Not content being a damsel in distress, Leia has decided to sit the rest of Shadows of the Empire out and smoke out on the balcony. Chewbacca, as he implied in their last appearance, has decided to start smoking too.

I posted a few months back about my frustration with trying to spread messages of support for fan driven fundraisers for cancer research. We are in a position, with BMS to assist people that actually need help. In the past Blue Milk Special has lent support to 11 year old (at the time) Star Wars fan, Emily, who has Moyamoya disease and received brain surgery treatment a year ago. I was recently contacted by Jessica, mother of 5 year old Jonnelle. Like Emily before her, Jonnelle also requires brain surgery for a debilitating condition.

soteTC057-Same Beast, Different SewerFor the last few months I’ve been noticing how USELESS Facebook is. When it comes to a serious matter, like raising awareness for a child’s health or fundraiser, it seems rather than at the very least SHARING the post, people instead share internet memes. Memes (joke pictures with silly captions), are SOMETIMES worthy for a laugh perhaps, but often little more than newsfeed spam. People have no problem cluttering their newsfeed with memes, but when someone like myself asks them to share a message to help a child and a family needing financial support, it’s almost like talking to a brick wall. Is there some problem with squeezing in a single charity message into your newsfeed once in a while?

Blue Milk Special is supporting the GoFundMe campaign for Jonnelle’s Brain Surgery. Leanne and I made a donation to the family to lead the way. But if you can’t afford to join us in contributing to help the family, then please at least SHARE this call for support with your online friends and colleagues. Jonnelle’s two older brothers are big Star Wars fans and a little goes a long way even if it’s just to share this message via Facebook. This is the link. http://www.gofundme.com/3n8nfg Let’s make as many people aware of Jonnelle’s campaign as possible.

545627_1374405486.0828I tried twice on our Blue Milk Special Facebook page to enlist, at the very least, a SHARE of the post. That way, if someone wasn’t able to donate, they could at least spread the word virally to others who might be better positioned to contribute. Despite having 5,800 LIKES on Facebook (something I had thought was an achievement), the best I was able to get on my second attempt, were 13 shares. 13 of you who saw the post actually understood how SHARING the post might help and took 3 seconds of your time to do so. To those 13, you have my respect as compassionate human beings. But 13 out of 5,800 BMS fans on Facebook is less than 0.25%. Is the problem the apathy of human beings? Or is it that Facebook’s algorithms prevent more than a small portion of our fans actually seeing our posts? Perhaps a combination? Whatever the reason, it’s sickeningly disappointing that we built such a large audience and have it ultimately mean next to nothing.

So I truly appreciate the 13 of you that shared the following story below. However, Jonnelle’s family still need our support. Here’s the campaign’s message from Jonnelle’s mother.

Jonnelle is a 5 year old little girl that will undergo Brain Surgery on August 23rd at CHKD in Norfolk va !!! Drs found out that she has chiari malformation of the brain. This has to be taken care of asap. She will be down for 6 weeks after the surgery. Also she will remain in the hospital up to 2 weeks after the surgery …. so this means we will not leave her side !!!!! So I’ll be out of work trying to care for our baby girl. The reason I’ve posted this link is to see if we can get a little help. The money will help with some co-pays as well as food and a few things she has asked for!!!! She will miss out on the 1st couple of weeks of school so friends and family I thank you for all the help and support. Thanks so so very much for you time and help. Jonnelle’s Brain Surgery GoFundMe Campaign.

soteTC058-Dash Fires the GuideNeedless to say, I’m very disillusioned by Facebook. I have worked for 4.5 years on building that audience, only to find that Facebook constrains the number of our fans who actually get to see our posts. However, I know from the admin section that at least a couple thousand people do get to see those posts. The ratio of support should be much higher.

I know, personally, that the feeling I have helped others in incredibly trying times, with enormous and daunting health challenges, makes ME feel good. I have a constant day long battle with pain, each day of the week. I can’t do much to alleviate that and psychologically it can wear me down. I’ve found that by using BMS as a method to help others much worse off, has helped add a sense of purpose in my life and a reason to not give in to negative thinking.

So, while I am not begging readers to DONATE to Jonnelle, I am asking, at least, for us to SHARE the message across the internet so that those who are in a financial position to make a donation learn of Jonnelle’s need and can do so.

I know, I know… not a Star Wars blog today, but it’s something that we feel Blue Milk Special can assist others with. We CAN make a difference. I already know this for a fact. BMS readers were a large part of the contributions for Emily’s brain surgery last year, bringing many hundreds of dollars to that campaign. I know what the BMS community can do if they step up. It doesn’t require much from readers. At the most minimal, a simple SHARE.