Final Results Are In For Parade's "America's Giving Challenge"

Last year, on December 13, Parade magazine began "America's Giving Challenge", giving people the opportunity to raise funds for their favorite charities. Clay's fans rose to the occasion, hoping to be one of the winners of $50,000 for The Bubel Aiken Foundation by having the most people give. Though we fell short by two places, we still raised a lot of money, including an additional $1000 for being in the top 100 charities.

In Sunday's Parade Magazine, an article entitled "The Joy of Giving" was included about the Challenge, and on Parade's online site, the final confirmed results of are in. The article, on Page 10 is called "The Joy of Giving" and states:

We called, and you answered: 48,000 readers responded to the first America's Giving Challenge. The Challenge generated $1.2 million in online gifts to more than 600 charities, with an average donation of $25. PARADE and the Case Foundation gave an additional $50,000 to the eight charities with the most individual donations, and 100 charities got an extra $1000. Among the winners: a foundation that helps Cambodian children and one that rescues abandoned animals. Stephen Hollister championed another winner - the IDEA League, which advocates for children with Dravet syndrome, a neurological disorder. "We fell blessed that our team effort gave us a way to fight back against this horrible disease," says Hollister, whose daughter has Dravet. To learn about all the winners, go to Parade.com.

Click on the red "100 Participation Award Winners" on the right side of the page online to see the listing of winners that includes BAF. BAF is second on the list of $1000 winners. Unfortunately there is no big artcle about the Giving Challenge online or in the magazine. I tried to contact them to see if there would be a bigger story about this later on, but I keep getting an "error message" that won't let me write to them. I'll let you know if I am able to reach them.

Great work everyone!! We done good for BAF and the children!!