The one month marker for our first campaign has come and gone. Today, we have a brief update for you.

First, we are pretty sure everyone knows we made our first goal of $1000 — and then promptly passed it. Congratulations! As of right now, the donations and store purchases add up to a total of $1373! Based on a poll in the LiveJournal community, we are going to make the final goal of the first campaign $2000.

If you haven’t donated yet, please don’t let the fact we reached the first goal stop you now. We have a new goal ahead of us, and we are confident we can reach it by September 1st.

Second, it is almost time to start voting on the next two charities. In order to give everyone adequate time to research charities and then vote, we would like to post the poll here on the web site starting July 27th. It would run until September 1st. The poll choices will include all the previously mentioned charities, and you will have the ability to nominate charities as well. Be sure to research your nominees. They should be a registered non-profit in the US or UK.

To look up registered UK charities, visit the Register of Charities.

To look up registered US charities, visit the Internal Revenue Service.

To look up registered Canadian charities, visit Revenue Canada (English, French).

Lastly, if you are going to send a note in for the Comic-Con letter, you have until the 19th. So far, we have half a dozen notes, which is fine, but we want to make sure everyone who has donated or made a purchase in the store gets a chance to send in a brief note if they wish.

Okay, that’s it — spread the word, send in pictures of your Fandom Rocks shirts, and have a great week!

We have four more days until we reach the one-month milestone of our first campaign. However, it is with great excitement that we can share with you that we reached our goal for the first campaign — in fact, we exceeded it. Since the distribution of the press release and posting of the Lawrence Journal article, activity picked up dramatically. As of this moment, fans have come together to raise $1100!

We can only hope this momentum will continue throughout the remaining eight weeks of the campaign. Even though the first campaign has met the goal of $1000, Fandom Rocks will continue raising funds for Lawrence Community Shelter and SOS Children’s Villages until September 1st. If you have been waiting to be a part of the campaign, now is a great time to donate. Donations have ranged from $5 to $100, and no matter the amount, the total raised wouldn’t be possible without each and every one.

Don’t forget to send in your note for the Comic-Con letter by July 14th, and thank you for making the campaign a success.

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In other news, Fandom Rocks was recognized at the television web site BuddyTV.com earlier today. You can read the article here.A Google News feed for Fandom Rocks has been added to the News Feeds page as well.

Good morning! Exciting news at Fandom Rocks today. We were contacted by Anne Bracker, from the Board of Directors of the Lawrence Community Shelter, regarding a press release in June. We are pleased to say it has been distributed and generated an interview with the Lawrence Journal-World.

You can read the press release here.

The article and an audio clip of the interview can be found here. You can also listen to the audio clip directly below.

[audio:LJW-20070710-audio.mp3]

Thank you to Anne for her continuing willingness to work with the fans, and thank you to George Diepenbrock for the opportunity to talk about Fandom Rocks, our charity campaign, and Supernatural.

Good morning,

Time for a campaign update for everyone out there. Things on the site have been quiet lately, and this is because we have been working “behind the scenes” to keep our campaign rolling.

First, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has contributed so far via Paypal:

Carolynne P., Lisa B., Brande R., Donna T., Crystal C., Janine L., Ditte T., Gariela G., Rebecca M., Krista B., Linda K., Heather F., Bernadette G., Vanessa H., Stephanie L., and Anja K.

Also, thank you to everyone who has made a purchase at the Fandom Rocks Cafe Press store. As you know, $1 from each item (that’s 100% of our proceeds!) goes into the campaign coffers:

Melissa C., Kara B., Rebecca M., Amber M., Vanessa H., Bernadette G., Suzanne S., Gabriela G., Shona D., Kelly S., Abigail B., Joan H., Ramona H., Anja K., and Brande R.

We couldn’t stop there without sending special thanks to Lisa B. for her donation of proceeds from her eBay bracelet auction!

With all of these donations, we’ve collected an amazing $370 toward our $1,000 goal.

This brings us to our second item for today:

We are pushing to make 50% of our goal (a total of $500 collected) by July 14th. This date marks the end of the first month of our first campaign. This gives us 1 week to raise $130. To that end, we’ve been working on ways to motivate our wonderful contributors and fellow fans.

We are currently working on letters to be sent to Eric, Jensen, and Jared explaining Fandom Rocks and our efforts on behalf of our charities and the show. A Comic-Con guest has graciously agreed to deliver the letters for us. (A letter to Kim Manners has already been drafted and sent via another Fandom Rocks campaigner!)

As a special “thank you” to all of them and to our contributors, anyone who has contributed via Paypal or made a purchase from the Cafepress store by July 14th will have the option of including a short, personalized message in the letter. If you would like to be included, please email your message to us at contact[at]fandom-rocks[dot]com. To show them that this is truly an international effort, we would like to include your name and country with your message.

If you are not emailing from the address on your Paypal account, please include your Paypal address or the name on your Paypal account so that we can connect the message with the correct sender.

Finally, as some may have heard on the news, the Kansas area has been hit hard with extreme weather and flooding. We have been in touch with the Lawrence Community Shelter and fortunately they have not experienced the extreme flooding that has affected so many areas of the state. We will be in touch with them throughout the campaign to keep updated on the status of the community.

However, it stands to reason that they will experience some additional strain supporting nearby communities who were flooded. Just like our beloved Winchesters, some of these families have lost everything as they watch floodwaters invade their homes to the rooflines. Additionally, a local oil refinery did not get their pumps closed in time, leaking hundreds of barrels of oil into the water, which means some of these homes are unlikely to be salvageable.

This means that donations to Fandom Rocks are more important and timely than ever! If you have not contributed yet, please consider doing so.

Coming Soon: New site design, new banners, and a new poll!

Here we are, only ten days into our first campaign … Fandom Rocks is pleased to report that the fans of Supernatural have raised over $250! This places the campaign at 25% of its $1000 goal — with over two months still to go.

In these ten days, donations have been coming in steadily. The Fandom Rocks store has also seen seventeen orders, each of which adds $1 to the campaign. Some of the orders have already shipped — so Fandom Rocks supporters, let’s see some pictures of you with your purchase when you get it!

Thank you for your support! Word is spreading every day, and we hope you will continue to talk about it … raising awareness of the charities and peaking interest in Supernatural.

Until the next update, a quote from tonight’s episode, “Crossroad Blues.”

Sam: Well, so much for our low profile. You’ve got a warrant in St. Louis, and now you’re officially in the Feds’ database.
Dean: Dude, I’m like Dillinger or something.
Sam: Dean, it’s not funny. It makes the job harder; we’ve got to be more careful now.
Dean: What do they got on you?
Sam: I’m sure they just … haven’t posted it yet.
Dean: Wait, no accessory? Nothing?
Sam: Shut up!
Dean: You’re jealous!
Sam: No, I’m not!
Dean: All right. What have you got on the case there, you innocent, harmless young man, you?