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Vote from Any Country for ME/FM Charity to Win $20,000!

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by Sasha


Image by www.facebook.com/MEAwarenessPics


The first thing to say about this: you don’t need Facebook!

The second thing: you don’t have to be in Canada to vote!

The third thing... well, time to give you the details...

Nature’s Bounty, a long-established manufacturer of vitamins and food supplements, is running an online voting contest for Canadian charities. The National ME/FM Action Network has entered.

The Action Network is probably best-known internationally for spearheading the development of the Canadian Consensus Criteria.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of rigorous diagnostic criteria in this disease: we all owe the Action Network a debt for this contribution to diagnosis and research. The Network also hosted the 2011 IACFS/ME Conference in Ottawa. But as well as these international achievements, for the past twenty years the Action Network has supported patients through advocacy, education, information, and promoting research. It’s the main charity for the 750,000 people in Canada with ME or FM.

So it’s well worth supporting the Action Network in the contest. The top three winners will get $20,000, $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Of the remaining charities, three will be chosen at random to each win $5,000. US dollars and Canadian dollars are worth the same: $20,000 is about £13,000 or 15,000 Euros. That would be a considerable boost to any national ME/FM charity.

Voting opens on Tuesday, 26 February, and continues with one vote allowed per day until Friday, 29 March.

At the time of writing, voting instructions have not appeared but if you go to the Nature's Bounty contest webpage, all should become clear on the day.

There’s a big push behind the Action Network for this contest: a team of supporters has already been posting widely on the net to drum up support. Let’s help them win.

Got any questions? We’ve got a thread for that! The competition looks straightforward but the first post in this thread will be updated with instructions and help if any problems emerge.

Have you heard about other contests? Many, many small prize contests are announced in local papers, on the radio, and so on. If you notice any, please message helen41 so that she and the fundraising team can look into them. Every dollar helps!
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Just voted - still in fourth with third not far away...

  • REACH FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO4495
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society4397
  • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY3232
  • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK2812
  • SENIOR ANIMALS IN NEED TODAY SOCIETY
 
I just voted. Here's the current list:
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society 5239
  • REACH FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO 5086
  • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY 3626
  • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK 3154
  • SENIOR ANIMALS IN NEED TODAY SOCIETY 2749
(Hmmm, I can't seem to figure out how to enter either tabs or non-breaking spaces. I was trying to make the numbers line up in a nice column.)
 
Still strong in fourth - we need to be strong in third! Keep voting, keep voting!

  • REACH FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO5443
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society5352
  • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY3701
  • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK3210
  • SENIOR ANIMALS IN NEED TODAY SOCIETY
 
  • REACH FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO 7626
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society 7418
  • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY 4536
  • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK 3932
  • OOPSADAZY RESCUE AND SANTUARY SOCIETY 3875
 
  • REACH FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO 7680
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society 7577
  • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY 4628
  • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK 3999
  • OOPSADAZY RESCUE AND SANTUARY SOCIETY 3992
5th place is gaining on us and I wonder if a 6th is close :(
 
Here is an image to help with promoting the contest online:

NaturesBounty600.jpg
 
A bit more clear water between us and fifth place, which is good:
    • REACH FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO7831
    • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society7701
    • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY4798
    • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK4333
    • OOPSADAZY RESCUE AND SANTUARY SOCIETY4061

Still all to play for! Not much between us and the money-winning third place.
 
  • H FOR THE RAINBOW ONTARIO9273
  • Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society9009
  • MOUNTAINAIRE AVIAN RESCUE SOCIETY5372
  • NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK4852
  • SENIOR ANIMALS IN NEED TODAY SOCIETY 4299