Tag Archives: Fundraising

DCTV Podcast Marathon for Spinal Research on June 11

DCTV Podcast Reeve Foundation

The DC TV Podcasting Network is teaming up with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to help cure spinal cord ailments on Saturday, June 11, 2016.

Founded by the late Man of Steel himself, the mission of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is to discover and fund innovative research as well as improving the quality of life for people who live with paralysis. We here at DC TV Podcasts couldn’t be more proud to be partnering up with the Foundation for this important cause in advancing research for spinal cord injuries.

Here is how you as a listener can help and participate on Saturday, June 11, 2016, while also enjoying your favorite DC television podcasts for Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow as well as DC Movies. Continue reading

DC TV PODCASTS: CANCER RESEARCH FUNDRAISER ON MAY 16

dctv-emory

 

Friday, May 8, 2015 – The DC TV Podcasting Family is teaming up with Winship Cancer Institute to fight cancer on Saturday, May 16, 2015.

The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University is dedicated to the integration of innovative clinical and basic science research with outstanding patient care for the prevention, treatment and control of cancer. We here at DC TV Podcasts couldn’t be more proud to be partnering up with Winship for this very important cause.

Here is how you as a listener can help and participate on Saturday, May 16, 2015 while also enjoying your favorite DC television podcasts for Arrow, The Flash, Gotham and Supergirl.

The podcasting fundraising event will be hosted via Mixlr at mixlr.com/dctvpodcasts and will begin at 11 AM PST/2 PM EST. The event will feature the great minds of DC TV Podcasts with hosts from Quiver: The Green Arrow Podcast, The Flash Podcast, Legends of Gotham andSupergirl Radio. The event will roll from 11 AM PST/2 PM EST into the evening with all four individual shows. The marathon will then conclude with a special DC TV Podcasts Assemble show featuring hosts from all four podcasts.

Here is the following schedule for when all the live shows will begin:

Quiver Podcast at 10 AM PST (1 PM EST) – 12 PM PST (3 PM EST) with Michael Cohen and TBA host.

 

Legends of Gotham at 12 PM PST (3 PM EST) – 2 PM PST (5 PM EST) with Bill Meeks and Anne Marie DeSimone

 

The Flash Podcast at 2 PM PST (5 PM EST) – 4 PM PST (7 PM EST) with Andy Behbakht, Amy Marie and Lauren Gallaway

 

Supergirl Radio at 4 PM PST (7 PM EST) – 6 PST (9 PM EST) with Rebecca Johnson and Special Guest Michael Bailey (Host of From Crisis To Crisis: A Superman Podcast)

 

DC TV Podcasts: Assemble Show at 6 PM PST (9 PM EST) – 7 PM PST (10 PM EST) with Andy Behbakht, Michael Cohen, Rebecca Johnson, Bill Meeks, Anne Marie DeSimone and more TBA.

 

Starting today, as well as during the marathon, head over to DCTVPodcasts.com/Fundraiser to find out how you can make a donation to Winship.

We at DC TV Podcasts hope to see you in the live chat and enjoy all the exciting programming that we have in store for you. Nothing would make us happier than our listeners donating to this important and great cause and joining us at DC TV Podcasts in helping the Winship Cancer Institute continue researching ways to defeat cancer.

Any podcasts that are represented on DC TV Podcasts are fan podcasts and are not affiliated with DC Comics, Warner Bros. TV, DC Entertainment, The CW, CBS and FOX.

About Winship:

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University is located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its history dates back to 1937 and since then, it has earned a reputation of not only being a state-of-the-art facility for cancer treatment, it is also a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, allowing for research in the areas of bone marrow transplantation, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, and many others. For more information, please visitwinshipcancer.emory.edu

About DC Television Podcasts:

DC TV Podcasts is a podcast circle that features a collection of high-quality and popular podcasts that are devoted to DC Comics television series including The CW’s Arrow and The Flash, FOX’s Gotham, CBS’s upcoming superhero drama Supergirl and more! Join the hosts of Quiver, The Flash Podcast, Legends of Gotham and Supergirl Radio every week for the best news, commentary and opinions about these comic book shows.

Help Me Raise Funds for Food Allergy Research

FARE Walk for Food AllergyIf you’ve been reading Speed Force for more than a year, you’ll remember that each fall I participate in the Walk for Food Allergy. Last year, Speed Force readers helped me raise over $1000 for food allergy research, awareness, education and advocacy.

Food allergies are a serious health problem, faced by over 15 million people in the US alone. Severe anaphylactic reaction is a life-threatening emergency. Swelling can prevent breathing, a drop in blood pressure can cause loss of consciousness, and it can even trigger cardiac arrest.

Experience

I’ve experienced this first-hand. I left Comic-Con in an ambulance after two sips of flavored coffee that, unknown to the staff at the coffee shop, contained peanuts in the mix. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the emergency room.

