Dear Friends,
We have been in the process of upgrading our website. As a result, we have neglected posting updates on the site and have been focusing primarily on the Facebook page. If you haven't been keeping up to date on Facebook, and have been wondering what the organization has been up to, we invite you to "fan" our Facebook page simply by searching for Esther's Echo in Facebook.
For those of you following on the website, allow us to take this opportunity to update you.
Esther's Echo has shot two promotional videos that will go live with our new website come this Fall. Our intention is to create a far more dynamic and multimedia centered site providing a better sense of our vision and our efforts to make that vision a reality.
Both these videos are now in post-production with one being edited by our friend and partner Paul Muzzin through Riptide Media.
In May, Net Change, a conference exploring uses of information technology to foster social change, was hosted in Toronto. Both of us attended several sessions we felt pertinent to Esther's Echo as the organization is essentially founded upon technology to constitute our peer-to-peer network. In anticipation of our new site, Net Change was the unveiling of our new gadget, a Bloggie. The Bloggie is a camera designed specifically for creating online content and vlogs. The video blogs from Net Change we captured will appear on the new site and helps to visualize some of the content we explored while at the conference. Expect to see more of this content on the new site.
Late May found Esther's Echo up in Thunder Bay, Ontario for the North Western Ontario Secondary School Student Association's annual leadership conference. This year's conference, EPIC, hosted Esther's Echo as a key note speaker. Matthew made the journey from Toronto to address the conference's delegates and conference organizers. Matthew's presentation focused on enduring leadership that is persistent despite resistance, shortfall in resources, and many other hurdles that face all community leaders when striving for positive social change. He shared stories of the brave community leaders he met abroad while working both in Uganda and Sierra Leone who served as examples of dedication and perseverance against all odds; the same brand of leaders that we are striving to support through Esther's Echo. Over 150 delegates signed up for the Esther's Echo contact list and we have already received requests from a number of students to visit their schools. We hope this will lead to future speaking opportunities this Fall/Winter.
Our push toward the Fall is to choreograph the registration of Esther's Echo as a legal entity in Canada with the re-launch of our website. Stay posted as we plan to bring up the new site toward September along with the new digital content we have created.
Thank you to all of you again for your continued support and for remaining in the loop with regard to our progress. Several times we have crossed paths with some of you randomly in Toronto and are so excited that you know all about our progress. Please continue to visit the Facebook page as well as the website for further updates and the re-launch of the site!
Sincerely,
The Esther's Echo Team
Small Contributions, Big Change! Visit Esther's Echo at www.esthersecho.org or on Facebook at Esther's Echo