This is just a test post. My blog was hacked, and I want to see if there’s any way to put it back. You can see posts on the blog, but if you click a title, it takes you to my 404 page and not the post.
December 15, 2009
December 6, 2009
December 3, 2009
Spreading Bear Hugs – You Can Help!
As many of you know, I recently launched a nonprofit organization called Bears on Patrol. Our mission is to provide police officers with free teddy bears to help comfort and distract small children in cases where they are involved.
Chase Community Giving is running a contest on Facebook that will award $5 million to the charities that get the most votes. All you need to do is become a fan and click to vote. The button below will take you to the page.
Please keep Bears on Patrol in mind this year. We have accumulated many expenses associated with incorporating and filing with the IRS, and we would appreciate any help.
December 2, 2009
Just a Few Updates
I have a few updates for you. We are currently running a drawing on our Facebook fan page for any of our fans who live in the US. Every day in December, a randomly drawn fan receives a $10 gift voucher good for any purchase of $10 or more at our store. We encourage you to become a fan of our page for this opportunity. Please make sure that your location is visible to non-friends in Facebook or let us know that you live in the US if it is not.
We are also now on Google Wave. If you have a Wave account, feel free to add me as a contact. I’m currently using an account I set up for Bears on Patrol, so my account is at bearsonpatrol@googlewave.com. We may decide to hold similar drawings for the people following our wave.
As always, feel free to share your comments, suggestions, or questions here or on Facebook, Twitter, or Wave.
November 30, 2009
Legal Question
I have a fan page on Facebook for my business, and I’m doing a random drawing in December for the fans. I’ve always heard other contests say that they’re only open to US residents. I will be offering gift vouchers to randomly drawn fans. Legally, do I have to limit this to US residents?
Some people hide their location on Facebook so you can only see it if you’re their friend. This would be a bit of a pain trying to get everyone to respond to me with their location. I could run the drawing with only the people I’m sure about, but that would limit the eligible people a lot.
November 27, 2009
November 23, 2009
New Site Layout
If you haven’t been to our site in awhile, I encourage you to check it out. We have added several great new products, and we have also given the site a new look.
I’m very happy with the new look, although it took a bit of hacking into the PHP template files to get things working. Let me know what you think!
November 14, 2008
We Need Your Help if You Know PHP
Bears on Patrol is my new charity to provide free teddy bears to police officers to use in calls where small children are involved.
I was talking with someone yesterday about doing something for kids who want to help out. They mentioned that the kids might like donating bears better than money, because it feels like they’re helping more directly. The only problem with that is that I need to make sure that the bears I use can fit into the custom shirts I make for them.
I thought about a system where they could “adopt” a bear, giving it a name, and maybe some other things. Then the website would have a feature where they could log in and see the profiles of the bears they’ve adopted, including where (city, state, police department) their bears ended up.
What do you think about this idea? I think it could work except that the younger kids wouldn’t really know enough to create a login to view their bears. Any suggestions? Would this be difficult or expensive to pay someone to create with PHP? If anyone here can do this and is willing to donate the project (hopefully we will be an official nonprofit soon), you will be given permanent credit on the site with a link.
November 11, 2008
The First Bear Goes Out
The Bears on Patrol program is about to make one small step for a bear, and one giant leap for the program with the anticipated departure of Joey Bear to the Bremen Police Department in Bremen, Georgia. Joey will be going out tomorrow to my former employer, Stitch America until they contact a friend of theirs at the police department to see if they are interested in working with the bears.