Stuck in the ER with a Comic-Con Wristband

I was lucky. Just one week later, a thirteen-year-old died under similar circumstances: while on vacation with her family, she took a bite of something she expected would be safe but recognized the peanuts immediately. She took medication and thought the reaction was under control, only to have it hit harder half an hour later. She never even made it to the hospital.

A simple label would have been enough to prevent both of these incidents. “Mexican Mocha (contains peanuts)” or “Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats.”

Walking on Eggshells

We still don’t know what causes allergies, which means we can’t prevent them. The hygiene hypothesis is gaining traction, but it’s far from settled, and advice to parents as to when to introduce high-risk foods is all over the map. We can’t cure them yet, either, though desensitization treatments at starting to show some promise.

For now, those of us who live with severe allergies just have to avoid our triggers as best as we can, and carry those emergency auto-injectors everywhere.

These are the voyages of the USS Epinephrine.

If you know someone who has food allergies, you can help by knowing what’s in the food you serve, using separate utensils and dishes for preparation (if you make a PBJ with one knife, you’re going to get peanut butter in the jelly jar, making the jelly unsafe), and letting them know if you plan to substitute an ingredient.

Support FARE

You can also help by donating to FARE*, an organization dedicated to food allergy research and education. They fund research into identifying the causes of allergies and finding treatments. They provide training materials for the food industry. Over the last few years they’ve been pushing for stock epinephrine in schools, since many allergic children experience their first anaphylactic reaction at school, before they’ve even been diagnosed with an allergy. This year they’ve also been trying to combat allergy-related bullying.

Please sponsor me in the walk. Your donation will help FARE work toward long-term solutions through research and more immediate solutions through education and advocacy. If you can’t donate, but would still like to help, I’d appreciate it if you’d spread the word. Please use this link: http://hyperborea.org/allergywalk

And who knows? Maybe it’ll turn into another Superman-Flash race

Thank you for your support,
–Kelson

*FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education) is the merged organization made up of what used to be FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) and FAI (Food Allergy Initiative).

It’s That Time Again! Help Me Support Food Allergy Research

Best Food Forward by Jason RogersLast year, Speed Force readers helped me raise over $1000 for food allergy research, awareness, education and advocacy by sponsoring me in the Walk for Food Allergy. The walk was a success, and even got a bit of a Superman/Flash race: My son and I were both wearing Flash T-shirts, and we started off next to a family wearing Superman shirts!

This year’s walk is coming up in October, and so I’m reaching out again.

Food allergies aren’t like hay fever, and they’re more than just hives. Anaphylactic shock can kill in minutes.  I have a severe allergy to peanuts, and I always carry an epinephrine injector everywhere I go, just in case I miss something on an ingredient list, or in case someone preparing the food mixes things up.*

There’s no cure yet for food allergies, and researchers are still trying to determine just what causes them in the first place. 15 million people in the US alone have food allergies, 6 million of them children. As a parent, it’s frustrating not knowing whether I’m doing the right thing to keep my son from developing the kinds of allergies that I have.

Epi-Pen auto-injector

The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network is dedicated to promoting research, awareness and education about food allergies, and providing advocacy on behalf of those living with them. One of FAAN’s big pushes this year has been to encourage schools to keep a spare epinephrine injector on hand — and get laws in place allowing personnel to administer it.  Often, a child’s first-ever allergic reaction happens at school, before they’ve even been prescribed medication. On the research front, they’re supporting a clinical trial in suppressing peanut allergy through desensitization.

Please support my fundraising efforts with a tax-deductible donation. Even a small donation helps.

If you can’t contribute, but would still like to help, I’d appreciate it if you’d spread the word. Please use this link: http://hyperborea.org/allergywalk

Thank you for your support,
–Kelson

FAAN Walk for Food Allergy

*Mistakes happen more often than you might want to believe.  Last month my family flew to Chicago for Worldcon. The night we arrived, we ate at the hotel restaurant. The kids’ menu featured a Sunbutter sandwich (made with sunflower seed butter), but they brought us an actual PBJ. I don’t know yet if my son has inherited my peanut allergy, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way late at night, in a strange city thousands of miles from home. Thankfully nothing happened, as my wife caught it before he tried to eat it, but if she’d missed it, and he had turned out to be allergic…

Photo Credits:
Best Foot Forward by Jason Rogers (used under CC BY 2.0 license)
Epi-pen by Kelson Vibber

Last Day of Campaign: Help Artist Oliver Nome!

I previously wrote about the campaign to help Oliver Nome pay for his brain tumor surgery. Flash fans will recognize Nome from Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost last summer. Some of his other recent work includes Fathom: Kiana and Executive Assistant: Lotus at Aspen Comics.

Being a freelance artist, he doesn’t have health insurance, and cancer treatment is expensive. Not just the surgery to remove the tumor, but the recovery process and, as it turns out, radiation and chemotherapy. His agent set up a donation campaign to raise $20,000 by July 30, with rewards including original art and prints by Nome and his friends.

They’re almost at the goal, with only a few hours left. If you haven’t contributed already, please help out now. Even $1 helps.

Kid Flash Lost pages 4-5
Splash page from Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #2.