Behind the Button

Elizabeth Fallon | A button (badge) that changed the world

Elizabeth Fallon was a stranger; a friend of a friend of a friend on Facebook. Then came "the button, the badge" and Elizabeth became a customer and then my good friend!

Scott Helms (Facebook friend #1) asked me to make some buttons for Elizabeth who is battling cancer in the UK - Scott wanted to surprise Liz after coming to know her story through his Mom and a crazy purple wig. Suffice to say all this changed everything for Buttons of Hope and as you can tell for Elizabeth too!

I didn't know it at time (November 2006) but Elizabeth Fallon was the reason I started Buttons of Hope - if I had known her then she would have been the inspiration now she is my muse. I always believed people would do amazing things with these buttons - here's proof! Over 200 people have posted pictures wearing Liz' button on her Facebook wall (see below) and using the badges Liz has raised over $3000 for the Harbour cancer Support Centre

Elizabeth took these little buttons and she changed things.

I could go on...and...on but I think I'll let Elizabeth tell you why "these little buttons really can change the world"...thanks Liz!

Buttons of Hope - It's amazing how powerful small things can be! from Mike Gibbons on Vimeo.

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Pepsi Refresh Everything | Too Good to Be True

It's no secret (what a surprise) that I have some serious misgivings about the Pepsi Refresh Everything competition. When I first learned about it (though) I thought wow this may be just the break Buttons of Hope has been looking for...we seemed like a natural fit...

"...looking for people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact. Look around your community and think about how you want to change it."

Putting a face on fundraising is a unique idea and given my infamous "social media" bearing (Facebook , Twitter and this blog) I was confident I could marshal and motivate the forces necessary to compete - YOU - my friends, family, customers and acquaintances did your part voting and spreading the word (thank you) - honestly I am shocked that with our amazing effort we never moved an inch! Maybe I could not have hoped for the top ten but #170 - come on somethin's up??

I"m proud and appreciate all your efforts - we did it the right way - but I fear it will not be near enough. With our best efforts the project languishes in the #170s (dropping to #180 today - the top 2 win). Therefore I have decided to "pull the plug" to end the voting campaign - the project will remain on the site but I would prefer that you not spend any more of your time or energy voting or promoting the project. I don't like to give up and if I thought we had even the slightest chance to make a difference I'd hold on - but candidly I am not thrilled with how the whole project is being handled and specifically with what I think are voting anomalies - it's just my gut instinct that something is fishy - and given that YOU and I have better things to do.

Let me say again how much I appreciate everything you have done to support me, Buttons of Hope and our efforts here - Buttons of Hope will go on - I love this idea and will never stop believing that these buttons can change the world - because they already have (see)!

Buttons of Hope Go Global

New York, Boston, Rochester, Seattle, San Francisco, Sydney....yawn yet another global effort to honor and support a friend/colleague by wearing photo buttons. WAIT did you say Sydney?? as in Australia? ...no my friends this effort by Text 100 to honor their friend Lisa was much, much more ~ for heaven's sake she's dating Twilight's Rob Pattinson....duh!

Kidding aside I think what Lisa's friends at Text 100 pulled off is one of the coolest Behind the Button stories ever epitomizing the promise of these powerful little buttons! Support a friend ~ promote a cause ~ create some SMILES ~ change "a" world ~ all with a little bit of plastic, paper and metal!

I'll let Alicia tell you in her words what all this means to her and hundreds of Lisa's coworkers (around the globe)!

"Our beloved colleague and friend, Lisa, was diagnosed in August with stage four lung cancer. All of us who know her have endured the initial shock of seeing someone so healthy and full of life stricken by this awful disease. Since then, she has both inspired us with her courage and filled our thoughts daily as we strive to fill a void left by having such a positive and vibrant person temporarily taken away from us as she fights the battle of her life (key word here being "temporarily" because there is NO doubt that Lisa is going to beat this.)

