Our final $1,000 micro-grant of 2013: YOU be the Trustee!

We’re nearing the end of our year here at Awesome Calgary, but before we break for the holidays, we still have one final $1,000 micro-grant to give away before it’s all said and done.

This time around, we’re doing something different. We’re giving YOU the opportunity to be a Trustee, and we’re letting YOU pick which four ideas from our submission pool will be invited to pitch their ideas in front of our Trustees of Awesome and the general public at our Pitch Night in December.

On Monday, November 18, we’ll start posting the submissions from our pool of submissions who have agreed to participate in this, each in separate blog posts, all at once. You’ll be able to read through all of the submissions the same way we do and get a taste of what we as Trustees have to do every month when we have to decide upon our Top4 Finalist and Honourable Mention short lists.

You’ll then have to decide on which are YOUR Top4 ideas out of that submission pool, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see at our final Pitch Night of 2013. You’ll be ranking them from 1 to 4, with 1 being your most favourite, and 4 being your “still my favourite, but I’ve got three others that I favour more” selection. Once done, you’ll submit your selections to us through an online ballot form that will be posted at the end of each submission for your convenience (Note: One vote per person participating, please).

The deadline to get your votes in will be midnight on Saturday, November 30 (which is just under two weeks for you to review the submissions). We’ll tabulate the results the next day, and then we’ll announce our final set of Top4 Finalists on the morning of Monday, December 2, along with our final Pitch Night and venue for the year.

So to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

Simple, right? Everything’s now live, so get cracking!

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to reach us at contact@awesomecalgary.org. We’d love to hear from you.

F.A.Q. (Will be updated frequently)

Q: What happens if I have more than four favourites?

A: Congratulations! You’re experiencing just one of the many dilemmas we go through as Awesome Foundation Trustees each and every month! You’re just going to have to whittle your short list down to four of them, using whatever method you feel it’ll take. Some AF-Calgary Trustee favourites:

• Subjective points system (ex. Points for creativity, Awesome Impact, community involvement, bang-for-the-buck, uniqueness, probability of successful execution, broad appeal, is it a realistic idea, etc; basically, rank ideas based on whatever criteria is important to you).
• Strenuous discussion and debate on the merits of each and every idea amongst your friends and peers (usually over food and beverages).
• Reach out to the various submitters for more information on their projects.
• Random number generator (method most favoured by AF nerds and geeks alike).
• Weighing the probability of bribes and the effect of one’s biases on your personal selection process.
• The ‘Dart Board’ method.

Q: But what happens if I have less than four favourites?

A: That’s not a problem! You don’t need to feel obligated to have to submit four choices. Just list your top 1 or 2 (or 3) choices, and for whatever is left over, choose ‘No Selection’ on the ballot form. Our super-secret scoring algorithm is smart enough to weigh your choices appropriately (which is why it’s important for you to also rank your choices when you submit them to us), knowing that if push came to shove and there was only one slot left to fill, you would prefer that your Number 1 choice made it in over your Number 2 choice, etc.

Q: Wait, you guys have a super-secret scoring algorithm?! How does that work??

A: Duh, it’s a secret! But if you really want to know, track down our Dean of Awesome at one of our events, and he’ll be happy to tell you in explicit detail about how it all works. Because he’s a nerd.

Q: Alright, sounds like fun. Where can I read the submissions?

A: All eligible submissions for this initiative can be found here and here. Read carefully through all of them before choosing your Top4 picks!

Q: OK, I’ve chosen my Top4. Where do I go to submit them to you guys?

A: Fill out our handy-dandy web ballot. The deadline to get your submissions in is midnight on Saturday, November 30, 2013. (Note: One vote per person, please; any suspicious looking entries will be discarded).

The final results will be announced on our website on the morning of Monday, December 2 as well as our end-of-year venue announcement.

Q: Wow, that was fun! I like what you guys do. What more can I do to help?

A: Glad you asked! We’re always on the look out for new Volunteers to help us at our events or with the day-to-day operations of keeping our chapter running in between micro-grants, and of course, we’re ALWAYS on the look out for new Trustees who wish to help fund more Awesomeness in the city. The more Trustees we have, the more grants we can give away and the more often that we can do it!

If you’d like to learn more about some of the wonderful opportunities that our Awesome Foundation chapter has to offer, there’s a checkbox at the end of the ballot form where you can indicate your interest. Otherwise, send us a message through our volunteer contact form at any time, and one of our Ninjas of Awesome will get back to you.

We’re looking at trying some different things in 2014 operationally and in the public just to keep things fresh, and we could definitely use some more help to try and pull it off. So if you feel that you have a skill or something else to contribute, we’d love to hear from you, whatever it is!

Q: How can I stay updated with what you guys are up to?

A: You can find us on Twitter at @awesome_calgary, on Facebook at facebook.com/awesomecalgary, on Google+ at gplus.to/awesomecalgary, on Storify at storify.com/awesomecalgary and right here on our blog at awesomecalgary.org. You can also sign up for our newsletter, which we’ll be using to announce our public-facing events and activities, news on what’s happening in the International AF world as well as follow up stories with previous Awesome Calgary micro-grant fellows, Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions on all of their awesome journeys.

Our chapter will be relaunching sometime in early 2014 with a new granting schedule, so make sure to follow us on our various social media channels above or subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know!

Is this thing on? Announcing our November granting process - Warning: It's different!

Hi. You may have noticed the lack of updates here recently. Well, the truth of the matter is, our chapter is on hiatus until next year, but in the meantime, we do have ONE FINAL $1,000 micro-grant left in the war chest to give away.

AND we want YOU to help us decide who gets it.

That’s right, for this go-round, our final one of 2013, YOU GET TO BE THE TRUSTEE. We want YOU to help US choose our final set of Top4 Finalists for the year. Yep, this month, we’re crowd-sourcing the selection process.

On Monday, November 18, we’ll be posting the various submissions that are vying for our final $1,000 micro-grant of 2013 right here at awesomecalgary.org, where you can take a look at them and then vote for your Top4 selections through an online ballot we’ll release closer to the day. You’ll have until midnight on Saturday, November 30 to get your submissions in.

We’ll then take that weekend to tabulate the results and announce our final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 on the morning of Monday, December 2, the four of which will then be invited to pitch their ideas to the AF-Calgary Trustees and the public at our final Pitch Night for 2013.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at being an Awesome Calgary Trustee, now’s your chance. Stay tuned!

EDIT: And it’s on!

Announcing our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for August 2013

Summer's winding down (already?!) but things are heating up here over at Awesome Calgary, as we prepare to award yet another $1,000 micro-grant to someone to help make their Awesome Idea become a reality.

So, without further ado, here are our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for August 2013, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists

1. Crowdsourced Sculpture by Tom Bielecki:  "Engineering+Art: World's first crowdsourced 3D printed sculpture."
2. Buck E. Deeds by Cory Chapdelaine:  "Random good deeds all over Calgary for the entire month of September."
3. Waterways - A Commemorative Flood Sculpture by Alia Shahab:  "A kinetic water sculpture constructed using salvaged flood materials, through a community collaboration, to explore the power and mystery of water and highlight the resilience and spirit of Calgary's community."
4. Bridgeland Community Kids Basketball Camp by Paul Lau:  "Free fun Basketball Camp for Kids."

Honourable Mentions

• Crazy EL-Wire Guerrilla Art by Kyle Cappis:  "Public lit-up EL-Wire art installations."
• Pterodactyl HD by Jason Bedard:  "The idea is to make a model pterodactyl with embedded HD video camera fly continuously back and forth overhead of a busy public event, wirelessly broadcasting all that it sees with its fearsome dino-birdie eyes."
• Meaningful Meals by Anneke Scholten:  "Bringing people back together around the dining table!"
• Funding the Vanguard by Daniel Rodriguez:  "Bringing forward the newspaper that Calgary deserves."
• Vital Signs Machines!!! by Shauna Brady:  "We (the nurses) want to buy fancy vital signs machines to better serve our patients on U43!"

This month, our Awesome Calgary Pitch Night will take place on a special day of Tuesday, August 27 at 6 p.m. at our usual haunt, the Endeavor Arts and Design Space. That's this TUESDAY!

• What:  Awesome Calgary's July Pitch Night and Awesome Hours
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Event Space (1209 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

 Hope you can make it out!

Back on Schedule: This month's Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions!

Flood Madness threw us off our usual schedule for a few weeks, but we're back just in time to celebrate the fourth anniversary of The Awesome Foundation, complete with our very first dinosaur-themed submission to crack Top4!

So without further ado, here are our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for this month, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists

1. Pterodactyl HD by Jason Bedard:  "The idea is to make a model pterodactyl with embedded HD video camera fly continuously back and forth overhead of a busy public event, wirelessly broadcasting all that it sees with its fearsome dino-birdie eyes."
2. Zine Machine by Jeffery Wood:  "Zine Machine is a vending machine that dispenses 'zines' (small magazines)."
3. Song of Life by Daniel Okpala:  "Music for a cause. Write a song that would be used to raise awareness and money for a cause or issue affecting Calgarians."
4. Bikes for Needy Kids by Richard Link:  "I have the opportunity to supply quality mountain bikes to needy kids during 2013 Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day."

Honourable Mentions

• Starting the Telegraph by Daniel Leon Rodriguez:  "Funding help starting The Calgarian Telegraph, a new publication that will work as an open publication for all members of the community where anyone can contribute."
• The Party Bike by Bob (Nowak) Michalewich:  "A mobile audio/visual experience, putting smiles on faces at events and group rides."
• Meaningful Meals by Anneke Scholten:  "Create awareness about the importance of eating together by organizing events such as the Week of Eating Together."
• Silk Road of Peace by Jorg Ostrowski:  "Using Calgary experience of the last 36 years, we plan to ecological retrofit a few caravanserai along the old Silk Road to resurrect and regenerate, revitalize and repopulate this model of peaceful coexistence and international exchange."

View Larger Map

This month's Awesome Calgary Pitch Night takes place on the special date of Tuesday, July 23. So for all of those out there who were concerned about scheduling conflicts with Calgary Folk Fest in the past, we've accommodated! It'll take place at our usual haunt: The Endeavor Arts & Events Space.

• What:  Awesome Calgary's July Pitch Night and Awesome Hours
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Event Space (1209 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

Hope you can make it out!

Join us on Awesome Day in Canada as we support the community of Mission!

Friends of Awesome, due to the recent flooding in the Calgary area, Awesome Foundation - Calgary will be postponing our June Pitch Night on 06/27 to focus our efforts on helping Calgarians to rebuild. 

For Awesome Day in Canada, we'll be based in the SW community of Mission and will be supporting residents there in two ways:

First, we'll be complementing the Volunteer Recruitment tent set up in the parking lot of the Mission Safeway location with our very own Relaxation Tent. It's going to be a hot day tomorrow, so we'll be providing a shaded place where people can rest up after cleaning up various buildings and where people can sit and enjoy the free food that a variety of vendors around Mission are providing to volunteers, first responders and flood victims, rather than having to sit on the sidewalk. We'll also have a cell phone charging station set up where people who need a little more juice for their phones can plug in, which is important as much of the neighbourhood is still without power. We may have other amenities as well. Stay tuned!

Second, as Mission is still in desperate need of volunteers, we'll be supporting their recruitment efforts by helping to promote the need throughout the day and by recruiting people for Task Force Awesome who will be a crack team of Awesome Volunteers who'll help people in need to clean up and rebuild their homes. Grab a limited edition Awesome Calgary button and get out there and show your civic pride.

Everyone's invited, so please, if you're a supporter of our normal Awesome Calgary events, please come join us any time on 06/27 as we help support the residents of Mission during this difficult time. Bring your friends!

• What: Join Task Force Awesome as Awesome Calgary supports the community of Mission
• Where: Parking lot of the Mission Safeway (524 Elbow Drive SW)
• When: Thursday, June 27, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• RSVP: Facebook
• Hashtag: #AWEyyc

Keep Calm & Stay Awesome! Or: How you can help with the #yycflood efforts

Looks like the folks over at Awful Calgary have declared war on Mother Nature due to the recent flood.

While it PAINS us to agree with them on anything, no one can deny the fact that recent events in our area aren't just Awful, they're absolutely Horrible.

Many people from within Calgary and outside of town are wondering how they can help. It's a good question, and in fact, there are many ways!

For those of you out of town or wishing to donate monetary funds, you can do so through the Canadian Red Cross' special Alberta Floods Fund here:

http://www.redcross.ca/donate/donate-online/donate-to-the-alberta-floods

They accept PayPal too, so you can donate online through credit cards, PayPal balance or even through your bank account if you have that set up. You can also use prepaid credit cards or gift cards that you can purchase from many stores. They work fantastic, although some prepaid gift cards require you to register a valid address first before they can be used for online purchases.

If you'd like a bit more control and granularity over where your dollars go, our friend Gena Rotstein over at Place2Give.com has set up a special page where you can choose what organizations receive your donation. It's especially handy because some of those organizations aren't equipped to accept online donations through their websites at this time.

http://www.place2give.com/CalgaryFlood.html

Note that Place2Give applies a credit card processing fee of 3.9% to all transactions, which will be added to your donation total.

Keep an eye on Volunteer Calgary's blog for organizations looking for items to be donated:

http://volunteercalgary.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/calgary-flood-donation-drop-off-points-and-wish-lists/

It's being constantly updated as new requests for items from various organizations come in.

If you're interested in helping defy the odds to pull off The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth in time and on schedule for the citizens of Calgary and the rest of the world, keep an eye on the Calgary Stampede's special web page here for updates and for when a general request for assistance from the community goes out:

http://calgarystampede.com/waterissue

If you've got specialized equipment or skills that you'd like to donate to help with the recovery efforts, you can contact the City directly by sending an email to cema.logistics@calgary.ca. They're starting to reach out to people for that particular need, but only through that email address.

If you're looking for opportunities to help clean up or restore our city, keep an eye on the Calgary Clean Up Facebook page organized by one of our friends (as well as former and Founding Awesome Calgary Trustee) Brian Singh, or register yourselves as a volunteer at YYC Helps and you'll be the first to know when opportunities arise or when the general call for help goes out. They'll be coordinating with the City to ensure that the grassroots community recovery initiatives complement the official overall City efforts as well.

http://yychelps.ca

You can also register as a volunteer with Samaritan's Purse, which is useful if you'd like to help with cleanup efforts outside of the city of Calgary:

https://secure.samaritan.ca/donation/volunteer/

Or you can now register yourselves directly with the City as a volunteer!

The City of Calgary has set up a Volunteer Centre to bring able hands and recovery needs together.

Simply register your availability. Currently, they are not looking for specific skill sets (i.e. plumbers, electricians, etc). They are in need of generalists.

Volunteers can register as individuals or groups. To register, send an email with the following information to volunteer@calgary.ca:

• Name
• Phone Number
• Availability (For example, if you're available only between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on any day but Tuesday, include that information in your email. But please, keep it simple!)

Volunteers can also register by calling any of the following numbers:

• 587-998-7817
• 587-998-7835
• 587-998-7837
• 587-998-7832

That's it for now. Keep an eye on The City of Calgary Twitter account at @cityofcalgary and the Calgary City News Blog for all the latest updates.

In the meantime, Stay Safe, Keep Calm and Stay Awesome! We'll get through this together.

Updated venue information for 06/27 (a.k.a. Awesome Day in Canada!)

A reminder that this month's $1,000 Thursday falls on 06/27, otherwise known as Awesome Day in Canada! Not only are we partnering with the Calgary Public Library for this one, but also with our friends over at Calgary Is Awesome! Why? Because we're all equally awesome! That's why.

In fact, we'll be performing Random Acts of Awesome from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Stephen Avenue Walk downtown to celebrate. Come grab your choice of a free hug, a limited edition Awesome Day in Canada themed button, or an ultra limited-edition customized Awesome Calgary Fortune Cookie that highlights one of our previously funded projects. Plus, have your picture taken with our virtual Chalkboard of Awesome that will be included in a national (and possibly global!) photo montage later on!

• What:  Random Acts of Awesome with Awesome Calgary!
• Where:  Stephen Avenue Walk (8 Avenue SW between 1 Street SE and 4 Street SW)
• When:  Thursday, June 27, 2013 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

We'll be capping off our Awesome Day in Canada festivities with our traditional Awesome Calgary $1,000 Thursday Pitch Event at 6 p.m.

Note that this month's $1,000 Thursday venue is the Louise Riley Library Program Centre, which is in a separate building from the library itself. Refer to the map below:

We'll have signs outside directing people to the proper building, but if in doubt, look for the building with this picture of Mona on it; you can't miss her!

