Last year in our January issue, we inaugurated the Smiley Pete Publishing Give Guide -
a categorized directory for scads of charities and non-profits in Lexington and central Kentucky. The emphasis was on letting readers know about these organizations, but more importantly, we wanted to provide quick and easy access to contact information for volunteering opportunities and ways to donate your time (or money) to these organizations. In keeping with the spirit of the season, it was a service we were more than happy to provide for our readers.
In fact, we liked promoting our city's charities and non-profits so much, we've decided to make it an annual affair -
so now we can safely call our January issue our "Annual Smiley Pete Publishing Give Guide." However, instead of simply updating the previous year's directory for our magazine, we hope we can take a fresh and creative approach to the material year in and year out -
that's where you, dear reader, are going to come into play.
It would be easy for us to use our editorial discretion to pick a handful of charities and non-profits to profile, but that's a little selfish and definitely not in keeping with the spirit of the endeavor. We want you to help us tell the stories.
If you, or somebody you know, has been positively impacted by a Lexington charity or non-profit -
whether it be from benefiting from their services or from having your life touched through volunteering - we want to hear about it. And we want our readers to hear about it. We'll publish some of the most moving personal essays submitted by our readers, and also publish an extended feature on each of the charities or non-profits in our January issue. On top of that, we'll conduct a fundraiser through our Web sites on behalf of each organization which will run through the end of January.
Please take a moment to reflect on your personal experiences -
just sharing a few words can have a dramatic effect on a local charity or non-profit.
Smiley Pete Publishing Give Guide 2010 Essay Contest
1. Write a short personal essay about how a Lexington charity or non-profit has positively impacted your life or somebody else's life. Essays cannot be more than 300 words. (We're sorry, but if you are the employee of a charity of non-profit, you are excluded from writing about that particular organization.)
2. E-mail the essay to our editor by clicking here.
Essays can also be faxed to (859) 255-0672 or dropped by our office at 434 Old Vine Street. Be sure to include your contact information and contact information for the organization you have written about.
3. Essays must be received by Nov. 20 to be eligible.