While brainstorming ideas with her local chapter for Red Cross Month—that’s March—Nashville author and longtime Red Cross volunteer Holly Tucker suggested they put together a fundraiser with the Tennessee writing community, which came together less than a year before to raise funds and awareness when Nashville was hit by devastating floods in May, 2010 (an effort spearheaded by YA authors Myra McEntire, Victoria Schwab, and Amanda Morgan).
“In ten days, they raised an obscene amount of money,” said Tucker, speaking to PW from Salt Lake City on day one of her national book tour promoting Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution (out this month from Norton). “I think it was something in the mid-five figures. So when it came time to think about an awareness builder and fundraiser for Red Cross Month, I pitched this to my local chapter and here we are.” Co-organizer of the event is Beth Dunn.
With half a month down, the Writers for the Red Cross (http://www.writersfortheredcross.org/ ) (WFTRC) campaign has pulled in $10,000 on the strength of a largely online effort, which includes virtual auctions (http://www.writersfortheredcross.org/auctions-101/ ) (with items donated by authors, agents, and editors, updated weekly), links to booksellers donating five percent of sales to the American Red Cross, essays from writers on “What the Red Cross Means to Me,” and a free book (http://www.writersfortheredcross.org/donate-25-and-pick-a-free-book/ ) for anyone contributing more than $25 (as of now, there are 29 titles to choose from, donated by publishers). Though it’s not an official Red Cross fundraiser, WFTRC is also being promoted heavily by the National Red Cross on their blog and Twitter feed (proceeds benefit both the Nashville chapter and the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund). Offline, writers and booksellers are taking it upon themselves to promote WFTRC: Rebecca Schinsky, who blogs at The Book Lady’s Blog (http://www.thebookladysblog.com/ ) has used her partnership with Fountain Bookstore to promote the effort in Richmond, Va.; Tucker herself is donating proceeds from her reading at Salt Lake City retailer The King’s English Bookshop, where they’ve been promoting WFTRC over the past month. Among the A-list authors taking part in the campaign are Dan Brown, Sara Gruen, Rebecca Skloot and Peter, Emma, and Susan Straub.
“What I would really love to see,” said Tucker, “is [people] mobilizing their own publishing/writing community” using the tools available on the website’s “WFTRC in Your Community” page (http://www.writersfortheredcross.org/organize-your-own-wftrc-event/ ). Tucker hopes to make WFTRC an annual event. Already, momentum is on the rise—Tucker reports a surge of interest following the Japan earthquakes (http://www.writersfortheredcross.org/update-japanese-earthquake-and-tsunami/ ), including an increase in what they’re calling “25-plus donations” (“We’re seeing people donate substantially more than the minimum amount”), though it’s logistically problematic for volunteer fundraisers to earmark funds specifically for the Japan tragedy.
“The Red Cross can use all of that money for the hundreds of thousands of disasters they respond to, including Japan,” said Tucker. Though she’s pleased with the progress so far, Tucker admits her goal is significantly more than $10,000: “I’m not going to tell you what my goal is, though. I’m not going to jinx it.”
