Last Thursday, we announced that a few good people on Twitter decided to leverage the power of their social network to create social change. The end result is Twestival, a major fund-raising event being held in over 175 cities across the globe to help bring clean water to people in developing countries.

Here is a 1:30 minute video of Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, thanking Twestival for their support:

Scott Harrison, Founder of charity: water - Thanks the Twestival from Phil Thomas Di Giulio on Vimeo.

Using social media for social change has become a trend we hope never ends! Twestival is the latest fund-raising event leveraging the power of social networking as a means to Do Good. On Thursday, February 12th, people in over 175 cities who use the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter, will gather to raise money for charity: water.

“We’re thrilled that the Twitter community around the world is coming together to bring clean, safe drinking water to those in need by raising funds and awareness with an event on the scale of Twestival,”  says charity:water. “This is an amazing opportunity to bring the cause and its message to a global community.”

Organized by and for Twitter users, Twestival is an off-line charity event that looks to “Tweet. Meet. Give”. Major cities, including London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne and Lima are signed up and ready to go. At the time of this writing, Toronto Twestival 2009 is just one city out of more than 175 cities participating.

Continue Reading

For many of us, high school was hell. Between out-of-control hormones, trying to fit in while developing a unique personality, family issues, bullies, dating, getting good grades… well, life certainly isn’t simple when you’re a teenager. But Challenge Day is a program designed to make it easier on kids by giving them a lifeline. Incredibly, it helps transform enemies into allies!

Check out this highly emotional 15 minute clip from the Emmy Award winning documentary, “Teen Files: Surviving High School” highlighting a typical Challenge Day Program:

Teen Files 15 Minute Preview from Rodrigo Torres on Vimeo.

Tell us your thoughts about the video and the Challenge Day Program in the comment section below.

A couple of weeks ago, a Breakfast Television (BTV) viewer wrote into the show claiming “Toronto The Good” was dead, and has been ever since Toronto and its surrounding cities amalgamated into the Greater Toronto Area. BTV’s host, Kevin Frankish, then challenged viewers to go find proof that the friendliness of Toronto still lives.

Who better to take that challenge on and prove Toronto’s kindness than Daily Challenge Do Gooders? So on one of the coldest days of the year, seven Do Gooders set up shop at Queen and John streets in downtown Toronto to, “Give away a warm drink to a stranger who looks like they could use it.”

This challenge was presented by Toronto Do Gooder member, Suzy Cruz, and the treats were generously donated by her family’s cafe, Novita. Darius Bashar, President and Co-Founder of Daily Challenge, lead the troops in this good-will expedition and said,

You’d think free hot chocolate and cookies would be an easy sell but we were quickly reminded that most city-dwellers tend to be cautious when anyone offers them something for free. At first, people were reluctant. With a little persistence, though, good attitudes and the help of our youngest Do Gooder [age 9], Jordan, we were finally able to convince one woman to stop. Once she did, then other people flocked to the table to see what was going on!

In about 45 minutes, this small group of Do Gooders warmed the bellies (and hearts) of over 50 cold Torontonians! So, is this proof enough for you that `Toronto The Good’ is still living? If you think so, email this blog post to bt@citytv.com with the subject line: Toronto The Good is Still Alive!

Stay tuned for an upcoming video blog post covering this Warm Drink extreme challenge.

`Going green’ is usually associated with `being expensive’. Not any longer. Our fellow Do Gooders & friends at Broadplay Inc. have developed an ingenious, environmentally-friendly and über convenient business product: the mobile business card.

No more paper waste or costly printing, easily updated and available anytime or anywhere, BusinessCardByText (www.businesscardbytext.com) is the easiest way a company can improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR). And if you’ve ever had a business, you’ll understand instantly what an opportunity this offers:

• Text is becoming even more popular than talking on the phone!
• Who wants to clutter their desk with a Rolodex or piles of card holders?
• Continue Reading
  

Holiday goodness was given, stories were created and shared, votes were cast, and now the results are in! While all of the story submissions tugged at the ol’ heart strings, you, the community, decided on the best holiday story.

Here’s a big shout out to The Goodest Story Ever Contest winners:

The Goodest Story Ever (1st place): Denise Lambert won a flight for 2 ($1,800 value) with 49 votes for her holiday story, “One Single Mom to Another”.

Instead of Cancun, Denise will be using her prize a little differently. She says,

I plan to take my 5 year-old daughter Gwendolyn to Paris, France for a couple of weeks in the summer. We are french, and I’m going to rent an apartment and spend my days playing in the parks with her, seeing the sites, and cooking with awesome french ingredients. (ok, ok, two weeks of pain o chocolate). [note: pain au chocolate means chocolate croissant in English]

I might also take her on the train to Vienna…

And of course, do my own good daily in FRANCE! Continue Reading

It’s Friday! Let’s ramp up for the weekend with John Mayer’s socially-charged song, “Waiting on the World to Change.”

We have our ideas, but we want to hear yours: why do you think John and his cronies are waiting for the world to change?

Is your profile pic distorted? Are you worried other Do Gooders may decline your friend request because you look a little twisted? No worries. There’s a very easy solution that will take all of 30 seconds to complete!

Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Log in to Daily Challenge and select “My Profile” tab.
2. Select the “edit” button to the right of your name.
3. If you want to adjust your current photo, just click on the “Use our crop tool” link.
4. A separate window will pop up. At the bottom, you will see your original pic and a square with serrated edges smack-dab in the middle of it. That’s the crop tool.
5. Hold the left button on your mouse and move the crop tool anywhere over your pic. At the top, you will see the preview of your new profile pic.
6. Once you’ve chosen your preferred cropped portion, click on the “save” button under your original pic.
7. Click “close” to return to your profile.

We hope you and your new profile pic are able to cruise around www.DailyChallenge.org stress-free. Enjoy making Do Gooder friends!

Well, you’ve had 6 weeks to help support some great kids in Uganda and submit your best holiday story to the Goodest Story Ever Contest. But it’s still not too late to blow past the leader! You have 2 more days still: contest closes this Friday at midnight on January 31.

And if you’re a little behind, that’s ok. Here are 6.5 Ways to Get Yourself to Cancun so use the remaining time to promote the heck out of your story!

For those of you looking to cure yourself of the winter blues, why lift yourself up and read the feel-good stories? Just don’t forget to vote for your favourites and do the contestants a favour by passing their stories onto the rest of your network.

Good luck, Everyone! May the bestest story win. 

We introduced Amber MacArthur (a.k.a. Amber Mac) when she first joined Daily Challenge a few weeks back. And here she is today challenging you to, “Spend five minutes learning about the reality facing child soldiers & share this link: http://www.helpchildsoldiers.com.”

This challenge helps remind and inform us about the atrocities happening in the war-torn parts of the world. Many of our challenges on Daily Challenge focus on the little things we can do every day to make a difference by acting in our own little world. But as a whole and with a tool like the Internet, we have power to affect the entire globe.

Take Amber Mac’s challenge and not only will it bring awareness, it also allows you to take action in several different ways. Choose your action and help make the world a better place!