The American Red Cross is now taking donations on behalf of the Japanese Red Cross – helping those people impacted by the earthquake in Japan and the subsequent tsunami in the Pacific.

Download audio file (AmericanRedCross_110314_prd.mp3)

Click here to download the PSA

This PSA, written and produced by audio’connell Voice Over Talent from content taken directly from the American Red Cross web site, is available here from audio’connell Voice Over Talent for free download and general public use at no charge by any media outlet wishing to rebroadcast this audio clip only in its entirety.

The American Red Cross has had no direct responsibility for the production of this PSA.

The script for the PSA is as follows:

Your donation to the American Red Cross can now help support the efforts of the Japanese Red Cross.

In response to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and given the widespread damage and enormous humanitarian needs, the Japanese Red Cross indicated that it would accept financial support from the American Red Cross for its role providing first aid, emotional support and relief items to those displaced.

Those who want to help can go to www.redcross.org and donate to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami. People can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to help those affected by this disaster.

Your gift to the American Red Cross will support the disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and the tsunami throughout the Pacific.

Financial contributions to the American Red Cross are tax-deductible. On those rare occasions when donations exceed American Red Cross expenses for a specific disaster, contributions are used to prepare for and serve victims of other disasters.

A Salvation Army worker collecting donations at 5th Avenue and 50th Street in New York City, December 4, 2010

I heard on the radio today that the Salvation Army red kettle donations are down this holiday season. That’s sad.

Almost as sad as the news a year or so ago that some retailers will not the Salvation Army set up in or near their stores…that to me is inexcusable as the Salvation Army has done nothing but good for those in need.

Fortunately in NYC this past weekend on many street corners and this week when I was at a Shopko in Green Bay, the Salvation Army and their volunteers were out in force. Thank you New York and thank you Shopko!

I don’t have any affiliation with the Salvation Army other than to throw some money into a kettle once or twice a year.

It truly does NOT matter how much you can give (seriously, loose change is fine…dollars are better, etc) and no you don’t have to give every time you see a kettle but please donate to the Salvation Army if you haven’t already. Just once is fine.

If you have a blog or a facebook or twitter account, please promote this post…not for me or for SEO but for people who need our help.

Even better, if you want to write about this yourself, please do…and you can use my picture from this post as well. I took the picture not knowing about today’s news report but because watching people walk past this kind lady ringing a bell as if the bell was just more background noise broke my spirit a bit.

Maybe, I hoped silently as I left St. Patrick’s Cathedral – the edifice she was standing in front of, they had already given at another kettle.

A little internet and social media love for the Salvation Army might be just the little reminder some folks need. Thanks.

If some group or organization wants to bring attention to a cause or event, the easiest way to do that is by celebrity endorsement.

If the famous person is well liked, chances of the group or organization’s “ask” being answered (donation, signature, whatever) are probably better.

Celebrities like to do this because many of them are big-hearted and like to help.

The challenge is so many celebrities are supporting so many causes, the message can fade pretty quickly.

To wit (don’t I sound ejukated) the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster – I’m sure there have been telethons and maybe a concert and I’ve been outta that loop (that’s the fade part I spoke about). Doesn’t mean I don’t care, it just means that their message (the event organizer’s message) didn’t resonate with me or get my attention. Theirs is a hard job.

But today I saw a YouTube video freezeframe (that still image that marks where a video screen is located) with Sandra Bullock holding up her index finger. That visual caught my eye and I watched. And I listened. And I thought you might want to too.

Theirs is a hard job – getting the message to everyone – but not an impossible job.

Stand Up 2 Cancer SU2C

Sometimes thoughts just randomly pop into my head for no reason.

One of them was “what ever happened to that ‘Stand Up 2 Cancer’ event they did a couple of years ago?”.

Well as I tickled the plastic keys (as opposed to the ivory keys which never sounds very good when I do it) I saw that the web site is still alive and kicking and even has a new PSA which I’d not yet seen.

Maybe we need to give this campaign a little blog love so if you not only a reader but a writer of blogs, feel free to push this along, tweet it or facebook it and let’s see if we can draw some attention and money towards this program.

Thanks.

Download audio file (pcto09_promo_audiconnell.mp3)
Right click here to download this promo!

For those podcasters or bloggers who would be so inclined, please feel free to download and use my contribution to the “call to arms” (or promos, actually) for Podcamp Toronto 2009.

If you would be willing (you don’t have to) please tag the spot with the mention of the blog address (www.voxmarketising.com) the website address (www.audioconnell.com) or the audio tag “audio promo courtesy of audio’connell voice over talent – the perfect choice for an awesome voice!”

