Staff Report
Published March 12, 2010

Charleston is one of 300 international cities participating this month in the 2010 Twestival Global, an event that uses social media to help raise money and awareness for a different nonprofit each year. This year’s event, set for March 25, will benefit poverty-stricken children across the globe.

The idea began on the social media networking site Twitter, through which users communicate in “microblog” messages of 140 characters or fewer. Users expressed a desire to get together in specific communities in support of a cause.

This quickly grew into the multicity charitable event, which is leveraging social media to take on causes such as clean water, assistance for children dealing with homelessness, the lack of schools and other social issues.

This year's event will focus on raising awareness and funding to fight child poverty through the organization Concern Worldwide. Concern reaches out to out-of-school children, such as orphans, street children, working children and children affected by such things as conflict, HIV and AIDS. It also works with children who have disabilities.

The Charleston event kicks off at 1 p.m. with a donation yoga class in Marion Square with Caryn Antos of YogaBenefits. The evening portion will start at 5:30 at Rebekah Jacob Gallery, 169-B King St., and will continue down the street at 6:30 at The Real Estate Studio, 214 King St., with a DJ, silent auction, refreshments and entertainment. The cost to attend is $10 for early bird attendees and $15 after those tickets are gone. Tickets can be purchased online, and money from ticket sales goes to Concern Worldwide’s education initiatives.

Getting involved in the Charleston Twestival can include attending, donating, sponsoring or spreading the word about the event. More information is available on Twitter or at the local Twestival Web site.

Concern Worldwide has worked in 25 countries across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and estimates that it has helped more than 700,000 children. The organization says 100% of donations go toward the projects it supports and not toward administration, overhead or financial reporting.