Memorial to the victims of the Binghamton Massacre

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I made a reference to this the other day in a very contentious thread in Politics and Religion, but my boyfriend lost his sister-in-law in the April 2009 massacre in Binghamton NY, when 13 people lost their lives at an immigrant centre. Currently, the friends and family of the victims are trying to win $50,000 through a Pepsi-sponsored competition to build a memorial park to honour those who perished that day at the hands of a very disturbed man. In order to win, the project must be in the top ten voted on projects in the competition by month's end; the project is currently number 13. If you can take the time to vote, you would make a real difference to those left behind -- families, friends and those who were so very lucky on that day to escape with their lives.

With Adam's permission, I reproduce his message to his Facebook friends below which gives all the details on how to vote. It only takes a few seconds to show support. Mods, if this is in the wrong place, or you feel it's inappropriate, please feel free to do the necessary, but I really hope that we as an online community of immigrants can do something to help our fellow immigrants and their families. On behalf of Adam, his family and me, thank you so much.

-- Maven

Hi to all my friends, fans and others. Adam Marsland here, and thank you for taking the time to read this.

As most of you already know, my brother has been spearheading an effort to build a memorial to the victims of last April's mass shootings in Binghamton, N.Y (

http://en.wikipedia....hamton_massacre), including his wife, my sister-in-law Hongxiu. Last month he entered a contest sponsored by Pepsi for a $50,000 grant which would take care of the remaining funding for the project.

As January started, partly fueled by your votes, the project was in the top 10, and if it finishes this month in the top 10, the project will receive the funding it needs.

However, the project has now dropped down to #13 in the rankings. If the project does not get a boost in the next 11 days, the grant won't happen.

I know that there are enough people among my Facebook friends and mailing list to push the project back into the top 10 and win it, and so I'm asking, with great respect, for you to continue to vote for this through the end of the month.

I know how tiresome these contests are, the reluctance to give away any personal information online, and the natural fatigue for when you get asked to do too much for too long. I deliberately have not pushed this this month to give everyone a break and also did not want to interfere with, associate to or detract from the mourning following the events in Arizona.

HOW TO VOTE

The easiest ways to vote for the memorial are simply to go this link and vote:

http://www.refreshev...com/acamemorial

and/or text 104461 to Pepsi (73774).

If you do both, your vote WILL count twice. There is also a Facebook app you can download for a third vote...you can find information on the page. There are also voting partners in the effort where spare votes are being exchanged with other projects. If you want to get involved in this, e-mail me and I will send you the list.

Look...I know a lot of people take peoples' votes, and attention, for granted in these things. I want you to know that I do not...even when I'm pushing my own projects, I try not to take up this much bandwidth. This is a special case, a really worthy cause to remember people that died trying to better themselves, people who played by the rules of our society and did nothing to deserve their fate.

I hope you'll vote for the project, and I hope you'll stick with me for the next couple of weeks as I help the push to make this thing happen. If we don't get there, at least we'll know we've done all we could. But I'm pretty sure we can do it.

Thanks so much for your help with this, everyone.

-- Adam

Edited January 21, 2011 by elmcitymaven

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

My vote is in.

[The_Dude 1,142]

My vote is in.

Thanks for the bump, just reminded me to vote again. Nice that you can vote once per day, per email address or cell phone # to text.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Thanks guys. I vote 5 or 6 times a day using multiple email addresses and my phone.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

*bump*

Thanks to everyone again for voting -- the Marsland family has been informed that we're voting on this and they send their appreciation to you all.

HOW TO VOTE

The easiest ways to vote for the memorial are simply to go this link and vote:

http://www.refreshev...com/acamemorial

and/or text 104461 to Pepsi (73774).

[Pooky 3,786]

Been done voted, too

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Been done voted, too

Thank you! Vote tomorrow too please!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Sorry to bump, but *bump*.

There are only 8 days left for voting, and the project has slipped to number 14. Every vote helps, so PLEASE take a moment to voice your support.

HOW TO VOTE

The easiest ways to vote for the memorial are simply to go this link and vote:

http://www.refreshev...com/acamemorial

and/or text 104461 to Pepsi (73774).

[The_Dude 1,142]

Thanks for the reminder to vote again