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UPDATE: See here for update - we now have a new coordinator for 2007!

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It is with a combination of sadness and relief that I make the following announcement. I will not be returning as a coordinator for the 2007 Blogger Boobie-Thon this October.

My co-coordinator Lisa will be unable to return as well. We can volunteer in a very limited, very part-time capacity to help with any transition issues that might arise. But we will not be listed as founders in a volunteer-capacity or as coordinators for 2007 and beyond.

After much discussion we have decided rather than just let it slowly slip away, instead we would prefer to put the annual event "up for adoption". It started by bloggers for bloggers, and we feel it should continue in the same spirit with bloggers.

It is my desire that with some "fresh blood" and new ideas, the event will grow even larger and come back this year stronger and with a wider audience than ever before.

I am announcing this in June to give ample time for the new coordinator and staff to prepare for the annual October event.

I have given five autumns of my life to this blogger charity drive, and I'm just no longer able to handle the time and attention it requires. I will have a child in preschool this fall, another toddler at home in my care, a fledgling photography business, and an amazing husband who kept the household together the last half-decade when I could not, all to tend to now instead... It's simply someone else's turn.

Together we've raised over $35,000 for breast cancer and blogger charities since 2002. It's my sincerest hope this year's coordinator can crack the $10K barrier for the annual take once and for all and skyrocket the event into the fame it so deserves.

Although Lisa and I would like to see the original 'spirit' of the event remain intact to whomever we select as our replacement(s), we are certainly open to new ideas and directions in your proposals for ownership.

With ownership comes access to the boobiethon.com domain and server (owned and operated by Hosting Matters), and if you choose, the Movable Type software that has powered past events. We will share all our tips for photo editor and donation editor coordination that we've learned from trial-by-fire through the years.

This is not a first-come, first-serve kind of deal. Lisa and I will be interviewing those who are interested. We will do our best to make sure that your philosophy with the event matches our own.

You will need to make sure that you have the time to devote to such an undertaking. It is not uncommon to spend 16-20 hour days working on nothing but the Boobie-Thon for the two weeks prior to and week of the event. This is not something you want to volunteer to do if you have a full-time 'traditional' 9-5 job and children. You will be part owner, part manager, part press coordinator, part therapist, part help desk, part web designer, part tech support, part photo editor..... Eventually you will work every single job no matter how many volunteers you assemble and no matter how many tasks you delegate. You will be forced to cover shifts at the last minute due to death, illness, last-minute emergencies, or people simply not showing up because they forgot or went shopping. You will never want to use your e-mail account again. And you will come back and do it year after year because it will be one of the best, most life-changing things you have ever been associated with.

If this is something you are interested in, contact me.

Or if you think someone in your blog-readership might be interested in this, please help put the word out. The permalink for this entry is:

http://www.shutterblog.com/exposed/000167.html

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have, and will update this entry if any should need to be addressed publicly.

Thank you for allowing me to build such a successful campaign — one I truly believe in — from the ground-up. I cannot wait to watch it flourish under your leadership.

-Robyn