site for project information and to give time and money. Big Balls Soccer (KidStart) goes at 2 p.m. at English Bay as a high profile event to drive people to KidStart and the work we’ve done to recruit “Kid Coaches” for to help kids prepare for the game of life. And nomore3somes.org (Broadway Youth Resource Centre) has been launched to help raise awareness about youth homelessness (helped by a guerilla campaign in the wee hours of the morning, where bed sheets were hung from locations around the city featuring the campaign slogan and url).

May the best team win.

Posted by Patti Schom-Moffatt

Less than 20 hours left and half the office is still here working on their partners’ projects. The other half are probably working at home. So much has been accomplished in the first day — the strategies are solid and in place; a lot of collateral has been produced with bang on messaging, made clearer by good copy writing and strategic thought. All three groups have plans for events out in the community: Trips for Kids and their click click click will be out by a bicycle near you. KidStart and their Big Balls Campaign will be at English Bay at 2. And the Broadway Youth group, if they’re not in jail you’ll see their work unfurled on buildings and causeways around Vancouver.

Judging is going to be harsh. The teams are already turning their attention to their presentations. The trophy comes with bragging rights, and it’s a competitive lot. Short of sabotaging each other’s work, pretty much anything goes. A lot of work has gone into today, but nearly as much as the work our three partners do everyday trying to make a difference in the lives of children and youth.

Posted by Patti Schom-Moffatt

This year, all three teams are combining strategy, materials and events — and there is a real buzz in the office as they put their hearts and minds to work on behalf of their non-profit partners. Bed sheets from Value Village, Big Balls from who knows where, and click, click, click for Trips for Kids. The forecast is for rain tomorrow but i don’t think it will dampen anybody’s spirit.

Posted by Patti Schom-Moffatt

One of the things i like most about The Little Give is that beyond all of the staff giving time and energy to three good causes, our clients and friends help out when asked. This year’s judges, for example, include two clients — Keith Sashaw, President of Vancouver Regional Construction Association and Paula Martin, Senior Vice President, Member Engagement for Vancity . Two others, not connected to Karyo Edelman, also agreed to lend their support — Mark Gifford, Director of Grants and Community Initiatives with the Vancouver Foundation, and Kerry Jang, Vancouver City Councillor. 

And earlier this afternoon, we asked a number of our clients and partners to host a meeting in their office so one of our groups, KidStart, could talk to staff about volunteeering to coach and mentor kids at risk. Michael Kennedy from Stantec, Leah Rubin from Radical, Blue Castle Games said yes right away. Calls are out to half a dozen more and we’re expecting the same response.

Folks are using their contacts with suppliers to bring the production costs down on printing, and negotiating for a free computer from Future Shop and even cost reductions from Value Village.

The Little Give gets so much bigger the more people who get involved. If you have time, energy or interest, we could find a place for you too.

Posted by Paul Welsh

We really didn’t know if this was going to work when we started the Little Give last year. Now, as Year 2 is picking up steam, I see it working in so many ways.

One of those is creating a high pressure environment to generate big thinking. I just sat in a session where our people presented a BIG idea to Trips for Kids, a group that helps urban youth experience the outdoor by bike. With time as a constraint in the planning process, the groups need to make quick decisions based on smarts, guts and feel (think Gladwell’s Blink). Sometimes, time and planning isn’t your friend and the quality of the Little Give shows that. The Trips for Kids idea is on strategy, scalable for the group over time, buzz worthy and addresses the organization’s central needs.

Little can be Big.

Posted by Patti Schom-Moffatt

90 minutes after the launch of the second annual The Little Give. Three non-profits in meetings with Karyo Edelman’s 35 staff. Can we make a difference for these groups over the next 48 hours. I surely hope so, because like a lot of non-profits, they have dedicated staff and volunteers, a great idea to meet the needs of vulnerable kids, and…not nearly enough money and resources to match the abundant need.

With government cutting back its support, and fundraising to keep the services available taking herculean efforts, the Karyo Edelman gang will be challenged to work hard, work smart and figure out how to give the groups the tools that will best support their efforts.

I have no doubt they are up for the task. 

It’s quiet at the moment as the groups absorb the information from the initial briefing and brainstorms. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone is feeling a combination of anxiety and excitement, not only because there is a gigantic trophy available for the team that wins, but because we want to turn the dial to high for each of these groups.

Posted by Team 3

Vancouver believes the natural environment should be accessible to everyone. Since 2001, Trips for Kids has provided mountain biking adventures for 2100 vulnerable youth who would otherwise be unable to participate due to various barriers. We facilitate day-long and overnight mountain biking trips within Vancouver and surrounding areas which incorporate off-road cycling skills, trail etiquette, and environmental stewardship. Trips for Kids provides all of the necessary gear including bikes, helmets, nutrition and transportation at no cost to our youth participants. Through this unique opportunity, their mission is to inspire youth to make healthy and responsible lifestyle choices by offering inspiring, fun alternatives to involvement in gangs, street crime and drug abuse.

Posted by Team 2

The KidStart Mentoring Program is operated by PLEA Community Services Society of BC.  KidStart is an awarding winning, CARF accredited, Prevention and Diversion program for kids age 6+ that relies on donations, grants and fundraising activities to exist. Experience and a growing body of research supports the premise that regular time spent one-to-one with a positive adult mentor counteracts risk and supports the protective factors that result in safe, healthy and positive childhood development.  The goal of their mentors is to develop a positive one-to-one relationship with the young person and engage kids in community activities that promote success and achievement.  KidStart is particularly focused on recruiting male mentors as its had 310 kids waiting for a volunteer and 224 of those kids are boys (70%).

Posted by Team 1

The Broadway Youth Resource Centre is a multi-agency organization in which several social service agencies, a university, a college and three levels of government work together to provide youth aged 12 to 24 with a “one stop shop” to many free services including employment, education, counselling, housing and medical and information. Over the past few years BYRC has initiated a process of providing homeless and at-risk of homelessness youth with safe, affordable and supported housing.  It has done this by renting apartments that it can make available to youth and then provide those youth with the supports they need to successfully move into adulthood.

Posted by The Little Give

The Little Give to benefit local non-profits for children and youth this weekend

Vancouver’s largest PR firm holds second annual 48-hour CSR challenge with three local non profits June 18-20

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