GSF Wins! Which means SMA families win!

The Chase Community Giving campaign ended yesterday, and what a campaign it was! The contest took place on Facebook, but many of us utilized Twitter to gain more attention and to direct people where to vote within Facebook. The week was a blast, and the race to win was neck-and-neck until the very end. The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation did not win the grand prize of one million dollars, but as a runner up GSF is awarded with $100,000. Yo, Chase--thanks bunches!

Just as exciting as winning the cash is all the awareness about SMA out there now. Various celebrity twitterers joined our cause, as did some celebrities and bands on Facebook. I had never heard of SMA before the twins were diagnosed, and that's true for every single person I know. If the world could witness what SMA does to our kids, could see what we SMA parents see on a daily basis, the world would be demanding a cure yesterday.

I will live to see the day when SMA is a mere inconvenience instead of a merciless, anguish-causing disease, and this $100k will go a long way to getting us there. For my non-SMA followers, I can try to gather up some information on current SMA research for a future blog post.... but there's nothing funny about SMA, so I hesitate to be a buzz kill too often. I'd lose half my followers. But I bet I can find a spot within an otherwise side-splittingly funny blog post to summarize some of the exciting things going on in the world of SMA research. Twenty-ten is our year, folks. I can feel it.

I can't recap the past week's events for you better than Victoria Strong already has, so please click here to read her summary. She also includes a list of the all the great celebs and organizations who supported GSF in some way over the past week. And I am full of gratitude for everyone's participation and am exhilarated about 2010 and everything that I can expect from this new year.

Much love to Gwendolyn, too. I just had to share this photo her family captured recently, celebrating last night's big win. Are these three not adorable? I could give them bone crushing hugs right about now.


Much love to my fellow Twitter-holics. We bonded this week, didn't we? I hope to meet you all in person one day soon! And when that day comes, the first round is on me! (unless you're underage, in which case I'm am so paying for your Shirley Temple.)
@gsfoundation
@victoriastrong
@billstrong
@natedlee
@dianadear
@LO_raine
@ACTforSMA
@stopsma
@lucyandethel09
@princessmadiro
@LittleLauren
@kimmymary
@KarlHumphries
@emmahumphries
@TaysensTricks
@smamommy
@whatsupwithdrew
@EndSMAdotcom
@pennygersh
@mmarlow
@SMAAwareness
@mlynnfox
(Did I miss anyone?)