Thanks and we’ll see you there!

Editor’s Note: This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, joining thousands of other bloggers to write about one topic for a single day. This year’s topic is poverty.

On my recent trip to New York City, among the glamor and the excitement that engulfs the city is a site familiar to anyone who has walked that city’s streets.

The homeless. The needy. The poor.

Some residents in the area may have become immune to site of beggars on the streets and I can understand why. Walking past them I was torn between whom to give the money to…there were so many. Would they use my money for food and shelter or to buy booze and drugs to help briefly lessen their pain? I didn’t know.

It sadly crystallized for me how monumental a problem poverty is in the United States.

Recent statistics are even more painful to comprehend:

• 37.3 million people live below the official federal poverty level, which was $20,614 for a family of four in 2007. This number is up from 36.5 million in 2006.

• The number of people who are poor by the official government standards is more than to the combined populations of Iowa, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Oregon, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Colorado, New Hampshire and Idaho.

• Almost half of all Americans will have experienced poverty for a year or more at some point in their lives by the time they reach age 60.2

I have worked for many years as a leader in my parish for the Catholic Charities campaign in the Diocese of Buffalo. There are many truly valuable services provided by Catholic Charities in my city and yours. One of those services is help for the poor. Catholic Charities agencies serve one in every 10 people living in poverty.

Catholic Charities USA has established a formal program that you can participate in to encourage a focused effort to significantly reduce the problem of poverty for people in the United States. Catholic Charities’ Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America. The campaign provides a multitude of ways for you to get involved in this fight and help reduce this problem. It starts when you register.

I hope you will register. I hope you will donate. And like me, I hope you will remember not to forget those less fortunate than us.

Please consider participating in Blog Action Day 2008 if you haven’t already registered by clicking here. Thanks very much.

If you haven’t already registered, please do so by clicking here.

It would be well worth your time to post your ideas on the topic of poverty (this year’s theme), no matter the normal focus or theme or your blog.

Poverty is not a Republican or Democrat or Green Party issue. It’s a universal, non-denominational and indiscriminate catastrophe that we all need to address in whatever way we can.

It could easily be anyone of us at any time.

Thanks very much.

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

We’re right about in the middle of hurricane season in the U.S. and it looks like it’s going to be another hard season.

If you know of any broadcast, cable or internet outlets that can use this PSA (public service announcement), please forward this post or this PSA to them.

LISTEN – Public Service Announcement

Download audio file (080914_RedCross_Hurricane_FINAL.mp3)
Click here to download the Red Cross Hurricane PSA!

As always, we’re not looking for compensation or publicity, just an outlet to broadcast the request for donations all to benefit the American Red Cross. There are no usage restrictions on this audio as long as it is used in its entirety.

If you want to record the PSA yourself for your station, here’s the script.

The physical damage is severe but the emotional toll is catastrophic. The 2008 hurricane season in the United States is upon us and as always, the American Red Cross stands ready to help.

The Red Cross is sheltering thousands along the Gulf Coast while preparing to shelter more along the Atlantic coast as storms approach.

They are mobilizing Red Cross people, our fleet of emergency response vehicles and mobile kitchens.

The Red Cross is also delivering meals and clean up supplies across the Gulf Coast and staging food and supplies along the Atlantic coast.

Please support the American Red Cross as they once again support Americans in their time of need.

Donate now by visiting Red Cross dot org or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. To donate $5 right now, text the word “give” to the number 24357, or spelled out as the number 2, HELP.

Support the American Red Cross as they help Hurricane Disaster Victims again this year.

And if you could throw the American Red Cross a couple of bucks in the effort, that would be good too.

Please note in the comment section of media to whom you have sent this to or (if you’re the media) what outlet you are from.

Thanks for being a good person.

Tonight, the anchors and managing editors from ABC News, CBS News and NBC News will take over our televisions in prime time.

And it won’t be about an election.

SU2C. Stand Up to Cancer. Please watch and, if you can, please give. Thanks!

You’ll remember my request for your participation and this blog’s participation in Blog Action Day 2007.

Over 20,000 people participated and it moved the message of the environment forward within the social media sphere and within mainstream media as well. Thanks for helping!

On October 15, 2008, we’ll talk about poverty and more than 20,000 people (I think) will again move the message to the fore.

If you blog, you need to participate by clicking here.

If you just read (and that’s cool too) tell your friends about it.

If you’re willing to promote it on your web site, grab some graphics here.

Here’s why:

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Thanks for reading.

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