Calling all Atlanta area KivaFriends

[Guest]

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[Liliane]

Dear Atlanta area Kiva Friends, 
Why should we let the KF's in California have all the fun? I think it could be a rockin' good time if we picked a date and place to meet in Atlanta. Therefore, I propose Sunday August 31st, place TBA, to gather and soak in Kiva fraternity. We can get a bite to eat, and chat about the world's greatest social-entrepreneurial organization. If you're interested, and available, post a message so we have an idea of how many people will be there, and that will help determine the location. I hope to see you on the 31st! 

[Henry]

Ispenle - bad weekend for me as I will be traveling - however, living in Birmingham and having a brother in Atlanta to visit I'd sure try to make a 'KIVA Social' next time. 

H

[Liliane]

Good point about the 31st being Labor Day weekend. Would Saturday September 6th work better?

[kf08]

Good point about the 31st being Labor Day weekend. Would Saturday September 6th work better?

I am excited about this idea and appreciate your initiating it.  September 6th might allow more people to come and maybe even Henry? 

  to all KivaFriends who read this thread:  If you know of others from Georgia, would you mind sending them a  PM  with a link to this thread? Things can get buried in a forum this size pretty fast.

I'm also thinking if we got more than a handful of people, maybe we could get the AJC to cover it and get Kiva some publicity.  I've tried writing to the philanthropy editor to request that he write a feature on Kiva and even sent him the letter a second time, but got not response.  A gathering of Kiva lenders would give us a real angle for a story.  I would be glad to call him, once things are set, since I have already written to him and had planned to follow it up with a phone call anyway.  What do you think?

Lynn

[Liliane]

Lynn, I'm so glad to have you around! You are a woman of action. It would be FANTASTIC if we could get an AJC story! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I will try to PM a few people also. Peter S showed me how to search for Atlantans-

if you do this Google search, it will find you several hundred Kiva lenders in Atlanta.
site:kiva.org/lender/ atlanta

If you work your way through the results for this other Google search...
site:kivafriends.org/ atlanta
...it will find you the much smaller number of Kiva Friends from Atlanta

I will work on sending out PM's to the second group tonight.
Lili

[kf08]

I'm so glad to have you around! You are a woman of action.

Lili, the feeling is mutual and I look forward to meeting you in person! 
 
In the meantime, just PM me if you want me to take part of the list and tell me which part.

Lynn

[Liliane]

Lynn, that link that I had gotten didn't come up with too many profiles of KF Atlantans, although there were many Atlanta lenders. I PM'd the ones I could find, but there wasn't really a list to split up.  
I'd say just PM as many people as you can find. I tried typing "Atlanta" into the KF search bar, and got some profiles, which I'll contact, but I'm not sure that there's an organized way to go about it.
I directed everybody that I PM'd to this thread so hopefully they'll start RSVP'ing and directing others.
As we get more people, we'll think of a good (fanless) location.
Cheers!

[kf08]

I directed everybody that I PM'd to this thread so hopefully they'll start RSVP'ing and directing others.
As we get more people, we'll think of a good (fanless) location.
Cheers! Thumbs Up

I think with the input from Peter on how to search, we'll have an easier time. 

To all you KivaFriends out there, again,  please help us spread the word to people who you see ID themselves as being in Georgia.  If you have no idea if they are near Atlanta, just PM me.  As you help us with this, you're helping get new Kiva lenders because this event will get some and maybe a lot of publicity. I promise I will do the same for you when there's a gathering in your area.  Thanks in advance.

Lynn

[LeahAndMark]

We will most like attend. And... what were we gonna do other than hangout and ummm... well, like what sort of gathering would this be?


LeahAndMark.com

[kf08]

First, welcome to KivaFriends!  Thanks for responding to my message so quickly. 

I don't know what Lili has in mind and we are just in the planning stages, but I will outline my initial thoughts.  In addition to just hanging out,  we can exchange ideas on how we can spread the word about Kiva in our area, somewhat like the meet-up concept that seems popular with political organizations.  I am working to get us some media coverage, which would bring in new lenders.

Any other suggestions from people who have met or are planning gatherings are very welcome.

Lynn