Five years ago, the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia inspired her to find a way to help, and the very first Menu for Hope was born. The campaign has since become a yearly affair, raising funds to support worthy causes worldwide. In 2007, Menu for Hope raised nearly $100K to help the UN World Food Program feed the hungry. Each December, food bloggers from all over the world join the campaign by offering a delectable array of food-related prizes for the Menu for Hope raffle.

Anyone – and that means you too – can buy raffle tickets to bid on these prizes. For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of your choice. At the end of the two-week campaign, the raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim.

This year, my clients at Personal Chef to Go are joining in the fun!

One lucky winner will receive their tasty Family Favorites menu, sure to please all but the most finicky of eaters. Each week their chefs create a delicious, four entree menu complete with side dishes to compliment the main course. From tender and moist grilled chicken to savory seafood pastas, it is sure to be a family favorite any night of the week! Each weekly menu is delivered to your door and because it is always fresh and never frozen, it is ready to eat in minutes. Prize package includes two servings of each meal (eight dinners in all).

How to donate and enter to win:

1. Go to First Giving , the site that manages this campaign, and make your donation. For every $10 donation, you are eligible to win one raffle prize.
2. If you’re interested in winning the delicious meal package we’re giving away, when you are prompted to enter a “personal message” enter code — the codes associated with this prize. If you are eligible for more than one prize — for example, if you gave $50 — you could apply two tickets to one prize and three to another. Simply write 2xUE28 + 3xUE28, or whichever combination of prizes you’re hoping for.
3. Not the prize you wanted? Check out the master list of prizes to see what else is being offered.
4. Finally, check the box that follows which says that you are “happy for the page owner to see my email address” — very necessary so we can contact you if you won!
5. The winners of each raffle prize will be announced in early January. The last day to give is December 24.

There is no denying the sudden halt of internet sales during these tough economic times. It’s particularly hard on start ups.

I have been working with a new client, Personal Chef to Go, whose future growth depends on internet sales. We’re using AdWords, optimizing the site and tapping into social networks, but it’s tough to break through and gain traction right now.

I really believe in their concept, how they’re building their team and their food is fantastic. Trust me, I eat as much as I can get my tastebuds on!!

I need your help to make things happen for them. Specifically, please check out their site, consider working with them as an affiliate if its a good fit for your audience, let me know what you think about their service, and consider telling others about it as well. They need to sell lots of turkey!

Photo by Chris Brogan via Flickr

I hope to do more in my 43rd year on the planet than I did in my 42nd.

I’m starting with a request – if I’ve helped you, or you’ve found this blog useful, would you consider helping my colleague Beth Kanter have a great 51st birthday? She’s set a challenge goal of getting 51 unique donations for the Sharing Foundation, which is helping to meet the physical, emotional, educational and medical needs of orphaned and seriously disadvantaged children in Cambodia. If they are one of four top causes to get the most unique donors, they will win $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation as part of America’s Giving Challenge.

With a $10 donation, you can help improve the lives of over 1,500 children in one of the world’s poorest countries.

I’ve already donated, and I encourage you to do the same if you can.

With that, I’m off to the beach to celebrate properly! I’m taking Nick Carr’s new book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google along, so look for a review next week along with the official call for content providers for my latest project, Active Gray Matter.

F.T. Rea was one of the earliest freelance artists that I worked with who was actively making money off Kinko’s art projects. One of my most prized possessions is a full set of his Iran Contra playing cards, scored as a thank you present during one of the first weeks of the Grace St Kinko’s turnaround. Watching Richmond blogging bloom this past year with F.T. in the middle of it was an awesome sort of déjà vu.

Today, Kathy has an appalling post on why she was forced to cancel her appearance at ETech – her life has been threatened by some cretin cyber-bullies.

I am shocked and angry that Kathy is in danger. While I don’t personally know her, I’ve been a regular reader since the blog launched; she generously shares her knowledge and time, and seeing her re-paid this way is horrific.

How someone could make her a target for their vitriol and hatred is unimaginable, yet the proof is undeniable. I don’t blame her for repudiating a culture that allows and in fact celebrates this type of behavior. It is unacceptable under any circumstances and I agree that a strong stand must be taken to prevent it from continuing to spread.

While I selfishly hate to see her go, even for a short while, I wish her all of the safety and peace she can muster.