Snowball Effect to aid food banks

CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN TO ALSO HELP YOUTH ONE

Three Lethbridge women have begun a virtual snowball fight and hope to create an avalanche of kindness.

Tevi Legge, Karissa Michelle and Jennifer Sherrill Aquila have started the Snowball Effect 2017 Challenge. They posted a video on Facebook on Friday and have been encouraging the community to get involved.

Last year’s Snowball Effect campaign helped to raise close to $25,000 worth of food for the food banks. The organizers, Legge and Aquila, also donated $1,000 to the Interfaith Food Bank and the Lethbridge Food Bank.

This year they’ve recruited more people, have more snowballs to throw and have added another Lethbridge charity. Along with encouraging people to make a donation to the food bank, they are also inviting the community to support a youth at Youth One.

“At heart, the Snowball Effect is really about digging a little bit deeper and finding a meaningful way to give back in your own fashion,” said Karissa Michelle in the video. “It’s not just about grand gestures and big endowments and public recognition, but it’s also about random acts of kindness.

“It’s all about being thoughtful and taking the time to be generous this holiday season.”

The campaign runs until Dec. 10, and in that time they are encouraging everyone in the community, from businesses to individuals, to make a donation to the food bank or Youth One, and then tag five groups or individuals and challenge them with a video, photo, or status update to make a donation of their own and continue the snowball effect.

Participants are asked to use #snowballeffect2017 when posting. For every share of the video they posted, they will collectively donate $0.25 to the food banks. For every #snowballeffect2017 hashtag, they will donate $0.25 to Youth One. A donation cap may be required.

The organizers are also trying to expand the campaign’s reach by encouraging people to tag their friends in other cities. They have a goal to double last year’s total, raising at least $50,000.

“We would love if you could dig a little deeper this year and find it in you to make a donation, big or small,” said Legge in the video. “If you can’t, and all you can do is share, that has a great impact as well.”

Since the video was posted last Friday it’s been shared about 200 times and had more than 17,000 views.

On Dec. 15, they are planning to reveal how much money has been raised via Facebook Live video. To follow the social media conversation, search for #snowballeffect2017 on Facebook.

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