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OUT OF THE DARKNESS COMMUNITY WALK to benefit the American Foundation for suicide Prevention:

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 2 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

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OUT OF THE DARKNESS COMMUNITY WALK 2008: Walk in honor of a loved one.

 

Welcome!

I hope you will find this handcrafted lens a unique and useful resource for your 2008 Out of the Darkness Walk experience. Learn about what other walkers are doing and unique ways to energize your fundraising, motivate your team & inspire yourself!

In 2007 112 walks held in 40 states nationwide, AFSP's Out of the Darkness Community Walks drew 25,000 participants and raised $2.5 million, before expenses, for suicide prevention.

Forty-eight new walks were held to help fund suicide prevention research and educational programs in their local communities.

So grab a cup of coffee & take a look around and while you're here check out Buttons of Hope and consider making a custom photo button to wear in honor of a loved one during your Out of the Darkness fundraising and at your event!

The Official Out of the Darkness Walk 2008 website 

Handy info and fundraising links...

Register for the 2008 Out of the Darkness Walk today...
Take the first step find your walk and register here...
Spread the Word!
Spread the word and find helpful fundraising tools...
Out of the Darkness Resources
Everything you need to organize a walk, start a team...get inspired!
Thank you or walking..
Give a little GET so much more back...
I've got a question!
All your answers to frequently asked questions...

Inspire More | Scribble Less with Buttons of Hope! 

You know how it is, the morning of the walk ten minutes before the start and you're hurriedly scribbling the names of a loved one on your back!

At Buttons of Hope we make is super easy for you to make custom photo buttons of your loved one or friend before the walk. You know why you're walking ~ now you can proudly show them for WHO! Together we can put a face on suicide and put an end to this most tragic scourge.

Less Scribbling....

MysignNo button



More Inspiring....

My sign

Inspirational Video about the Community Walks 

Watch and then send it to a friend...

CLICK HERE

Buttons of Hope in prestigious Southpark Magazine!  

His Photo Buttons Serve Many Causes...like suicide awareness

I am honored to be chosen as South Park (Charlotte NC) magazine's Snapshot for March 2008! Buttons of Hope is my passion & I hope this helps everyone understand just how powerful custom photo buttons & putting a face on your cause can be!
read the article here | Photo Buttons Focus on People
Re: Re: SPM Gibbons.pdf

Make your own custom photo button to wear in honor of a loved one @ BUTTONS of HOPE. 

To the world it may be just a button, but to one person that button may be the world!

Walking in honor of a loved one?...Many of the Out of the Darkness participants walk in memory of a loved one lost to suicide. Please consider a special way to honor a loved one by wearing a custom photo button with their picture while fundraising & during your the walk.

Make your custom button today at Buttons of Hope


  1. No Minimum - make one custom photo button if you like

  2. Upload a photo and add custom curved text

  3. $1 from each photo button donated to the American Foundation for suicide Prevention

Energize your fundraising...Motivate your team... and Inspire yourself! Put a face on your cause today!

About.com's Nancy Schimelpfening on depression 

Helpful source for info & resource links about depression & suicide.

From Nancy Schimelpfening:

"This site offers timely, accurate, and practical information on living with depression, also addressing such issues as the effects of antidepressants, possible childhood depression, and finding the best ways of helping loved ones cope with suicidal feelings."

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So what do I know? Michael Gibbons' Behind the Button blog 

Inspired stories about the people behind the photo buttons we make & some thoughts on fundraising & charities from the founder of Buttons of Hope.

Make a button and share your hero story and I will write all about it in Behind the Button!...and I will send you a cookie...seriously!

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Absolutely everything you need to know about walking from Wendy Bumgardner! 

Whether it's your first charity walk or you are a fundraising champ - Wendy's posts at About.com are interesting and informative. This is really good stuff!

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Related topics: Out of the Darkness Walk,  american foundation for suici...,  buttons of hope,  Nonprofits & Volunteering,  more

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michaelgibbons

About michaelgibbons

"A year ago Mike Gibbons had never done any fund-raising. Now he hopes
to change the world" Regan White in "Message in a Button", Charlotte Weekly November 2006.

Upon reading that I was at first taken aback -- not exactly the kind of thing you want to lead with especially if your stated goal is to "change the face of fundraising". But as I thought about it IT IS PRECISELY what I want people to know and now I open all of my fundraising seminars with that line.

Fundraising is not easy nor is it as hard as you might think. I am proof of that and I am out to help ordinary people do extraordinary things -- the task is not easy but the answer is inside of each of us!

I kinda wish Regan had use this opening line instead.. 

"Here's to the crazy ones...because the people who are crazy enough to THINK they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Maybe the combination of the two sums it up -- I have been lucky enough to find a group of remarkable people, my cycling team MojoRiding and together we have become somewhat of a fund raising phenomenon (often in spite of ourselves I might add!) --we raised over $110,000 in 2007 for cancer and multiple sclerosis causes.

So how did we do it? We personalized our cause, we told a story, many stories! And then we took it a step further we made it tangible -- many of us made photo buttons of our loved ones to wear while fundraising -- can't fully explain it but there is just something powerful about these little buttons  --I have seen it make a difference and in some cases all the difference!

I hope you will take a look around (grab a cup of coffee) at what I am building here on Squidoo. I have tried to make unique, useful and updated lenses on active charity events. If you like the lenses then please visit my blog Behind the Button and of course my website Buttons of Hope -- where you too can go on make a custom photo button to wear in YOUR charity event 

The title of the full quote above is THINK DIFFERENT. Regan was right I am out to Change the World by helping people to not only think different but to be different -- it will change you and together we will be the change we wish to see...I hope one button at a time!

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