When we learned of the Free to Breathe National Walk, without hesitation, current and former colleagues and friends from across the globe signed up and organized walks to show our love and support for Lisa and rally behind the noble cause so that someday no one will have to go through what Lisa is now enduring.

Walks were organized in New York City, Boston, Rochester, NY, Seattle, San Francisco, and even Sydney, Australia in honor of Lisa. All in all, we raised over $14,000.

What provided the comic relief we all needed, were the buttons you created for us. While we may have outed her secret crush of Tween heartthrob, Rob Pattinson, it was totally worth it for the collective smiles it brought to everyone’s faces, including Lisa herself. We learned of your company through the Free to Breathe website. Once we read of your work with charities and non-profits including the portion of the proceeds you donate to the causes, we knew that if we were getting buttons, they were going to be through you! Thanks for working with us to create the buttons especially on short notice, they turned out great!"

What a story! I'd like to say Godspeed to Lisa - you have a lot of people who care right there beside you - LIVESTRONG! And to everyone at Text 100 I hope you'll do what you do best ~ join me help spread the word about this "overlooked" disease lung cancer - and this story, Lisa's story. Follow Buttons of Hope on Twitter @buttonguy and become a fan on Facebook and then together on your Twitter, your Facebook let's spread the word around the globe!
Text 100 walks for Lisa *click on an image to enlarge

Who is on your button?...photo buttons are a powerful fundraising idea

People ask YOU about your cause...that's why photo buttons are such a powerful fundraising idea!

Erin Dennis gets around (in a good way)! Erin, a busy mom gets around to the supermarket, the Target, her church and school... and everywhere Erin and her girls (above) go people ask about Ellie Potvin! Why would a friend, family member or total stranger ask Erin about Ellie Potvin?

Because Erin is wearing a photo button with Ellie's 1000 watt smiling face and people can't resist asking Who is on your button? And every time they ask - Erin is ready to share her personal version of Ellie's story. 

I don't think Erin is using the button as a fundraising tool but if she were you can see how powerful a fundraising idea it is. Think about it...the hardest part (it's just human nature) of fundraising is asking for a donation - even just starting that conversation can be uncomfortable for many people..and yet with a button pinned to her shirt or her purse or knapsack - people start the conversation, they ask Erin. The other amazing - powerful thing to consider is that without the button none of these conversations would have happened! 

This is what Erin had to say about wearing the button...

"I've been asked about the Ellie Potvin button in many places - the bank, my church, the supermarket, Target, at the YMCA - people ask me all the time about the button - one mom even purchased one. Ooh - I forgot. I also wear my button to work - I teach at Community College. The students ask about Ellie every week we meet. One of my students even brought in a gift for me to give to Ellie!"

So next time you're looking to spread the word about a cause, honor a friend or raise money for a charity - consider making & wearing a custom photo button right here @ Buttons of Hope. Photo buttons may just be the most simply powerful fundraising idea...ever!

** Erin's kids weren't the only ones at the Miley Cyrus concert - here's Ellie (left) with her twin sister Grace and Ms. Montana and her button!

Can Seven Photo Buttons Change the WORLD?

*just added a beautiful picture of the "Potvin Girls" Grace, Amy & Ellie

There's a story behind every button. But sometimes the buttons themselves become part of the story. If you'll bear with me I'd like to share a story of how making buttons leads to so much more.

I received what seemed to be a normal order for seven buttons and one hope stand ~ Ellie Potvin ~ "In It To Win It" buttons. Hailey Arthur, my customer called me to say the buttons were beautiful but I had forgotten to include the hope stand. Hailey's in Charlotte so I decided to run the hope stand out to her - she recently opened PigTails & Crewcuts the place for kids to get their hair cut!

