Thanks the THIRTY people who posted since my insomnia count above bringing us up to 118. Just two days left to VOTE. You got the email from Megan, you read Rosie's exhortations, you are reading this: Why haven't you Voted for OCF? Join the HONOR ROLL here of the almost TWO PERCENT who did take a few minutes to vote. I still see some notable absences but otherwise, THANKS to all those who read the board who voted and I have not seen posting. Your support is what will make or break us.
WE CAN DO THIS.
Charm

What will push us over the top is all of our friends and relatives who know how much this site has helped us. I got my son to do a review, if everybody who voted got just one relative to do a review it would push us over the top. I know Suzanne did this too, it must be done from a different computer.

http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/profile2/the-oral-cancer-foundation1

Did mine last week but just sent the link to hubbie's laptop computer....he is the obvious recipient of the power of OCF and needs to contribute. I am sure there are tons of us with more than one computer in the house.

Deb

[quote=ChristineB]What will push us over the top is all of our friends and relatives who know how much this site has helped us. I got my son to do a review, if everybody who voted got just one relative to do a review it would push us over the top. I know Suzanne did this too, it must be done from a different computer.

http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/profile2/the-oral-cancer-foundation1 [/quote]

If you are on a network computer that dynamically assigns IP addresses to workstations you may be able to vote (and write reviews for your friends and relatives) numerous times (or at least I can here at work as I get to reclick the "Was this review helpful" buttons everytime I go on. In fact, I can just change the page and then go back to the previous page and once again have the option to vote (and thus write another review). I haven't written a second review but for the less scrupulous out there.....:-)

Decided to post this on this thread as well as the other one dealing with this topic:

okay, it's up to 122. I see that Pediatric CRF didn't get any new ones overnight. That doesn't mean they won't add some today, so keep it moving.

I see that we have 2 separate threads going for this. Wasn't sure which one I should post on now. Are most people following both?

Even if we don't beat PCRF for the regional award, it looks like we are really close to getting one based on budget. PCRF and Spirit Jump are the only 2 with more reviews. According to Brian's post, PCRF is way bigger, but I don't know if Spirit Jump would be in our category or not, so we need to overtake them.

My wife just posted and we're at 126

Jerry

Okay

We're up to 137, but still trailing. I just sent emails to relatives that I haven't even seen for a couple years. And i even asked one of them to forward it on to others. I had my daughter send it out to her co-workers, who don't know me and didn't even know Heather. I'm pretty much on my knees begging. I don't know what response I'll get, but at least I know I did my best.

This probably sounds strange, but I'm even considering posting the request on the member boards at the Motley Fool. (I don't do Facebook, MySpace, etc., so can't get help there). I'm thinking that at this point, since so many of the people here that have been helped won't do it, we need to turn to strangers to get this done!!! How sad.

If anyone wants to read my rants, pleas, whatever, I posted it all on the other thread for this topic. I'm sure I'll catch some flak for my attitude, but at this point, I don't really care.

Okay, guys, this is what I posted on the Motley Fool boards. If anyone is as crazy as me, feel free to use it to post your own appeal wherever you can. Also feel free to correct my typos, grammar, etc.

Hi everyone,

I have a request. My daughter had oral cancer, and during her illness, I found a wonderful organization who helped us tremendously, the Oral Cancer Foundation. It is a small, non-profit and is largely the work of one man, Brian Hill, himself a survivor of oral cancer. Unfortunately, my daughter did not survive, but during the 13 months that Heather battled for her life, the OCF Forums were my lifeline.

Right now, this organization is in the running for the Cancer Fighters Awards, which, if they win, will accord them national media coverage, which would be a REALLY good thing, because, if nothing is done to change it, in 10 or 15 years the number of young non-smokers who get oral cancer is going to be of epidemic proportions. Researchers have found there is a link to HPV, the human papilloma virus, which causes most cervical cancers, and which can be spread through sexual contact, so there are a huge number of people who are at risk, but have no idea what oral cancer is and what devastation it can cause.

The contest is based on the number of positive reviews that each organization receives. Unfortunately, tomorrow is the last day of this contest. I apologize for this being last minute, but I just found out about the contest a couple days ago. The details are here:

http://greatnonprofits.org/cancer

If any of you could write a review at this site, it would be a big help. This is the specific page for OCF:

http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/the-oral-cancer-foundation1

The review can be really brief, something like "I know someone whose daughter had oral cancer and I know that the OCF was very helpful". The "What did i do part can be anything like "I think OCF is doing good work" or "I know how much they help people". Anything really. It doesn't have to be something that you did.

Plus you have to answer 2 questions out of 8 that they have listed. You can answer the one that asks what is their biggest challenge by saying they don't have enough funding. And What would they do with 10 million bucks? Help more people. Doesn't matter, just so you answer 1 in each column, I think.

Anything simple. The only 2 things you definitely have to do is give them a 5 STAR RATING and answer "YES" that it is for the Cancer Fighters Award.

You can read a few of the other reviews first to get an idea of what people say. and here is the OCF appeal if you want to read more:

http://oralcancersupport.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showf...

I know this is an unusual request and I really don't expect much of a response, but this is so very important that I'm pretty much on my knees begging anyone for help.

Thanks in advance to any angels who read this and respond.

Rosie

Less than 24 hours left to vote. At 3 am EST, the contest closes (midnight for the West Coast). 138 - a mere twenty more than yesterday's insomnia watch. After Brian spelled out our competitor (and leading) group's size and budget, I realized what a David and Goliath struggle this is. Although the effort has been valiant, it clearly is not going to be of biblical proportions. Although we may win in our "weight" category as Rosie hopes, I had thought we could muster 3 percent of the members to vote.
OKAY PROCRASTINATORS , DO YOUR STUFF NOW AND VOTE.
Charm

I am cross-posting this from the other pertinent thread:

Brian,

I apologize, because I did think about some of the other stuff that OCF does, but left it out of my review and my appeals mainly to keep things shorter. I tend to go overboard when I write and didn't want to have it so long that people didn't want to take the time to read it. But you are right, many of us tend to focus only on the forums, which doesn't do justice to OCF.

On another note, my cousin Tom, who hadn't even seen Heather since she was a teenager, wrote a review for me. And he owns a small business and is swamped with work right now, but he still took the time to do this for me, because he has heard me talk so much about how OCF helped me.

I realize I was overzealous last night. Posting on the MF forums was way out there, but I figured there was nothing to lose. So they think I'm loony. Who cares? I'm too old to care about that kind of stuff anymore.