Newsworthy because:It is a prime example of how today's social media allows far-flung friends to connect again quickly and inexpensively.
Normally, reunions such as this are at least a year in the planning.
Class of '71 pulled together their 40th reunion in less than four months by using Kandy Davidson, 1st Class Reunions, and creatively using their own class website and Facebook- instead of paying for a social media company to handle the data.
Alumni interest and social media will raise money for the school.
The 40th reunion also will be a fund raiser for the school thanks to a silent auction organized by another classmate, Kathy Herbert LaFone, Hillsborough, NC. She is using the power of the Internet to round up donors and entice bidders from her classmates and members of other classes as well.
Always room for more.
So far, from a graduating class of 650, 140 alumni from all around the US and Guatemala are set to attend and another classmate is hosting an event for everyone registered for the Reunion.
Wolfson Class of 1971 tries to help alma mater at 40th reunion
When: Saturday, August 6, 2011
Where:Hyatt Jacksonville Riverfront
Time: 7:00 - Midnight
Jacksonville, FL, July 25, 2011: These are tough economic times for Duval County schools.
The Wolfson High School class of 1971 is doing something to help out in hard times.
Class member, Kathy HERBERT LaFone, who lives in Hillsborough, NC, is organizing a Silent Auction (using the power of the Internet to communicate with donors), that will be held during the Saturday night reunion.
Kathy’s idea: “Let's have funwith this effort as we raise funds for our Alma Mater." Kathy hopes that all her classmates will donate something, attending or not, and welcomes other Wolfson alumnae to join the cause.
David Garner, Wolfson’s principal, is a registered guest of the class website and already planned to attend the reunion. When contacted about the fund raiser, David wrote, “This has been another tough year for our district budget. For the past 4 years we have had a reduction of 60 million each year, and this year we lost over 90 million. That hits each high school pretty hard, including Wolfson. We are always looking for sources of revenue that we can use to advance student achievement. We welcome the idea that the Class of 1971 has committed to holding a fundraiser in conjunction with your reunion, to benefit the current students at Wolfson.”
This 40th reunion almost didn’t happen. But with the use of a class website, the power of the social media website Facebook, and the help of a professional planner, the Samuel W. Wolfson Class of 1971 organized a 40th class reunion with less than 4 months to plan.
The class set up a website in March of 2009 to serve as a “Virtual Meeting Place” that could gather each classmate’s contact information into a database for future events. The class didn’t want to rely solely on sites such asFacebook, Memory Lane, formerly known as Classmates or MyLife to get their message out. The class purchased their own domain name (www.samuelwwolfson71.com) and created their site. Not only is it free to its members, but also protects each classmate’s personal information from outside sources. The site is paid for by its members' donations.
As 2011, the year of the class’s 40th graduation anniversary approached, we realized everyone’s life was too complicated and busy to take on planning another reunion. But everyone wanted to have a reunion. So just as they were resigned there wouldn’t be a reunion, Kandy Davidson of 1st Class Reunions contacted the site webmaster/classmate, Robin HUGHES Patton, and asked what the reunion plans were. “My mother had recently died and I was overwhelmed with that and at the idea of planning our reunion. One of the last things my mother said to me was, “Don’t you dare take that on!” Kandy literally called me an hour after I sent an email telling our class we weren’t going to have the reunion!”
Kandy convinced Robin, that their company had all the tools in place to take it on and with the class website, she assured her 1st Class Reunions could make it happen without a committee.
Now, with only a few weeks until the event, nearly 140 classmates and guests have paid to attend and two other classmates have stepped up and offered to plan additional events as well! Tommy Lee and his wife NeeCee are having a “Homecoming Party” at their home Friday night for all registered classmates attending the reunion on Saturday night.
