Update: January 14, 2015 *the badge mission is over but the work and contribution continue…. Thanks for Caring, Giving and Inspiring in Support of Doctors Without Borders / Medicins Sans Frontieres

Update: July 1, 2014

Many people have already received their ‘I Care‘ and ‘I Gave‘ badges – which is great because it shows how thoughtful and passionate this community is about doing something great together.  But have you signed up to be an inspiration?

The ‘I Inspire’ badge is earned when 3 other people each make a donation to MSF via our community fundraiser page.  To make sure you  get ‘credit’ for this, your friends and family should put your SCN UserName in the ‘Comments’ section of the donation page.

Last year, perhaps the most famous Challenge came from Clint Vosloo who volunteered to do 5 burpees for every dollar donated on his behalf.  And he made good on his promise, the proof is out there on Youtube for everyone to enjoy.   I believe Clint raised $150.00 for MSF, but the sport of watching his ‘burpee’ videos was priceless.

So if you’re wondering how to participate even more, let me try to give you some concrete steps.

1. Edit the document and enter your name as a ‘Participant’ as well as what your particular ‘challenge’ will be.  (Don’t forget to SAVE the document!)
2. Reach out (emails, tweets, FB, or if you want to go Old School, phone calls and actual letters!) to your family and friends to ask for their support.
3. If they don’t have access to SCN (some of us actually do have people in our lives who are not on SCN J) then you can edit the document again when they have made the donation in your name.  I noticed that one member entered ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ as his sponsors – and as a parent, I am very well accustomed to helping my kids out with their fundraisers. 
4. And this one is even more fun – write a blog about what you did/are doing.  Why are you doing it?  Are you walking 3 miles a day for your own health?  That’s wonderful!  Do you think, while you are walking, that you are also helping fight the outbreak of Ebola that is happening NOW in West Africa, or helping to treat displaced persons in the turmoil of Iraq today?   How did this feel?  Whatever your particular challenge is (or challenges, because of course, you can do more than one), we want to know about it!
5. Since this #sapcc challenge (not the ASUG Challenge, not the SAPPHIRENOW Challenge, and not the d-Code Challenge) this will go on for some time – probably until the late fall.  So you don’t need to be present at an actual conference in order to participate – we can all participate virtually. 

I hope you will join me in this Community Challenge. 

Together we can be some of the ‘helpers’ that the world so desperately needs.

Most importantly, besides the FUN of participating in this challenge, is the fact that together the members of SAP Community Network and their loved ones will know that they have donated to an organization which provides desperately needed medical care.  MSF provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters, and to victims of armed conflict. They do so irrespective of race, religion, creed, or political convictions.  For all that the medical staff and volunteers at MSF do, we should be truly grateful.

I think it’s going to be fascinating to read peoples’ #SAPCC blogs, and learn their motivation behind their individual challenges.  I’m really hoping that you do too.  (Remember to tag your blog with #sapcc – that’s part of Marilyn Pratt‘s challenge!)