Chip's Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile – A Fundraiser for the BC Children's Hospital

Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited to a social media gathering in the penthouse of the Loden Hotel In Vancouver. The reason for everyone coming together was to discuss how social media can help the BC Children’s Hospital annual “Chip’s Not Dead Yet” Memorial Mile fundraiser that takes place in Vancouver

The actual event is a one mile race where everyone is welcome to participate. Part of the fun is that people can dress up in whatever costumes they want and simply participate in an effort to help raise money for the children:

Think of this as part run, walk, parade and party. The goal is to participate, celebrate life and raise money for BC Children’s Hospital.

On Saturday June 20th 2009, West 10th Avenue will be completely closed to traffic and the event starts. All participants will amass at either Discovery Street. for the Pooch, Family, or High Heel waves or Alma and West 10th Avenue for the Timed, Rockstar, Uniform, Bridal, Underwear, High School, or Elite waves where you will summit the hill. Along the way, thousands of excited viewers will cheer you on. Drummers and cheerleaders will also help motivate you, and as you come to the finish, the party starts! As an added bonus, the Live Street Party site at West 10th Avenue between Sasamat and Tolmie will feature live entertainment for kids and adults alike!

Here’s a video of Chip Wilson talking to everyone last night:

There were some great discussions last night, and I think this year’s event is going to be rather extraordinary. One of the ideas I threw on the table was for the BC Children’s Hospital to have a blogger/social-media open house one day so everyone can come and meet all the kids. If I were to run in the event, I would love to know just who it was I was helping, and use that as motivation to put myself across the finish line. So I hope that idea and some of the others will get implemented this year.

I’ll keep everyone up to date about the event over the next few months. I’m hoping I’ll even be able to run in the event.