ABOUT AWETOBER:

Since 2020, AWEtober has raised $31,811.74 for wildfire victims and coral restoration efforts around the globe

AWEtober started as a reaction to the gray/orange that blanketed California in the pandemic summer of 2020 during the historic CZU Lightning Complex Fires. My sister-in-law and husband’s home had just burned down in Bonny Doon. It was the first time I’d ever prepare for evacuating our home. We were only a block away from that yellow evacuation line. This year, thankfully, my sister-in-law and husband are back in their newly rebuilt home at last.

It’s now September, 2024, and though the Bay Area has been spared (so far) from wildfires, we’re thinking of the communities who are battling active fires in the Butte, Tehama, Kern, Tulare, Humboldt, Riverside, and Alameda counties, as well as the Oregon border and those still affected by the devastating Maui wildfires. This season, the PARK fire (caused by arson!) up north in the Butte, Plumas, Shasta, and Tehama Counties) became the fourth largest wildfire in California and has burned over 430,000 acres. An alarming rise in ocean temperatures this past decade continues to affect the reef worldwide. A particularly alarming study shares that the Great Barrier Reef waters were the hottest in 400 years over the past decade. Between 2016 and 2024, the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem and one of the most biodiverse, suffered mass coral bleaching events.

As October (AWEtober month) approaches, I wanted to first thank the entire kidlit community for your support and participation through the years! I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished and for shining a light on those supporting and helping those in need. It’s been a true light during a dark time for many.

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AWEtober 2023 raised over $7,800 for victims of the Maui wildfires and coral restoration efforts.

AWEtober 2022 raised over $7,700 for the victims of the CA wildfires and Coral Reef restoration efforts around the globe.

AWEtober 2021 raised over $7,200 for the victims of the CA wildfires and
Coral Reef restoration efforts around the globe.

AWEtober 2020 raised over $9,000 for victims of the California wildfires.

1) The traditional AWEtober auction/Fundraising model will unfortunately not occur this October. WHY?*

BUT,

2) If you’d like to raise funds and awareness in October for wildfire victims & coral restoration efforts, I will happily add your name to the AWEtober 2024 webpage

Details below:
I am personally hosting my own auction to raise some funds for the wildfire victims and coral restoration efforts in October 2024, but I am unfortunately no longer hosting the event as it once was in the past. Instead, I am highlighting people’s auctions or events if they’d like to join in October in the spirit of AWEtober, by adding YOUR NAME/LINK to the AWEtober 2024 list, which will appear at this link: www.shirleyngbenitez.com/awetober to help promote your auction. This participant list link will appear on the AWEtober Instagram account as well.

*Instagram’s degradation last year during the event caused some challenging auction bidding issues. I was locked out of both of my IG accounts, but thankfully was able to DM participants and inform them of the issues (whew!). The number of auctions (over 70), along with a handful that had missing bids and communication issues for bidders & participants became very labor-intensive and worrisome to accurately course-correct as the auctions were happening. And personally after the event, I felt the need to pull back from social media to focus on my health and book work. As more time was spent away from social media, I began to feel a weight lift, and this time away has now extended into 2024. I am sorry that I won’t be hosting the event this year, but again encourage anyone who has read this far (thank you), and would still like to raise awareness and funds for the victims of wildfires and coral reef restoration efforts to participate by hosting their event/auction fundraiser…

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

1) Please email me the following if you are interested to: (shirley@shirleyngbenitez.com)

A) YOUR NAME
B) LINK to your auction or fundraiser:
i.e.: instagram.com/yourhandle or your website

2) I will add your name with a clickable link to your IG profile or website so that people can find you to follow and get updates on your auction in October 2024.

3) After your auction ends, and your winning bidder has made their $ donation to the organization, if you could please let me know of the donation amount (final dollar total) via email to (shirley@shirleyngbenitez.com), I will keep a running tally towards the efforts for 2024.

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Each summer I think about why I started AWEtober, and I keep coming back to this…every bit counts. Every person counts, and if there’s a way to help others in need from wildfires and for efforts to help the coral reef restoration around the globe, then I will continue to try to shine a light on it, and participate as well. I’ll be hosting an auction on my IG account (@shirleysillos) in October.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. ~ Shirley

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