Hoboken Post Sandy Shelter Status: Twitter Lifeline

Hurricane Sandy hit Hoboken with tremendous force, ruining homes, cars, and belongings, leaving many without power and putting residents and their belongings on the street. It's devastating and I wish the best to all those who need to rebuild after the storm.  We were lucky and escaped with minimal damage and only spent about 5 days without power.  In the storm's aftermath, we've been trying to return to work as normal but crazy transit commutes have certainly made that a struggle.  And today we battle yet another storm - one that is threatening wind, rain and possibly even snow.

During the storm, we were one of the last to lose power and I kept up to date with friends and "the boken" on Twitter and FB, learning where the water was, what was flooding, and seeing incredible pictures of the damage.  We found at close to midnight our garage was flooding and ran down to move boxes, bags of soil and old clothes and trees to save the garage. See picture above.  The water came in a lot stronger just after this picture was taken.  Notice our lights were still on.

While on Twitter and FB, I kept tabs on the Shelter since I handle most of their social media efforts. It was really nice to see how many were asking about the Hoboken Shelter and what they needed and if they made it through the storm okay. We've added about 20 new fans who consistently asking what they can do to volunteer and what they can bring by.  We are lucky as a community to have such supportive friends of the Shelter. Fortunately, the Shelter did not have flood damage and they didn't lose power until Tuesday morning.   You can see how many people are asking about food and such below.

In talking to Jaclyn, the ED, after the storm the Shelter did need help . They had gone through many supplies, taking in so many of our poorer neighbors.  And with another storm approaching they need all the help of the community.  Last night I found an article online interviewing Jaclyn about storm prep for Winter Storm Athena as well as what they needed. Mostly coffee and sugar as well as paper goods.  Thanks to the Hudson Reporter for providing the info which you can find here.

Wishing everyone a calmer time in the weeks to come as well as a speedy recovery. #HobokenSandy

Get In the Spirit for the HoBOOken 5k

Normally, any reference to working out is saved strictly for my blog Pasta & Power Squats: A Girl Burns Up the Gym & the Kitchen but since this group is raising money for the Hoboken Shelter, I'll give them a quick shout out - the Hoboken Elysianettes.  Once again, this year, they are organizing, running, and greatly helping out the Hoboken Shelter by donating the proceeds from the HoBOOken 5k to the organization.  I went to their sprint workout last night, Thursday, to get some company and speed during what could be a very boring activity by yourself, 6 hill repeats, but having a few other people running up the same hill felt great. 

Last year at this time, after the Elysianettes approached us about the race, we were deciding whether or not to host our summer/fall happy hour and ultimately decided to host it as a launch party for the HoBOOken 5k. The Elysianettes and some non-running friends come out one month before the event and we enjoyed the chance to get to know them before race and raised $600.  Amazingly they raised more than $25,000 at the race, which despite the weather, was a great day. 

On October 3, 2012 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m, we'll host our Second Launch Party for the HoBOOken 5k to "Get in the Spirit" at the Melting Pot Hoboken, 100 Sinatra Drive. 

In close vicinity to Pier A and the Path. The Melting Pot will offer complimentary dessert fondue as well as the following drink specials:

$5 draft beer (excluding Chimay)

$6 cocktails from our cocktail menu

I provided a link to the cocktail menu - I am thinking the pom martini but we'll see. The full menu will be out and available for order. Should you want to make it a night out, head over to the restaurant and the Melting Pot will offer meal package of Cheese Fondue, Chocolate Fondue, and a glass of house wine each for $40 per couple. If it's a nice night, bring pup, sit on the patio and they can enjoy K9-friendly white chocolate fondue and treats while you enjoy the meal package.  Available from 5-9 p.m.  

We ask for a suggested donation of $20 and with that you'll receive 3 raffle tickets, with a chance to win a Melting Pot g.c., Fleet Feet Sports g.c., as well as g.c. to other Hoboken hot spots. 

We look forward to seeing you there.  Thanks to the Elysianettes for their hard work to get Hoboken's  homeless back on their feet. Every night the Shelter feeds more than 400 people and shelters 50 of our homeless neighbors. 

#GetintheSpirit - follow kar002 on twitter

My friend Jen and I in 2011 - loving life and hot chocolate after a long cold run, props to Eileen for making the cocoa. 

Young Supporters: Untapped Potential & No More "It's Been a Tough Year"

Living in a Hoboken, I live in an area that's populated by the word young. Be that young professionals, young families, or with regard to nonprofits in the area, young donors. Recently there has been a great deal of buzz online with regard to how to attract these young donors and the effect their presence will have on an organization's bottom line. Most importantly some things I took away from reading pieces on the Millennials and my own Gen Y.

1. Don't ignore them.  They are ready to give and are going to be an important source of revenue.
2. Don't expect us to volunteer in the same way as previous generations.  I say "we" because I agreed with the study that I when I looked to volunteer I wanted to know how I could bring my professional skills to the volunteer game.  So many of us are looking to advance in careers, get a job, or grow our skills and we've learned that nonprofit volunteering is a great way to do that.  All the things that your volunteer do are wonderful; however I don't know any nonprofit that would (or should) turn away expertise in fields like marketing, fundraising, special events, graphic design, etc. And hold us to a high standard. 
3.  Know where to reach us.  I'm reading my email on the train and checking FB and Twitter while I walk home and my Ipad in Starbucks and so are many other people.  I am NEVER checking my mail.  I hate my mail.  You know what comes in my mail?  Junk, bills, and crap from local politicians.  I take out my Entertainment Weekly and your #10 envelope stays lost.

What's the best strategy for reaching young supporters?  Penelope Burk in an article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy suggests going the social media route and doing more fundraising peer to peer.  This makes me want to sit down with some of the young people in our organization and discuss SM strategy for recruitment and donating and also peer to peer fundraising through some of our local events.

Also, I think every appeal I've read at my own nonprofit, the local nonprofit I work with in 'Boken and anywhere else has started "In these tough economic times...".  I was wondering when the shoe would drop on that tactic and evidently the time has come. 

What takeaways did you find from this article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy?