[Just some of the many fabulous folks who attended last night. Special thanks to Franklin McMahon for taking this picture.]

@Twestival207 went off last night without a hitch, and that’s largely thanks to all of you who helped out in some (and many) way(s). We raised $1,500 for Maine AIDS Alliance (on Twitter), brought the group a good bit of attention through promotion and press, and then we all had a fabulous time last night over at SPACE Gallery (on Twitter).

We’d like to thank Kelly Arsenault for all of her help putting together sponsorships, building relationships, managing some outreach, and bringing our two quite generous sponsors — Black Point Inn and Leonardo’s Pizza — to the table. At the same time, I would like to thank both sponsors for making very sizable donations to the event. So many thanks to you all.

Further, speaking of sponsors, I am happy to thank Sarah Wallace (her website), Chris Kast of kast: Strategy Development & Creative Consultation, Heather Desi of Beadin’ Path, Lynnelle Wilson of Bold Vision Consulting, Steve Darnley of Tugboat Creative, Greg Daly of Brand Royal, Gillian Britt of gBritt P.R., Rebecca Berry of Berry Marketing Solutions, Jaica, Chrystie, Rich and the whole crew of the Social Media FTW Conference, Rich Brooks of Flyte New Media, Lanna Lee Maheux-Quinn, Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn (Lanna and Edmund also picked up the pizzas when my first delivery option became unavailable, so thanks for that too!), Erin Dow of Eatswell Farm, Nancy Freedman-Smith of Gooddogs Training, Sally over at Eli Phant, and David and Morgan Surkin of PortSports Social Club.

Another couple of thank-yous should go out to SPACE Gallery, as they gave us a really unbelievable deal on the venue (thanks, Nat!), and rock-star Adam Kurtz for staffing the event. And many thanks to Justin Ellis of the Portland Press Herald for covering the event in the paper last week!

And of course, thanks to everyone at Twestival central for coming up with such a nifty idea.

As Andy [Bossie, Executive Director of Maine AIDS Alliance] said in his speech last night, it is really helpful for an organization — especially an advocacy organization — to be able to focus on its mission as much as possible by way of being able to rely on external and community fundraising, volunteer organization, and some general outreach management. Thanks to all of the help that we received from you for coming, spreading the word, making a donation, writing about us, offering good will, and/or helping in any of the ways that you did, we made this possible and Andy and the rest of the folks at Maine AIDS Alliance have expressed their gratitude time and again for everyone having done so. So thank you!

I look forward to doing some good with you again in the very near future,

@AlexSteed

We were really touched by sponsor Sarah Wallace’s blog post that details why she is supporting @Twestival207. Her post outlines Sarah’s personal experiences with friends living with AIDS and is well worth the read.

You can find the post here.

Ps. It’s an emotional one, indeed. As Sarah tweeted, “[This is the] first blog post I ever wrote that made me cry.”

Thanks so much to Justin Ellis (@JustinNXT) for covering the event.

From the article:

What if I told you the social networking service is being used right here in Maine to help local causes?

You probably wouldn’t believe me.

Believe it, naysayers, because Maine’s first Twitter-Festival or “Twestival” will be held on Sunday. Just say it once: “Twestival.”

Check it out here.

Twestival207, a Maine Twitter-organized benefit Maine AIDS Alliance, is this Sunday at SPACE Gallery. Tickets are $10 (you can buy them at the door) and they buy you food, a couple of free drinks, and entry to the party.

If you can’t make it, but would like to donate to the benefit (to support Maine AIDS Alliance), or if you can make it and care to give a little more, here’s your opportunity:

Donate here!

So many thanks for your on-going support. Please let everyone know!
@AlexSteed

The Twestival feels like it’s right around the corner, largely because it is!

The event is happening at SPACE Gallery in Portland on Sunday, September 13th from 5-8 (in the evening, early-birds).

You can get gain entry for making a suggested donation of $10 (all y’all ballers can give more if you want). It’ll be a party, and there’ll be food… and a couple of free drinks… and all of the money from the ticket sales go to The Maine AIDS Alliance.

You want to help, you say?

• Can you design posters? We need some of those.
• Are you a business that wants to sponsor the event? And benefit the Maine AIDS Alliance? And get talked a lot about by the hundreds of Maine Twitter folk? We need some more of those too.
• Want to help us do some sponsor outreach? That would be helpful as well.
• Do you have a talent that I am totally missing here? Let me know, k?

@alexsteed

Alrighty, y’all - It appears everything is in place. We’ve collectively selected the Maine AIDS Alliance as our organization/cause to support, and we’ve nailed down SPACE Gallery as a location for the Twestival. On Sunday, September 13th, from 5-8 pm, we’ll be having hosting our Twestival event there!

The event will function much like a Tweetup - there’ll be a bar, hanging out, witty banter and all of that. We’d love to have some sort of epic attendance, so please, please, please tell your friends and encourage them to come.

The only real difference between this event and a Tweetup is that we suggest making a donation to the Maine AIDS Alliance as a part of entry. Representatives from the Alliance will also be there to talk about what it is they do, and some of the great work they have done so far.

I’d really like to provide food for the event, so if you have a food hookup that would like to help out the Alliance/Twestival, please let me know.

In the meantime, we’re trying to figure out how to raise a bit of attention / funds for the Maine AIDS Alliance in the meantime. Do you have any ideas?

More soon…

@alexsteed

Great news, everyone! We have a cause to support!

After over 200 people voted on which nonprofit they would like to see @Twestival207 support, The Maine AIDS Alliance has been selected from 13 fabulous nominees.

About the MAA:

History

The Maine AIDS Alliance was founded in 1988 as an alliance of community-based AIDS organizations to provide a forum for the exchange of support, resources and technical skills for members. MAA drafted legislation, planned summits, and helped create the AIDS service community that is active today. The first membership group consisted of fourteen AIDS service organizations and task forces from around the state. Today, many of the same organizations, some under different names, comprise MAA’s ten member organizations.

Mission

The mission of the Maine AIDS Alliance is to advocate for, support, educate, and inform its members and people affected by and/or at risk of HIV/AIDS.

So what this means is that we’ve got to put an event together! And help to raise some cash for our organization of choice! Twesival Global is ultimately happening between the 10th and 13th of September, so we should aim at having an event there. It’s a bit short notice for an “event,” especially for booking one, but if you have any ideas, suggest them here. Further, what sort of event should it be? Bands? Comedy? Party? Giant Tweetup? Any ideas? Any volunteers?

What do you say?

Hey all!

13 nominations came in for which nonprofits to support, and it’s time to vote!

Vote here.

Polls will be open until Thursday at 11:59 am.

Spread the word!

The other day I met with Andrew Bossie, Executive Director of the Maine AIDS Alliance, and I mentioned @Twestival207 to him. This morning I received from Bossie the following email:

It was great to talk with you last week! The Twestival sounds very exciting - I’m always interested in using technology and online social networking to effect change in the lives of people here in Maine. Please consider Maine AIDS Alliance as a charity for the Twestival. It would be great to get some funding to revamp our website and build an online tool that can connect HIV/AIDS activists with our state and federal advocacy efforts. We also are working to bolster our online fundraising efforts and general awareness around HIV in Maine. Thanks again! Please keep in the loop on all the great online work you are doing.

Cheers,
Andy

There’s another organization to consider, fully backed up by a plea from its Executive Director. Please keep the nominations coming!

@alexsteed

Hey all!

Quickly, it’s really great to be getting so much support for the Twestival. We’ve got nearly 80 followers thus far, and hopefully that number is growing. Please, please, please, tell your friends about @Twestival207!

There are just under two more days to nominate a charity, organization or cause for our Twestival to support. On Wednesday, I’ll set up a page where everyone can vote for their favorite of those nominated, and from there, we can vote accordingly. In order to nominate one, please leave a comment on any of the blog posts, or mention it in a Tweet to Twestival207.

Many thanks for all of your help and support!

@alexsteed