Donating, Winning a Contest, and U2

A couple weeks ago I attended Social Media Breakfast YYC. It’s essentially a monthly gathering of people from all kinds of backgrounds who are interested in social media. Everyone from bloggers to marketing people are in attendance. It’s held at different venues every month. November’s was at Melrose.

That breakfast was the kick off for Magic of Christmas, which Melrose was collecting donations for. Magic of Christmas delivers toys, food hampers, and Christmas trees to families in need. They’re delivered on Transit buses decorated like reindeer by volunteer “elves” who are dressed up. Magic of Christmas is accepting donations at their warehouse (6812 Fairmount Drive SE) until December 23rd if you’re interested in donating BTW.

Everyone who came to Social Media Breakfast was encouraged to bring a toy or a cash donation. With a donation, you filled out a ballot for one of 40 prizes. I thought it was a great cause so I made a donation and put my info on a ballot, not thinking my name would be picked.

Fast forward to earlier this week when I got an email telling me I was one of the 40 people picked! Tonight I’ll be heading back to Melrose for a traditional Christmas dinner with the other 39 donors who were also picked. We were all invited to bring a guest, so I thought I’d take my dad with me. After the dinner they’ll be giving out the prizes. They range from $100 iTunes gift cards to a year long Kia car lease! I’m pretty stoked about the whole thing and I’m really looking forward to tonight.

On a different note….

Know how I bought U2 tickets for one of their shows in Vancouver in May? Well my ticket arrived in the mail this week! I’d gotten an email last week telling me that it had been printed and was on it’s way to me. Now that I have it in my hands it almost feels like it’s going to happen. I’m don’t think it’ll hit me that I’m really going to see U2 until I get to Vancouver the day before the concert.

Speaking of Vancouver, if anyone has any suggestions of what to see/do while I’m there, I’ve love to hear them. Unfortunately I’ll only be there two full days, but I want to take in as much of the scenery and outdoors as I can. While I’ve only been there once before I fell in love with Vancouver’s natural beauty.