Today is International Peace Day…

I think we should all ban together and help each other, whether it is helping someone with a business, a cause, whatever!

It’s a big world, especially with the Internet and now with social networking. There is enough out there for all of us!

Just my thoughts. Perhaps I am getting soft as I reflect on the past year with Rosh Hashanah in 9 days.

Roz Fruchtman
http://www.SayItWithEcards.com

I found your post via Todd Jordan (@Tojosan) and I’m glad I found it.

This is a remarkable post; well-designed, intelligently laid-out.

email Our Military is brilliant and I’m glad you’re sharing it. I’ll throw out a Tweet about it and hope to raise some more awareness. Simply awesome!

Trish – keep up the great work!

Good night all. I hope with all this discussion people realize that there really are good people out there who want to help. So they have businesses too, so what!

Roz
http://www.SayItWithEcards.com

@NancySutherland Both of your comments also were delayed, again sorry. I’m learning so much as I go

@GretaPerry Thank you for stopping by. Good luck with your cause Let me know if I can ever help with something for it.

@Lala I don’t see the same Twitter stream as you do because who we follow is different. I’d say change some of the people you follow.

@ChrisGarrett Thanks. Yes, I need to concentrate on what I believe in and stand firm.

@DavidBullock Thanks.

@rjleaman Social media is still in it’s infancy. Technology moves so fast especially in the last 10 years.

I rather like David Bullock’s approach, to assess the efforts on behalf of various causes by looking closely at the motives.

Fortunately, the blatant self-promoters soon show themselves for what they are — as do those genuinely care about the causes they champion. On the recieving end, the challenge lies in setting aside our own personal opinions about this or that cause, to give the benefit of the doubt long enough for that to happen.

The question becomes that of “what is your intention and what have you created today?”

Your intentions are pure.

Use everything at your disposal to communicate with the people that will listen. That is the power of social media. And, don’t you dare stop.

Ignore the naysayers, don’t feed the trolls, and keep up the good work

This site was created to be inspirational, and as the headline says below are header “Using Information and Technology to Improve Lives”.

@Todd Thank you for your comment and support.

@Roz I’m sorry your comment was temporarily caught in my spam filter and posted late. It was not intentional.

@Dayngr Thank you for adding what I feel are very important points to this conversation. I am in total agreement with you.

@Greta Thank you and I agree. Sometimes if you can’t support financially, you do your best to contribute in another way. I guess that was also one of the points I was trying to make in my previous response.

I hope to do more articles like this. I have been contacted by so many non-profits that want to work with us and that I would love to post about, and I hope in the next 6 mos to do more like this. Specifically another post about eMom and about @BlogActionDay which wants all bloggers to post about poverty. I’m following that one too.

We all need to “Learn” from each other. The ideas for this site would take me 6 mos of writing to do all that I want to do. Thank you all for your input, even the people I don’t agree with.

Our troops are fighting to keep us safe here at home – or as safe as we can be after 911.

I live in NYC and I was trapped in the city that fateful day, so I AM behind our troops in any way possible. (and our Police, Fire Department, EMS, etc. It never occured to be before 911 how they put their lives on the line each day *for us.* I suppose I had been too worried about my own issues to see what was in front of me!)

I think what Trish is doing is admirable. She was able to do something that I could not and I admire her for her efforts AND her successes. It is gratifying to be able to make a difference, no matter how small!

What people do not seem to realize… It is very time consuming to give of one’s self. People seem to forget that.

I apoligze for focusing on this, but it is a personal issue for me, especially when one’s heart is true to the cause at hand!

We need to see *the good people are doing* and NOT worry that they may receive a bit of publicity. They SHOULD receive some thanks for their efforts! At least they are taking the ball and running with it.

As an American… Charity starts at home… THEN we can help others in other countries. We are suffering here at home — we just do not all share it!

Enough said from me on this issue! If I enlightened just one person by my comments it was worth my time.

Roz Fruchtman
http://www.Twitter.com/SayItWithEcards

One thing to remember is that few cause supporters on Twitter and other social networking and media tools are shy about self promotion, nor should they be overly so.

Yes, I don’t want to be bombarded by just those type of posts, but even following many cause focused Twitter accounts, amount the over 1200 other folks I follow, I’m hardly finding them even annoying.

Secondly, I’m an American. My first priority is supporting and caring about issues directly affecting America. It’s appalling that we focus on folks in other countries with troubles and fail to support struggling families and efforts here at home. Doing both is admirable and worth caring about but if I must prioritize, the US of A comes first.

This post, which was an interview by Vicky, wasn’t merely about supporting the troops or about eMail Our Military. It was about using social media, specifically twitter, for good – for a purpose – for a cause.

Eileen has a cause and I suspect that is where all the rage is coming from. Why not take the time to promote your cause, enlighten others about it and invite them to help you get behind your cause rather than tear down someone elses.

That certainly isn’t the way to get people to come together and it certainly isn’t the way to be a leader in the social/new media market.

And one more thing, supporting our troops isn’t about thinking about one’s self but thinking about those who defend freedom and democracy for those who can’t do it themselves.

