Winston Churchill and I have something in common. We both believe,
” You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give.”

I was raised with the teaching, “Ask and ye shall receive”.

In my life, I’ve always found it easier to be a giver than one who receives… and very hard to ask for help,  but I’m learning. Sometimes to do something so big to really help others, it requires us to reach outside of our comfort zone and ask for assistance. That’s what this post is for me- asking for help from you.

As you know, we’re planning The Global Hug Tour.  This project is huge!

My husband and I will fly 31,000 miles around the world in a small private plane, stop in 50 international cities to gather inspiration, deliver 100,000 hugs and share $1,000,000 with important causes. More importantly, we want to share much needed love with the world and help shift the focus from doom and gloom to one of possibility.

Our project is big and the possibilities are endless. We intend to develop curriculum for schools to learn geography and global culture by following our tour, connect people from one country to another, tie in celebrity hugs for charity, and have classrooms adopt classrooms  across the world, just to name a few.

You can go to the Global Hug Tour site, sponsor a hug for $10 and send it to one of the 50 cities on our path. When we land, we’ll not only deliver the hug (along with 1999 other ones!), but we’ll also deliver their full donation, to the non-profitor NGO to make a tangible difference in the area.

For example…

-  One hug in Chicago will feed 3 homeless people.

-  Two hugs in Cambodia will educate a child for a year.

-  One hundred hugs in Chennai, India will pay the cost of heart surgery to save the life of a child.

In order for 100% of the hug donations to go directly to the cause, we’re looking for angels and corporate sponsors to help us cover the operational cost of the trip.

In order to pay the ongoing expenses of our GHT team, I’m reaching out to you, our community.  Where else can your dollars literally grow exponentially to have such a direct, and tangible impact? Your donation will allow us to not only send more than a million around the world, but will also bring hope and love where it is needed most.  We can’t do it without you.

We’ve already been blessed with the donation of a social media team in San Diego (Square Martini Media),  a world-class PR firm in Boulder (Metzger and Associates), and a team of virtual volunteers (AssistU).  Blogger & Podcaster Magazine has picked up my blog and will be syndicating it to 200,000 bloggers globally.  We have great things in place but, we still have ongoing expenses to get the ball rolling in a bigger way, and that’s where we need your help.

I know the gift it is to be able to give to others and share in a real way. I’m offering you the opportunity to do just that. I’m asking you to dig deep and help us to hug the world. I know the difference that each one of us can make- especially when we all come together for something bigger than all of us.

This morning, I sent this information to some friends who called me and encouraged me to post this on our blog- so here it is. We can all do something to help- even if we can’t write a big check, and it is all so greatly appreciated! We have our Top 10 Ways You Can Help listed below.

We didn’t know how we were going to create and deliver the World’s Longest Letter of Love and Support to our troops, but we delivered a letter more then 18 miles long on a 29-day tour in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. We didn’t know how we were going to create and provide inspiration for the world, but  I’ve spent the last year of my life interviewing Inspirational Luminaries for our site, InspireMeToday.com, and giving this inspiration away for free. We now have members in more than 100 countries!

We don’t yet know how we’re going to pull off the Global Hug Tour either, but we know that we will make it happen- with your help, just the same as we’ve done in the past.

Anything you can do to help us literally HUG THE WORLD is greatly appreciated. This project will take all of us coming together to make a difference. If you are able to and believe in our cause, will you please be one of the givers in life and help us cover the hardest part- the initial operating costs? Your generous contribution is any of these ways is greatly appreciated!

The Top Ten Ways You Can Help the Global Hug Tour:

1-  Write a check and send it today to Global Hug Tour (email gail@inspiremetoday.com for details)  THANK YOU!!!!!

2-  Introduce us and recommend us to your executive level corporate contacts for potential sponsorship.

3-  Introduce us to your personal hotel company executives- (Starwood,  Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt or Radisson) for the donation of hotel accommodations worldwide.

4-  Donate your hotel points to help us cover the cost of hotel rooms worldwide.

5-  Donate your frequent flyer airline miles to cover media trips in the US and team members joining us worldwide throughout the tour.

6-  Introduce us to any of your personal media connections.

7-  Help us spread the word by sending an email to your email list talking about the Global Hug Tour, write a blog post, or post our GHT badge on your site/blog.  The more people we reach, the more people we can help!

8-  Make introductions for public speaking opportunities to help us spread our message to the masses.

9-  Introduce us to your celebrity connections (we’re selling celebrity hugs on eBay!) to raise dollars for our 50 global charities.

10-  Forward this to someone else (or 10 or 20 others!) who can help if you can’t.

Thank you for reading the whole letter! For those that have made it this far and are perhaps wondering, “What’s in this for me?”, here’s your answer. Thanks to the generosity or TradeToTravel.com, the top donor will receive a credit with TradeToTravel.com to be used at any one of more than 1500 villas worldwide- equal to TWICE the amount of your donation! Thank you http://TradeToTravel.com!

For example, if you’re the top donors and your check was for $25,000, you’ll receive a credit for a week at any one of TTT’s villas- up to $50,000 per week! (can be used anytime in the next year!) Some of these amazing places rent for more than $80,000 per week and host up to 24 guests! THANK YOU TradeToTravel.com!  (If you’re serious about making sure you’re this person, please email gail@inspiremetoday.com!) This offer is good only until 5/15/09- so check out tradetotravel.com today!

Also, you will receive a mention (either corporate or personal) on our angel page, and our sincere, eternal gratitude for helping us make the world a better place.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and reach out with your heart to help us. We greatly appreciate your support! Please act on this today!

Should you have any questions, wish to discuss this or brainstorm additional possibilities, I’d love to talk with you. Just email gail@inspiremetoday.com at your earliest convenience.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your generosity. I’m reaching out and sending you a huge, warm, grateful hug.

With gratitude and hugs,

Gail

This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 9:43 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.