• What:  Awesome Calgary's $1,000 Thursday, Super-Special Awesome Day in Canada Edition!
• Where:  Louise Riley Library Program Centre (1904 - 14 Avenue NW)
• When:  Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

Hope to see you out on 06/27, either downtown in the afternoon or at the Louise Riley Library in the evening!

They say you need a montage...

With Awesome Day in Canada coming up in a few short weeks, we thought it'd be fun to take a look back at some of the Awesome Ideas that have come through our doors over the last couple of years.

So what better way is there to do that than with a music video? Enjoy and please join us on 06/27 at the Louise Public Library for our $1,000 Thursday - Awesome Day in Canada Edition, presented in partnership with our friends at the Calgary Public Library!

Also, our submission deadline for June is coming up fast. If you'd like to submit an Awesome Idea to us for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form by Monday, June 10, 2013 at 11:59 p.m.!

And if you'd like to join us for our 06/27 festivities as a Guest Trustee, we still have a few spots open for that as well! If you've ever wanted to try your hand at being a Trustee of Awesome here at Awesome Calgary without the long-term commitment, then sign up to be an AF-Calgary Guest Trustee!

Guest Trustees get all the voting privileges as a full-time Trustee (including helping to narrow down the monthly short lists the week prior to the event) and get the best job of all: Awarding the winning project with $1,000 to help make their idea a reality! If that sounds interesting to you AND you'd like to be one of our Guest Trustees for Awesome Day in Canada, fill out this super-simple web form by June 10 as well and one of our Ninjas of Awesome will get back to you.

Save the Date: 06/27 is Awesome Day in Canada!

In the last few months, we've celebrated some big milestones here at Awesome Calgary. Our Second Anniversary event in April and our 25th $1,000 micro-grant in May. How can we possibly top that?

Well, us and many of our Canadian AF brethren have declared Thursday, June 27 as Awesome Day in Canada! Many Canadian Awesome Foundation chapters will be doing something special in their city on that day to help celebrate, whether it's holding an Awesome Hours Meet & Greet, performing flash mobs or give aways, or hosting a Pitch Event or grant recipient ceremony.

Here in Calgary, we'll be teaming up again with our friends at the Calgary Public Library to host our June $1,000 Thursday event, this time at the Louise Riley Library in the NW. Our Pitch Event will cap off Calgary's Awesome Day in Canada festivities, and you're invited!

View Larger Map

• What:  Awesome Calgary's $1,000 Thursday, Super-Special Awesome Day in Canada Edition!
• Where:  Louise Riley Library Program Centre (1904 - 14 Avenue NW)
• When:  Thursday, June 27, 2013 at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

Free pizza and pop will be provided courtesy of the Calgary Public Library to help celebrate, so come hungry!

We'll also be doing things throughout the day and during the lead up to the event online and in the city in honour of Awesome Day in Canada, so keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter feeds as we're ready to announce what those are.

For now, please join us on 06/27 at the Louise Riley Library as we'll award another $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant to help make an Awesome Idea in the city become a reality.

We hope to see you then!

Something Awesome: Nerf'ing your friends

Picture this:  You're walking down the street at night after a long day at work. You missed dinner. Your boss made you stay extra late and all you want to do is kick back and relax on the couch. Maybe have a cup of cocoa. Maybe watch some TV. Just a normal, quiet evening before bed.

The street is deserted. You're about halfway home. You're still feeling a bit peckish. There's a convenience store about four blocks to your right. Takes you out of the way, but the hunger. Oh, the hunger.

You decide to take the detour. That's what convenience stores are for, right? The convenience. As you round the corner, you feel…something. Something that's not quite right.

You look around. No one there. You shrug it off. You're exhausted. Maybe a little paranoid. It's getting late, right? The moon is out. Must be a trick of the lighting.

You keep walking, in anticipation of the hot dogs and giant cup of soda you're about to get.

Then, all of a sudden, three guys jump out of a car in front of you. Two more people approach you from behind. You didn't notice them at first, but your senses knew. You just never trust your gut.

The light is dim. You can barely make them out, but they begin walking ominously towards you. They start to reach into their coats for something. This is bad. Five on one. Crap odds no matter how you look at it.

"This is Calgary," you mutter to yourself. "This kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen here."

As they aim their weapons at you, you choose to stand your ground. You're not giving up without a fight. Besides, you're tired, you're still hungry and that convenience store is just within sight.