If I've learned anything writing Behind the Button ~ it's this ~ there's a profound story behind every button ordered - and Hailey's is a powerful one. When I stopped in to give Hailey the stand I knew right away this was much more than just an order for buttons. The hair stylists were all wearing Ellie's button on their smocks bringing to life Hailey's idea to support Ellie Potvin who just happens to live a stones throw from the shop! I asked Hailey why she felt moved to do this...

"We are glad that we can help spread awareness of this family and Ellie's courageous fight. If anything, I just hope the Potvin family will get additional prayers sent their way.  As I mentioned to you, having a child with special needs is so hard**, I can not even begin to imagine the pain and difficulty they must be experiencing. I also have two year old boy/girl twins, so I see that twin bond as well and feel for little Grace (Ellie's sister) in this situation too.

My sister, Mary Claire Busby, in Greenville, SC works with Tim (Potvin) at Merck.  She does not know Tim personally, but is aware of who he is and has always heard wonderful things about him.  She forwarded me Ellie's Caringbridge site in early October and I have been following them ever since."

**Talking to Hailey I learned that she has a six year old son Shep with special needs - Shep's fight with cerebral palsy was the inspiration for opening Pigtails and Crewcuts - a simple haircut can be a traumatic experience for children with special needs - Hailey wants to help other families in this situation. (I will be writing a post with more details about her shop and special mission) more about Hailey here at Charlotte Smarty Pants

To some this might not be a big deal - but think about it for a minute - those little buttons can be pretty powerful and a surprising catalyst for great things! From these seven buttons people will ask Who's on your button? learning more about Ellie, I learned (and now you did too) about Hailey's shop and her mission and Hailey shared with me some promising treatment ideas for my nephew Jack Vaden who suffers from mitochondrial disease ~ all this from a simple button, a simply powerful button!  

**So DID seven buttons change the world? You tell me!

Get to Know MOTHERS FIGHTING FOR OTHERS

A while back I met a guy named Jeff Turner - he's a pretty amazing - innovative, funny and not afraid to shake things up - my kind of guy! He's big on Twitter if you're into that sort of thing @respres. Jeff's pretty focused on real estate so it's not Jeff I want to talk about here rather his better half, his wife Rocky (what's not to like about a woman named Rocky!!) Rocky heads up an organization MOTHERS FIGHTING FOR OTHERS (all caps just seemed right for this one). I hope you'll check (I am) out this amazing charity to learn...what an inspired army of mothers can do to change the world ...no doubt! Rocky's on Twitter too @headmutha

So here's the thing that caught my attention today - as a "writer" (hey you got a blog you're a writer, right?) I have an enormous respect for well written stuff especially when it comes from the heart with a heavy dose of passion - Bill Lublin's post today about Rocky's cause is eloquent, real and poignant. I think some of the things he says about the challenge of fundraising will resonate with some of you as you go about making the world a better place - so I wanted to share parts of Bill's article (below) and hope that you will do two things and realize one...

1. do check out Bill Lublin's post on MOTHERS FIGHTING FOR OTHERS and the rest of his blog - he has something to say and he says it well
2. do check out the MOTHERS FIGHTING FOR OTHERS cause and get involved if you are so moved
3. realize and never doubt for a minute how important and hard it is to volunteer, fundraise or donate to worthy causes - the world would not spin the same way without you!

Now a little taste of Bill's post Help Change the World at MOVEPHILLY

"I'm not the greatest person to participate in fundraising activities.

Don't get me wrong I'm a very charitable guy, but I tend to be the guy who makes the donation more than the guy who asks for them . I always feel like I'm imposing on someone when I ask them to support the fund raising efforts of one of the causes that are important to me like the American Cancer Society, or Easter Seals, or the Lupus Foundation, so when I am asked to be part of a group making the effort to raise money , I am reticent about asking others for their help. Maybe its a character flaw, but that's just how it is. This time I'm making an exception to that behavior because my friend Rocky Turner has allowed me and my son Hal and daughter-in-law Jennifer the privilege of helping Rocky in her constant efforts to raise money for children in Kenya..." for more