Happy Friday! I’m thrilled to kick off a series here on our STAND blog celebrating our inspiring and passionate STAND community. Each week, we will be featuring someone from the STAND community and asking them a few questions about cause they care about, who and what inspires them in the STAND platform and how they put their compassion into action. Our first ever Featured STANDer is Dawn Sandomeno, founder of the successful lifestyle blog Party Bluprints and advocate for children’s rights. Dawn has blown the STAND team away with her passion for amazing causes and her engagement and interaction with others within the STAND app.
You can find Dawn on STAND here — and don’t forget, our iOS app will be available to all in just a few days!
1. Who are you (in 140 characters or less)? Wife, Mother, Friend, Advocate, Lifestyle Blogger/Author. Trying my best to fight the good fight everyday and help others celebrate life.
2. What causes are you most passionate about and why? I’m most passionate about causes that are centered on the welfare of children. Children are innocent, vulnerable and our future.
3. What do you enjoy the most out of the STAND platform? As a person that has always used social media for good, what I enjoy most about STAND is that it makes my actions more POWERFUL! It’s exciting to know that the potential for good going viral exists with the creation of every new STAND. The app is an engine, my passion is the fuel. It connects me and my community to the charity of my choice, makes giving easy, and provides me a unique opportunity to connect with a supportive and like-minded community.
4. What’s your favorite STAND you’ve created or supported and why? My favorite STAND to date was the one I created for Save The Children. The charity is one that I have supported for years. Through STAND, I discovered a Save The Children program that supports Children in America before, during and after disasters. Having lost our home at the beach during Hurricane Sandy, I saw first hand the devastating effects of a natural disaster on the children in our community. I believe the STAND I created was important, I felt personally connected to it and good about each social share I tweeted or posted. It was not an “empty” like or favorite feeling that can be a symptom of our virtual life. After creating the STAND and sharing it on Twitter, I was so excited to see that Save The Children retweeted me and thank me for my efforts. Although, my motivation was not to receive praise or thanks, this connection made the virtual world feel more real and to be perfectly honest, more beautiful. The entire experience of creating this STAND, start to finish was special.
5. Who inspires you on STAND — and why? Without question Vivienne and Eric Harr are STANDers that inspire me. The accomplishments of Vivienne Harr, especially for a person of her age, are simply astounding. Connecting with her on STAND and watching her create and engage on the app is one of few rare and pure actions that occur in social media these days. Vivienne reminds me daily that we can all make a difference. As a parent, I also feel very inspired by Eric Harr; he has made the possibility of his daughter’s vision a reality. He is someone I feel proud to say that #ISTANDwith.
6. Why is it important to you to put your compassion into action? Without action we are complacent, we are saying that we are unconcerned with injustice and the ills of this world. The alternative to not taking action is intolerable to me as a mother and a citizen of this planet.
Thank you, Dawn for sharing with us and being such an amazing, inspiring member of the STAND community! || STAND with Dawn and follow her on Twitter @DawnSandomeno.
Andi Teggart || Director of Community at STAND || @luckyandi || We are better when we STAND together — sign up for updates from STAND here.
