Journalbooks Aims To Raise $1 Million For Chinese Quake Victims
“We got some people together and we had some raised eyebrows—like, ‘Are you kidding?’ But you know what? You don’t know until you try,” said Tom O’Boyle, president of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Journalbooks. O’Boyle was referring to the company’s new web-based fundraising effort—Promotional People Care—to help the injured, displaced and homeless victims of the May 12 earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan province. According to the Federal Way, Washington-based World Vision agency, one of O’Boyle’s partners in the effort, the 7.9 magnitude quake killed 70,000 and left approximately five million people homeless.
“This earthquake was so quick, nobody had put anything together to help,” said O’Boyle “And the need was so urgent. I thought, you know what, we can do it.” Specifically, what O’Boyle hopes to do through the creation of a fundraising Web site (www.promotionalpeoplecare.org), is rally the energy and caring of the promotional products industry—one he notes has many ties to the Chinese people through both business and personal relationships. “We’re hoping that the generosity of our industry will come together so powerfully that it will make an indelible impression on the hearts and minds of our Chinese friends. We need to show them what kind of people we are, we’re not just capitalists,” explained O’Boyle.
The site itself, developed largely through donated time and effort, provides information on the earthquake and directs people to donate through either the World Vision organization or through the American Red Cross, who in conjunction with The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, called for a total funding effort of $19.3 million.
O’Boyle hopes the site will raise $1 million, a figure that would go a long way in reaching the Red Cross’ goal. Such an accomplishment, O’Boyle feels, would serve to both provide aid as well as improve relations with a country and people that for only the first time have accepted outside assistance in the face of a natural disaster. “We hope that it is going to help thousands of families. But we also hope that it will communicate to the Chinese people that they are not just a place to source less-expensive products, but part of a global family,” continued O’Boyle.
Beyond Journalbooks’ effort to launch the site, the company donated $10,000 and plans on using its industry connections to encourage other suppliers and distributors to support the quake victims as well. According to the Red Cross, the goal is to help approximately 100,000 people over the course of the next 12 months. To help accomplish this, the site was designed with a recognition page that will list donors (if they wish) and the amount they have contributed. The idea of recognition, which some could say is self-serving, is actually a very important aspect of Chinese culture and an important feature for O’Boyle as well.
“If [companies] want, their donations will go on the site ... We intend on promoting this Web site in China. It’s a way of saying, ‘Hey, we are here, and we’re behind you.’” The World Vision agency’s Web site gives an example of the relevance of donations. A $100 donation can provide a Family Survival kit that includes emergency food, safe water, blankets, a temporary shelter and cooking utensils. “What the Web site is going to be able to do we hope,” said O’ Boyle, “is tap into that caring in our industry and join [us] together [to] give something to the Chinese people in an effective way.”
O’Boyle, who sees the power of technology and the Internet, as a true force in the promotional industry, is hopeful it will bring out the human side of businesses. “I’m hoping that it will just take off like an e-mail virus. People will send it to their friends, who send it to their friends.” The message O’Boyle wants to send, “We’re an industry of caring people and we care what you are going through, or what your relatives are going through or what your friends are going through.”
For more information, or to donate, visit www.promotionalpeoplecare.org
- Companies:
- Journalbooks/Timeplanner Calendar
- People:
- Tom O Boyle