@Aruni I am proud to mention Babble Soft in this article. I specifically wanted to mention both Babble Soft and Qipit because you are a part of the team making a difference!

@Daynger I agree, my hope is that as the site grows and reaches a larger audience that we will be able to have a specific section related to non-profit service for both parents and children. Your right, it’s so simple to send an email, 15 minutes of our time.

@Conrad I am always happy to mention the small businesses and entrepreneurs who give their time and the use of their products for a great cause.

@Eileen I think we all try to ‘get the word out’ about the causes that are important to us. I think twitter is such a great tool for this because the people that use Twitter already have email accounts, use the web frequently and can participate, if they choose, immediately. It also is very environmentally friendly way to support a cause. I found out about eMoM through Twitter, my hope is that others will find out both that this resource is available and how they can help.

@Trish That is what I want to concentrate on in the second article about eMail Our Military. More information about how parents, children, families, schools can participate and help.

@Gloria I have found that I have become more aware from using Twitter also. When these last 2 hurricanes have hit both Louisiana and Texas and I heard people tweet about how it effected them personally, it touched my heart on a much deeper level. It made me grateful for what I have and it made me think about these issues bringing them to the forefront of my thoughts.

@Dave I love your comment, yes it is all about keeping soldiers motivated, in high spirits, and informed about what is happening at home. The human spirit is an important part of our being human. We all need these motivations in our lives, the difference is we have our family and friends to turn to and are not in another country. Great point.

@Lauren I to did not know about eMoM until Twitter. Did you get a chance to read Part 1 about @MissingChildren id. I love that service also. It is so important that they find these children that are taken by predator’s in the first 48 hours.

It is you who should be ashamed… NOT Trish for bringing awareness for the need of Troop support by tweeting on Twitter.com.

Twitter is a social networking too where people CAN and DO bring attention to social issues as well as personal issues.

— quoted from Eileen’s comment —

It never ceases to amaze me how many people (like the author of this guest post!)blatantly use Twitter (and social networks)to promote their own web sites/blogs. Honestly, email our military is not a bad idea, but the shameless and CONSTANT self-promotion is enough to make anyone’s stomach turn.

— end quote of Eileen’s Comment —

It is MY stomach that is churning from reading YOU nasty comments.

Not too long ago I tried to do something special for our troops and people like you extinguished my passion and desire to go on with it.

People were too concerned that my website might have gotten a bit of publicity. The problem was my offer *did* come from my website, so it WAS all involved.

I did not get hurt other than wasting a lot of time, but it was the troops who never got to benefit from my FREE offer!

IF you do not like what you read on Twitter, then either delete the tweet, do not follow the person, do not use Twitter or just turn your computer off.

I don’t know you Eileen, but from your comment I am not sure I would want to know you. Trish answered you with kindness, but I have just about had it with those ridiculing those who want to help — for free yet!

Roz Fruchtman
http://www.SayItWithEcards.com

From the minute I learned about eMOM, Trish has been friendly, personable, and very down-to-earth. Her tweets aren’t shameless self-promotion as so many other companies and organizations are on Twitter. She even helped track activity around South Florida when the hurricanes were threatening residents there. She has a real heart to help other people. Anyone who follows her would know that.

From the daughter of a Vietnam vet, the granddaughter of a WW2 vet, and the sister of a soon-to-be Naval officer, thank you eMOM and Trish for a great company that is much needed for our military today. I am happy to support and take part in such a worthy cause.

I have also seen you broadcasting updates about the recent hurricanes as well and i have not seen that anywhere else.

You are a proponent for keeping our troops informed, high spirited, and motivated. I will publicly say thank you as a retiree for what you do for the troops!

eMail Our Military is @MailOurMilitary on twitter specifically to build a troop support community. That’s the purpose of the account on twitter.

However, the tweets aren’t only about eMOM or their blog posts but rather all things military related. We also use twitter to help veterans, military family members and service members find resources.

The bottom line is, find the causes you feel passionate about and use your social networks to help those causes.

Thank you so much for featuring eMail Our Military (eMOM) here on Remarkable Parents. We hope your post will inspire others to make a difference in some small way using the tools they already have available to them.

We’re gearing up for a big holiday campaign and we invite everyone to get involved and help us make the holidays a little bit brighter for our troops overseas. We send emails, cards, letters and care packages and we hope we’ll see many of our social networking friends, follwers and supporters taking part.

Thanks again for this nice write up.

This call for duty takes a large toll on interpersonal relationships (between a husband and wife, families, friends and in raising children). Fortunately, we live in a time where technologies are enabling troops and their families to bridge that gap more effectively. Using the tools of the social media/web 2.0 revolution we are bridging the gap created by distance, effectively reducing the distance from the Midwest to the Middle East.

I am personally very thankful and humbled by the sacrifices of these brave men and women; I am amazed at how many of them are able to deal with the added responsibilities of parenthood. “Can do” people such as Trish (@dayngr) and Vicky (@eeUS) are valuable contributors by helping people, troops and parents better understand how to use those tools to make life a little easier for everyone.

Thanks for the post, and continuing to contribute to making this world a better place. One step, tweet and post at a time.

Thanks!