As the incoming projectiles come upon you, you whip out your Lightsaber and use your Padawan training to deflect everything. Then, as the aggressors try to reload, in an homage to The Matrix that would make Neo proud, you quickly sheath your Lightsaber, whip out your twin Nerf guns from under your coat and start showing these guys who's boss.

That, in a nutshell, is Dartwars.

• What:  Dartwars Calgary 2013
• Where:  The entire City of Calgary
• When:  June 1 - 30, 2013

If you've ever wanted to play at secret agent, then Dartwars Calgary is for you. An alternate-reality game, Dartwars is a month-long Nerf dart gun fight that takes place all over the city. Participants each get three lives and try to get points by eliminating other players. If a player scores a hit, they get a point and the other guy loses a life. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.

Lightsabers are used in the event of melee combat, to settle disputes, or to block incoming Nerf projectiles.

There are safe zones. Places of employment, public transit and C-Train platforms, schools and your home are off-limits. Everything else in the city is fair game.

There are a bunch of other rules to ensure that this remains a fun and safe game for all. For the full list, check out the Dartwars Calgary website.

Dartwars Calgary 2013 was an Awesome Calgary Top4 Finalist in April 2013, and there's still plenty of room available for people who'd like to sign up to play.

If you're interested in signing up or learning more, the organizers are holding a Meet-and-Greet and Q&A on the final day of signups, Sunday, May 26. They'll answer any questions you have, and you can meet some of the potential participants that'll be playing all month long.

• What:  Dartwars Calgary Meet-and-Greet, Q&A and the Final chance to Sign Up!
• Where: Dickens Pub (1000 - 9 Avenue SW)
• When: Sunday, May 26 at 7 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

To learn more, check out Dartwars.ca or follow them on Facebook or Twitter at @DartWarsCalgary.

The Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive was a huge success!

The Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive, our March 2013 winning project by Kristina Prins, took place over Mother's Day weekend and was a complete success!  Over the weekend, 23,434 diapers were collected in support of the Calgary Food Bank to help families in need, and over 30,000 since the drive began in earnest in April.

The diaper drive culminated at the Mother's Day weekend event at the Calgary Zoo, and here's a photo recap of that weekend's events from our Photographer of Awesome, Saudah Chan.

Meet Emmit, Kristina's son and inspiration to start Calgary's first diaper drive, raising over 30,000 diapers since April 2013.

Winning $1,000 at Awesome Calgary's Pitch Night on March 2013, Kristina Prins launched her campaign at the Calgary Zoo for diaper donation drop offs.

With family pitching in and volunteers working many hours in shifts, Day One saw over 8,000 diapers collected.

While 8,000 diapers was impressive, Day Two of the Mother's Day weekend Diaper Drive saw even more contributions, including a reunion with a childhood friend.

With the increased awareness of the fact that 1 in 5 families struggle to provide clean diapers for their babies, many Calgarians pitched in to support the cause.

Donating diapers is as easy as 1-2-3.

The generosity of local businesses, individuals and churches helped to raise thousands of diapers for families in need, making the diaper drive a huge success.

Day Two nearly tripled the previous day's success, collecting over 23,000 diapers over both days for the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank.

Helping hands make for easier work.

We did it, Calgary! See you again next year!

For more photos, check out our Flickr slideshow:

And here's a quick message from Kristina about her experiences over the weekend:

Just because this year's edition of the Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive is now over, it doesn't mean you can't still contribute! The need is ever-present and the Calgary Food Bank accepts diaper donations year-round. If you have diapers that you'd like to donate, you can drop them off at their main location or at one of the many Calgary Food Bank donation boxes located at grocery stores across the city. The Food Bank will happy accept opened boxes and unused disposable diapers.

May's Top4 Finalists, Honourable Mentions and Venue

As we say goodbye to year two and start on the road to year three here at AF-Calgary, this month we'll be awarding our 25th $1,000 micro-grant on a special date: Wednesday, May 22.

