Support a FT friend while supporting a great cause!
 

Hey folks,

I am an occasional lurker here and an active contributor on the DL board. I hope that posting some of our activity here is not out of line.

For quite a long time at the DL board, we had an exceptional DL employee actively participating. Russ, an Atlanta Crown Room employee, would answer questions, post promotions, settle confusion, etc... and he always did it all on his own time. It was a fantastic reflection on his commitment to his employer and to his customers.

Unfortunately, unlike Starwood Lurker, it turned out that DL did not appreciate his outstanding Customer Service, and he was asked to stop participating in our community. His absence from the board has been a real loss for those of us who fly DL.

Anyhow, it recently came to our attention that Russ is walking with some DL colleagues in an Atlanta AIDS Fundraiser in October. I caught wind of this yesterday, at which point he had raised $25 toward his $1000 goal. <24 hours after I posted his quest on the DL board, he is well over $1K, and he has raised his goal to $2500. The outpouring of support is a great reflection on his incredible contributions and the FT spirit.

Anyhow, I thought I would post this information to the broader FT community in the event that additional people would support a true FT gem! You can access our DL board thread at this link for more details, or you can go straight to Russ' donor page via this link.

Again, I hope that I am not intruding inappropriately at FT community. I look forward to watching Russ' "pledge meter" rise even more rapidly through the generosity of fellow FT'ers.

Yours,
andymo99

Guys, this is a worthy cause and we should all join in and show our support to a true friend of FT.

Quote: "I thought I would post this information to the broader FT community in the event that additional people would support a true FT gem!"

Definitely a "FT gem." Supporting the AIDS Walk Atl, is a great way to show our appreciation .

Fantastic Community Post.

William

These are the type of posts that show TRUE FLYERTALK COMMUNITY.

Andy... you have contribution and thanks for letting us know about this.

FOUR MAJOR PAWS UP!!!

I'm in for $100 (an official FlyerTalk donation) and an appreciation for his contributions to FlyerTalk in the past as well as acknowledgement of the charity and cause of record.

While my guess is that Delta is not prepared for liability and other concerns coming out of such "official" employee action, i think FT has proven time and time again that employees like Russ, the Starwood Lurker and many more is the way some of customer service looks in the age of the Internet.

Quote by Randy Peterson: :"I'm in for $100 (an official FlyerTalk donation) and an appreciation for his contributions to FlyerTalk in the past as well as acknowledgement of the charity and cause of record."
--Thanks to Randy for acknowledging and supporting Russ and the contributions he has made to the FT board. --

Yes Randy, it is a shame that DL does not understand the importance on an official online presence for intelligent and caring employee such as Russ. Often times you can substitute George Orwell's "Big Brother" with "Simply Good Business" at DL, and they are one and the same. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsdown.gif

Once again, thanks for your support of Russ and this worthy cause that he is working for.

Thank you Mr. Petersen! This is great. I never thought I'd get this much support. Thank you to all who can contribute and/or walk.

Catman, thanks for your support as this is a worthy cause and Russ is a great FT'er. When andymo99 posted this on FT Community, I knew you would show up for the party. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

--Russ21Atl is within a few hundred dollars of his goal--Thanks to the FT community for their support. This is the FT Community at it's shining best. --

Let's show what this community is all about--help Russ make his goal this weekend.

Charity begins at home and this is our home. What a great use for this Board. I, too, have donated and encourage everyone with the means to do so also!

------------------
"A Mile here is an Upgrade there!"

Thank you to everyone! As of 12M on Saturday night the total stands at $2,625!

7 weeks to go until the walk too....I wonder how much above the goal it'll go?

Remember to foward the thread to as many people as possible for maximum exposure!

Again, thank you for your support!

Folks, Russ is now $150 away from his new $3000 goal for this worthy cause. Your continued support is still needed.

It's only $100 now guys! Come on, some wonderful FT'er is going to put it over the top... I can feel it! Go Russ! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Kai

Hi folks, due to the extremely positive response from our fellow Ft'ers, Russ has raised his goal and hopefully we will all pitch in to help him meet it. By doing so, we are showing our support to a true friend of FT who put his job at DL at risk to better serve us. In addition, we are contributing to a extremely important charity.

Thanks to the FT Community, Russ is now over $3000.00. Pretty remarkable, when one considers that his original goal was to reach $1000.00. Let the Community continue to show it's true spirit by forwarding this thread to others who appreciate this gentleman's effort to make a difference.

A big thank you, obscure2k! You and andymo99 have been terrific "cheerleaders" for this cause!

In just three weeks, the current goal of $3,335 has almost been reached (only $165 away).

In the next 6 weeks (the walk is 10/20/02) I hope to pass this goal and then some. Thank you to everyone for their support.

Remember to forward this thread to everyone you know! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Folks, let us not forget this worthy cause.

--The essence of the FT community is in this great thread. --thanks to FT community, Randy and the support of those who appreciate Russ' advocacy for all of us, the contributions are now over $3600.00!! His original goal was $1000.00--there are still two weeks left to make your contribution and some will receive triple AMEX miles. Please take the time to read Andymo99's opening statememt. --

Bump.

Pardon the interruption, but I wanted to update the FT Community folks on the success of Russ' fundraising.

According to Russ' donation page, our friend is closing in on the $5000 mark! The folks over at the DL forum are pushing hard to get to that final milestone, which is so far beyond what Russ ever imagined raising for AID Atlanta, whose mission is "to provide a broad, compassionate range of HIV / AIDS services through the continuous support of our donors, volunteers and friends. AID Atlanta offers services targeted to the special needs of all individuals who are living with HIV disease, including those facing addiction or mental health issues. All services are accessible to clients regardless of any language barriers."

Check out the thread to see what a great thing we have going, and how supportive the FT family has been in supporting a friend and an important cause.

And of course, if you'd like to help our final fundraising push, that would be excellent. Donating online is extremely simple, and your donation is, of course, tax-dedutible.


A few stats to knock your socks off:
-Russ is the #1 top fundraiser event-wide
-Russ' total raised is even a drop higher than the #2 fundraising TEAM (and of course Russ' Delta team is the #1 Team by a wide margin)
-With a few hundred dollars more, Russ will join the ranks of top corporate sponsors, thanks in large part to the FT community!

Great work, FT'ers. We should all feel proud.


[This message has been edited by andymo99 (edited 10-16-2002).]

Russ is now at $4860, only a little bit more to go. He needs 6 people to contribute $25 each. Come on FT'ers!

Congrats again Russ and you too Andy! A worthy achievement.

And if you both ever make it up to NYC I'd like to shake your hands and salute you both for your hard work, dedication and contributions to Delta (and bringing this community a little closer!)

(Sending Positive cat vibes the goal is MET!)


[This message has been edited by Catman (edited 10-20-2002).]

Congratulations Russ! I see the goal was both met and exceeded at $5265! Very well done! Please give us a follow up about the walk itself.

Thanks go to Russ, FT, Andymo99 and Obscure2K for keeping the goal visible. What a terrific community we have here!

[This message has been edited by paradocs (edited 10-20-2002).]