Six Degrees

Have y’all checked out SixDegrees.org?  You all have heard about the Six Degrees of Separation/Kevin Bacon thing, right? Any one person is connected to any other person through six or fewer relationships, because it’s a small world. 

(My husband jokes that anywhere I go, I end up seeing someone I know. He’s right!  Went to Dallas last fall? Met up with a couple that I knew growing up while I was having breakfast.  Went to Milwaukee last February? On the way home, I was in a plane with a doctor I knew from my home town.  Go to the grocery store on Saturday? Run into a friend I haven’t seen in forever and chat a while. Small world.)

Anyway. .  back to Six Degrees. They’re doing some serious “networking for good.”  People have created “badges” and installed them on websites and blogs to promote their own cause.  The six badges that have the most number of donations between January 18th and March 31st at 11:59pm ET will get a matching grant (up to $10,000) from Kevin Bacon.

Ali Edwards is one of those people. – she’s got a badge on her site raising money for Autism Speaks.  I’ve been following her blog for a while, reading along as she talks about creativity and being a life artist, and just sharing stuff that’s happening in her world. Her son Simon is the most delightful little boy with a family that obviously loves and cares for him. He’s been diagnosed with autism, and as of this minute, through donations of $10 or more, his mom has raised $32,010 $32,165 for a cause near and dear to her heart.   Her badge, her cause, is number one.  All because it’s a small world.

Here’s a quote from her blog that says it all:

And now, here is what I have been thinking about today : if each one of you who left a comment today could tell one other person (maybe someone who does not scrapbook or someone who knows no one with autism or your mom or dad or brother or sister or grandma or neighbor or best friend or grocery checker or nice old lady down the street) about the contest and encourage them to donate $10 to the badge…could you imagine the total we could end up with?  . . .

All along with this contest I have been saying “we.” It is “we” because there is no way I could do this alone. I am one person: a mama, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a person who works from their home, a life artist – just an everyday person trying to do something positive with what I have been given. It takes all of us reaching out, all of us putting out the effort to achieve this goal. We are a bunch of  individuals working together for the greater good.

So . . . here I am, reaching out.  This story just gets me right there, ya know?

Click on Ali’s blog. Check out Simon’s badge.   Help make a difference.

And check Gina K’s blog. . . just saw her banner ad on splitcoast. Looks like she’s coming out with a new stamp set on April 1 to raise autism awareness and money for the cause, too!

It’s heartwarming to see people working together like this.

P.S. I’m even connected to Kevin Bacon!  I met Tommy Lee Jones just after my daughter was born. He was in the movie JFK with Kevin Bacon.   Curious about the whole Kevin Bacon-as-the-center-of-the-entertainment-universe thing? Check out this site!