With that in mind, here are this month's Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists

1. BuckTeeth: Oral Hygiene with a Social Conscience by Kyle MacQuarrie:  "Receive a new toothbrush to your door every three months while making a philanthropic donation of four toothbrushes to a chosen charitable organization."
2. Pavo Concertus by Ravi Mani:  "Junk Yard Wars + Pickup Truck + Peacocks + Pianos = Peacock art truck with an array of lights and sound."
3. Largest Potluck Challenge by Anneke Scholten:  "To promote the importance of Eating Together, we will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for Largest Potluck!"
4. 2013 People's Poetry Festival by Shannon McClennan:  "A free, three-day celebration of poetry in Calgary for young and old, amateur and beyond!"

Honourable Mentions

• Song of Life by Daniel Okpala:  "Music for a Cause."

View Larger Map

Again, please note that this month's Awesome Calgary Pitch Night takes place on a special date:  Wednesday, May 22 at the Endeavor Arts and Events Space.

• What:  Awesome Calgary May 2013 Pitch Night
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Events Space (#200, 1290 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Finally, we're accepting submissions for our June grant, and the deadline for that is Monday, June 10. Apply here.

In June, we'll be returning to our regular fourth-Thursday-of-the-month schedule and it'll be a special month for us as the Canadian chapters of The Awesome Foundation have declared Thursday, June 27 as Awesome Day in Canada! It'll be a fun one for sure. Stay tuned for more details.

Hope to see you out on Wednesday!

Something Awesome: Baby Bottoms!

What's awesome? Cute, bubbly, happy and healthy babies!

What's not awesome? Babies that are forced to spend extended periods of time in soiled diapers because no clean ones are available.

1 in 5 Canadian mothers struggle to provide clean diapers for their children. For families who struggle financially to make ends meet, they have to sacrifice necessities in order to afford new diapers, and the average baby will use 2,800 diapers in their first year alone, costing an average of $850. Furthermore, daycare facilities often will not accept children without a full day's supply of disposable diapers, which further increases the pressure on families in need.

Our March 2013 AF-Calgary Fellow Kristina Prins aims to change that and bring awareness to the need with her Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive.

• What:  The Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive
• Where:  North end of the Calgary Zoo (by the Penguin Plunge)
• When:  Saturday and Sunday May 11 and 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A self-funded project from Kristina's own pockets, she's teaming up with the Calgary Zoo to provide a diaper drop off this Mother's Day weekend in support of the Calgary Food Bank, who distributes a limited supply of diapers in hampers to families in need but is unable to spend any money on purchasing new ones as their mandate dictates that any funding has to go towards food. Citizens can drop off dollars or diapers at the zoo this weekend in exchange for a 2-for-1 admission for a future visit to the zoo.

All sizes of disposable diapers are needed, particularly sizes 5 and 6, and new or opened packages will be accepted.

If you can't make it down to the Zoo this weekend, donations will also be accepted year-round at the Calgary Food Bank, Food Bank donation stations at various supermarkets around town, and at all Community Health Centres (Shaganappi, South and North West Community Centres have year round collections).

Other locations may accept diapers throughout the year as well. For all the latest, follow Kristina's project on Facebook and Twitter, or if you'd like to learn more or how to organize a diaper drive of your own, send her a message by email.

So help a family in need this Mother's Day weekend by donating some dollars or a diaper or two to the Bare Bottoms Diaper Drive!

The Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for our Second Anniversary!

Only a few days away now until we celebrate our Second Anniversary, so without further ado, here are our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for April 2013, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists

1. Pavo Concertus by Isabel Chan:  "Transform a pickup truck into a peacock pipe organ with pitch-synchronized LEDs."
2. Dartwars by Ryan McEathron:  "A one-month long non-stop Nerf fight."
3. Give A Mile by Kevin Crowe:  "Give a Mile is a Not-For-Profit looking to enable people to visit terminally ill friends and family through micro-donations of travel points."
4. 24 Hour Clarkson by Seth Leon:  "One Band (Jeremy Clarkson, Ben and Seth Leon), 24 consecutive performances in 24 different locations in 24 hours."

Honourable Mentions

• Sprout by Stu Mason:  "We educate and enable Calgarians to make greener everyday purchases!  We're striving to make Calgary a future sustainability leader!"
• Sharing Stories by River Wearmouth:  "Sharing personal stories and creating a connected community."
• Fair Trade Calgary by Janalee Morris-Wales:  "Fair Trade Calgary will host a fair trade film screening and fair trade market to promote World Fair Trade Day."
• Roller Ball or Pedal Ball by Kevan Leycraft:  "A seven-foot globe a person a person gets inside, sits down and pedals!"
• Yarn Wristband Machine by Jason Bedard:  "I want to build a machine that makes event entry wristbands from yarn and then automatically ties this fibre creation to a person's wrist."
• THE REGENERATOR by Michael Kho:  "A generator that requires no gas!"

