The big update!

First, some context. When I started Holiday Fare, I didn't even have a name for it. All I wanted to do was get a few Twitter friends to chip in and put a tiny little drop in the huge bucket of transit need that exists out there.

My initial, oh-so-ambitious goal was 20 books of tickets. That's almost 500 dollars worth of tickets, I reasoned, and wouldn't that be an amazing thing to do?

Word got out. Friends told friends, bloggers blogged, podcasters podcasted, and momentum picked up a bit. Then came the Joe Rose Effect - a column in the Oregonian! Joe has since joked that if he ever starts a band, he'll call it that - The Joe Rose Effect. Joe's column was shared on Facebook over 275 times (tip - there's a little Facebook share icon at the bottom of this post. My feelings won't be hurt if you use it!). A few of the donations in the mail have contained tickets and a clipping of that column.

So, the cool news - at this point Holiday Fare has collected over ONE HUNDRED books of tickets, and a pile of loose tickets, everything from one-zone tickets to more than 60 all-day, all-zone passes. This bounty adds up to over THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of fares collected.

THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

That's so amazing! I really never thought I'd hit that 20-book goal. You people are awesome, and we're not done yet. Now it's time to really push, with the holidays so close.

I've committed 45 of those books of tickets, and I'm working on getting more out the door. The need is endless. Please give if you can, and spread the word however you know how.

Awesome job so far! Here's how to donate.