Magic

On a daily basis, I am inspired and amazed by the magic of social media. I’ve experienced generosity and sharing from people I’ve never met in real life, I’ve been connected to great leaders I would otherwise never have had the chance to know, and my network has helped me with projects and problems that I face. But even more inspirational is the social good that is being created for great causes through the viral effect of social media. There’s one from 2011 that stands out as one of my favourite social good stories. It happened within my network on Twitter, led by Dave Reynolds from Campbell River BC.

Dave Reynolds is a radio DJ in BC and a great connector. He talks daily with people on twitter, listens in, and engages in conversations with people. He has quickly built a tribe of engaged followers and friends on twitter. In December of 2011, for the third year in a row, Dave led a campaign to gather food for the Campbell River Food Bank. He lived in a tractor trailer until it was filled with food in a campaign called River Relief. This year, for the first time, Dave engaged his twitter tribe in his campaign.

Dave in his River Relief truck

Here’s where the magic comes in.

It took Dave 11 days to fill a tractor trailer in 2009 and 8 days to fill it in 2010. Awesome-sauce, right? But wait till you hear about 2011.

You see, Dave’s tribe, with the help of great social-good leaders like Ty Sullivan, got behind his mission with passion. An arrangement was made with a local Save On Foods grocery store so that we could call in orders of food for Dave. The food bank donation link was shared on Twitter and Facebook and many of us gave money.

At the end of 11 days, Dave filled not one, but THREE tractor trailers with food and raised $1,000,000 dollars for the food bank. In fact, he raised enough food and money to feed Campbell River and a second town of Gold River for a year. That is what I call magic.

The key to Dave’s success, in my mind? He engages people daily. He is genuine, ready to listen, help, and support others whenever needed. It’s a true story of what goes around, comes around. Please, if you’re on twitter, take a moment to thank Dave for what he has done for his community.

I see magic every day on Twitter. I’d love to hear your stories of Twitter magic – please share in the comments below!

Check out these other posts about Dave’s River Relief campaign:

Ty Sullivan’s Friends, Humans, Social Media Folks Lend me Your Ears: The Payoff

Peg Fitzpatrick’s Special Pondering: Can One Person Make a Difference

Listen to Dave live on 99.7 The River

Follow Dave on Twitter