Please join us as we celebrate two whole years of awesomeness in our city.  We'll have a few of our past winners helping us with the festivities, live entertainment, and of course, what kind of a birthday party would this be if we didn't have a little cake?

• What:  Awesome Calgary's Second Anniversary $1,000 Thursday Bash!
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Event Space (1290 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Thursday, April 25, 2013.  Doors open at 6 p.m.  Program starts at 6:30 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook and Yelp

A reminder that we're now accepting submissions for the month of May.  If you'd like to submit an idea to Awesome Calgary for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form!  The May submission deadline is Friday, May 10, 2013 at 11:59 p.m.

And finally, there's still time to be a Guest Trustee for our Second Anniversary!  A Guest Trustee gets all of the voting rights that our normal full-time Trustees get, but only for one month and we still have a couple of slots available for this occasion.  If you're interested in participating in this very special role at this month's event, let us know! (PS: We're also on the look out for full-time Trustees too, plus a bunch of volunteers to help us dominate year three!)

Help us kick off Year Three with a BANG! Come Join Us!

Our chapter of The Awesome Foundation wouldn't be where we are today without the support we've had from the community.

Of course, we wouldn't be anywhere if people didn't submit their awesome ideas for consideration each and every month.  So to anyone and everyone who's ever done so in the past, or will do in the future, we thank you.

Every person who attends our Pitch Nights helps us further the cause of awesomeness in the universe as well, as we're able to help promote and expose some of the great ideas that pass through our doors every month.  Connections have been made, and many projects have gotten one step closer to completion, even if they didn't win our monthly prize.

We also wouldn't be anywhere without all of our wonderful volunteers.  Our volunteers help to run our monthly events or help keep things going behind-the-scenes so that we can continue to spread awesome in Calgary.

None of us get paid for what we do.  In fact, our AF-Calgary Trustees pay out of their own pockets to help fund our monthly gift.  We're entirely self-funded, and we wouldn't have been able to fund $23,000 in awesome projects during the last couple of years without the support of those who are willing to take the ultimate step and donate financially to our monthly micro-grants.

No, we do it because we love what we do, we love Calgary, and we all have a sincere desire to try to help others make the city as awesome as it can be, in whatever way they choose to do so.

As we say farewell to year two and greet year three here at Awesome Calgary, a number of our full-time Trustees have or will be finishing up their terms in the next little while, so we're looking for people who might be interested in helping us to continue to fund awesomeness in the city as full-time Trustees of Awesome.  In fact, we would love it if we had enough Trustees to start funding more than one prize a month.

We're also debuting something new at this month's Second Anniversary event.  Starting next week, every month we'll have a limited number of Guest Trustee slots available.  Guest Trustees have the same voting rights as full-time Trustees (i.e. they get to help narrow down the monthly short lists, and get to vote on the winner at Pitch Night), but without the full time financial commitment.  It's designed to give those who are thinking about becoming full-time Trustees an opportunity to try it out, or for those who've indicated in the past that they wish to make a one-time financial contribution to help keep things going.

Finally, we're always on the lookout for good volunteers too in a variety of areas and skill sets.  Social Media, logistics, communications, you name it.  In fact, some of the best positions are the ones we've never thought of, so if you're the type of person who feels like they have something to contribute to our awesome movement, then we want to hear from you.

In other words, if you have a passion for helping others achieve their potential, then you're the type of person we're looking for!  So help us kick off Year Three here at Awesome Calgary with a BANG and join our team as a Trustee or Volunteer.

If you're interested in learning more about our Trustee or Volunteer opportunities, or wish to be a Guest Trustee at our Second Anniversary event, fill out this super simple application form and one of our Ninjas of Awesome will get back to you.

And in the meantime, feel free to check out our Second Anniversary Bash happening next Thursday, April 25 at the Endeavor Arts & Events Space.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program starts at 6:30 p.m. and everyone's invited.

Thanks Calgary for two really awesome years, and here's looking to Year Three!