featsoftweet.com

Below are the five feats you can vote for in today’s poll. The voting will start at 12 midday GMT and will be open for 24 hours.

The cause that wins the vote will be supported by Feats Of Tweet over the next 30 days. We’ll tweet about it, ask followers for their support by retweeting or contacting people outside Twitter who could help, think up ideas and hopefully create enough buzz and awareness that ensure we create a Feat of Tweet.

There are only five feats in the shortlist and there were over double that number put forward. It doesn’t necessarily mean I didn’t feel a feat wasn’t worth supporting if it’s not on the list, although I did talk about the kind of requests I felt would and wouldn’t work in my blog post yesterday.

Reading through the proposed feats, you’d have been struck by one in particular – you’ll then read the shortlist below and wonder why the hell I haven’t included it; it’s this one from @Activiated. It relates to the desperate plight of a four year-old boy from California called Aaron who requires a simultaneous heart and kidney transplant. The background to this story is as heartbreaking as Aaron’s current condition.

So why didn’t I include this feat? I can’t say I’m completely happy with my decision not to. The request isn’t for donors, but for donations – Aaron’s family is close to running out of medical insurance, which is capped at $350,000. My feeling is that while there may be no greater feat than this, it isn’t something we could walk away from after 30 days; it needs sustained donations for however long it takes.

Just because this plea doesn’t fit into the framework for Feats Of Tweet, it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth supporting – it absolutely is. If you’re touched by Aaron’s story and want to donate, then do so without hesitation. As I said yesterday, you should support any request you identify with, whether they win the poll or not; Feats Of Tweet is about focusing our goodwill, not confining it.

Other feats that came close to the final five but didn’t quite make it include those from @coseleybaths, @canny_lass, @robcoyle and @samdexter.

I picked the final five for this first shortlist because some are unusual, some are unexpected but all could allow Twitter to shine (I don’t know how Twitter would resolve some of these, but it’s capable of moving in altogether mysterious ways). I asked each to write a few words about their feat – read through and remember to vote for one after midday:

@codoherty

@featsoftweet – help me & @tcfcharity to secure out of this world, money can’t buy prizes for charity ball to help child mental health #feat

The Children’s Foundation works to improve the health and wellbeing of children in North East England. We fund research and manage projects which provide practical solutions to child health issues. We’ve been doing this for nearly twenty years.

This year the Entrepreneur’s Forum has decided to support TCF with their annual charity ball which will take place on Saturday October 10th. The money raised from the ball will go directly towards funding a new project focusing on child mental health where we aim to help children with mental health issues such as anorexia, depression and behavioural problems.

The Entrepreneur’s Forum Ball is a fantastic event attended by North East England’s rich and influential, and a brilliant opportunity for the charity to make significant funds, providing we have money can’t buy prizes and experiences to auction. We need people who may be able to donate a week in their villa somewhere sunny or offer a behind the scenes tour of a TV show, tickets to prestigious events or flights anywhere in the world.

Fundraising is all about contacts and we think our Twitter friends can really help bring something unique and different to our event.

@hitman6498

@FeatsOfTweet This sounds dumb but I want to finish my #bowling league with a 200 or better average and would like to get my first 300 gm

I first started bowling when I was a kid, but nothing real heavy. When I joined the Marine Corps, that’s when bowling became more than just a fad.  I joined a military bowling league but  I was horrible, even got the nickname “Mr 98″ as I was barely able to throw over 100. It really bugged me but I didn’t really know what to do about it.

After I got out of the Marine Corps and went into the civilian sector I made some friends at my job and we joined – you guessed it – a bowling league.  I was the worst bowler on the team although I finally was able to crack that vaunted 100.

I took a part time job at a bowling alley and that is when the competitive juices started to kick in.  I saw and met some awesome bowlers as I worked the counter and they offered to help me to get better.  I would stay after work with some of my new friends and bowl for several hours to work on my game.  I then started investing in more high-end bowling equipment, I joined this very competitive Scratch league and the team that I put together was very easily outmatched.  With my not so impressive average of 170, I was getting beat fairly easily and regularly week in and week out.  There were some teams where the low bowler was 200-210 avg. We finished dead last but the pay for finishing last was more than I had ever won in any of the leagues I had ever been in, so needless to say I went back for a 2nd year.

I would love to attain my two goals of a) 200 avg and b) my first ever 300 game.  Currently I am at 187.75 and I feel like I can actually achieve my first goal.  The second goal can’t be achieved w/o being consistent with my first goal.

I work really hard to get better. I practice as much as I can and the bowling equipment I use is top of the line, so there are no excuses in that aspect.  I no longer want to be the laughing stock of the league.  To do that in this league you have to be a consistent 200 bowler.

@kirrus

@featsoftweet #feat to get a team of people outside zone1 tube stations in London, providing directions 4 tourists

I love helping people, so helping lost tourists find their way would be a fun use of my spare time. I’ve only recently moved to London, so I don’t yet know all the best routes.

To make this feat work, we’d need a team of people, at least one other than me, who armed with maps would go to popular or busy London Underground stations and stand outside, offering directions to anyone who looks lost. Best to go in teams of two – at least you’ve got someone to talk to whilst its quiet, and someone to help whilst it’s manically busy.

@RachelSMorris

@FeatsOfTweet I want to take my special needs foster son to Oregon for Christmas, to see best friends. help with cheap fares anything. #feat

M is 17 years old and has lived with me for over 9 years. He has global learning difficulties and is on the autistic spectrum. When he came to me he had minimal communication, was malnourished and didn’t know how to play. He can now hold conversations, travel to college independently, is obsessed with vehicles and has a reading age of approximately 6 years. He has no understanding of numbers or money and is unlikely to be able to live independently.

Some years ago my husband left and has had only sporadic contact with M since, depriving him of a good male role model. Some time ago he met some friends of mine from Albany in Oregon, and really bonded with my friend’s husband who is a mechanic. Blayne provided that much needed role model and M adores him. As M reaches 18 and has decisions to make about his future he would really benefit from spending time with Blayne.

@sharonodea

@FeatsOfTweet Can you help me find a sport I’ll like enough to do regularly? #feat

On my 18th birthday, someone gave me a notebook, and on each page I wrote one thing I wanted to do before I turned 30. Some trivial, some important.

I’d largely forgotten about this exercise, but as I was moving house a couple of years ago I found the notebook and realised I’d done almost all of the things I’d listed in it. However, three wishes in the book remain unfulfilled. These are:

- Visit Africa
- Visit Australia
- Find a sport I like and do it regularly

Now the first two sound tricky, but if I really wanted to go I could book a plane ticket. No, the latter’s the hard one.

To give you some background, I am entirely blind in my right eye, which means I have pretty bad spacial awareness can’t see anything on my right-hand side. I also have really awful balance, which might be related to my first point, but that could just be me making excuses. Consequently, I am appallingly bad at every sport I’ve ever tried.

I must surely be able to find some from of exercise that I’m not totally, depressingly crap at. But what? I’m willing to try pretty much anything. What can you suggest?