Thanks and give, a birthday wish.

April 11, 2011 | Jon Newman | Leave a Comment | Time to Read: 3 mins

First of all, thanks so much for all the 50th birthday wishes. I'm pretty overwhelmed.

For those who don't know, yesterday was my 50th birthday and to celebrate I asked folks to send me their birthday wishes on Facebook and Twitter and for each wish Kyra and I would donate a dollar to be split between the Eric LeGrand Believe Fund and another charity. To select the second cause, I asked folks to include their favorite cause in the wish and we'd pick one.

This results were very cool. Due to the viral nature of social media I received wishes and tweets from folks as far away as Toronto (yo, Bednarski) and Los Angeles. I also learned that with all the ways people can respond (links, comments, Facebook gift apps, etc.) it's a little hard to count all the wishes.

After counting a couple of times, I'd say I received about 200 birthday wishes from friends, relatives and friends of those friends and relatives. Because we want to make each gift substantial, we've decided to give 200 each to the Believe Fund and the second charity.

The second part of this is pretty hard since in all more than 40 charities were included with the wishes. After consulting with my wife, whose direction was "seems like we should focus on the kids," we're pleased to announce the second gift of $200 will go to Cookies for Kids Cancer. Kyra and a number of local public relations folks are very involved in this cause.

A third learning is how much fun this was. It was a great way to reconnect with friends and meet new ones. I urge you to try something like this yourself.

Finally, here is a full listing of all the charities sent in by the well wishers. If I forgot one, please send it to me and I will add it.

I encourage you to donate to all of them. Thanks so much.

Mario Lemieux Foundation

ChildSavers

Save the Elephants

American Cancer Society

Build an Animal Shelter in Honor of Patrick

Bark

World Pediatric Project

Children's Hospital of King's Daughters

Richmond SPCA

Special Olympics