Malena Cunningham, center, joins Sunny, far left, & Andre Natta
The even greater thing the Women’s Fund Blogging Against Domestic Violence event in the NBC13 conference room on Oct. 7 is that we were able to sit side by side with fellow bloggers who we may never have met. And that made the connection, the sense of shared purpose and the sense of community even more powerful. Bettina Byrd-Giles, Virginia Jones, Sunny Slaughter, Cutressa Williams, Andre Natta, Daniel Walters and, yes, the Community Foundation’s chief blogger, Emily Jones Rushing, got to spend time with each other across the conference table as we interviewed police officers, judges, social workers, counselors and members of the Women’s Fund’s giving circle, Voices Against Violence.
Sunny Slaughter said it best as we gathered to leave at about 7:30 p.m., the lights of Birmingham shining clear and bright outside the window. For those gathered in a conference room on top of Red Mountain and for those gathered in the social media community who responded to our blogs and tweets, it was a special moment, but there was still a strong sense work to be done as we support the victims of domestic violence.
Thank you, Holly Hilton of The Women’s Fund, for organizing us all. Thank you, Gene Kirkconnell of NBC13, for giving us a place and a reason to gather. We look forward to seeing the results of our social media community in the amount of money raised for grants from Voices Against Violence and, through that, in efforts to reduce the incidence of domestic violence assaults across our whole community.
Filed under: Women's Fund | Tagged: #wfundbham, change, community, domestic violence, Women's Fund
Emily,
Great post and great photo! I’d love to see all your photos from the event.
Holly
Emily,
It was great. I stretched as a blogger and as a person. I usually write posts and publish them several hours later or even several weeks later. I may write three to four posts in a week. But to interview someone and write a post instantly was new to me. I think I published four posts in two hours. It was energizing. I look forward to future opportunities to blog with you and the Foundation.
Bettina
[...] also provided a chance for folks that know of each other only virtually to at least be in the same room and feed o…, no doubt leading to potentially more partnerships and collaborative efforts later [...]