I feature an interesting website, blog, Twitter feed, Facebook page or other online destination related to Waterloo Region on CKWR with Randolph J. Johnston called #WRawesome Online, Mondays at about 12:30. Here is the Midday with RJ’s Facebook page.

I hope by doing so that I’ll help people find places online that help them to connect to their community–online and in the real world. By doing so, I hope to help people find online places that they might not find otherwise and make our community a better place to live.

For folks looking for communications advice, you can get tips from each selection featured. I’ll highlight at least one example in my weekly post.

#WRawesome Online: 29 Leaps

Over the weekend, I learned about an amazing initiative that aims to inspire all of us to take action to make our world a better place by helping others. The inspiration for 29 Leaps was the extra day that we will have since this is a leap year. For the majority of us, it’s just an extra day to enjoy the family, friends and comforts that we already enjoy. But for too many others, the extra day is one more day filled with challenges. They don’t need another difficult day especially if they struggle just to survive.

Seventeen year old Madi MacIntyre of Wilmot Township is the force behind 29 Leaps. And she’s using Youtube videos to inspire others and to share her own efforts to make a difference. Here’s the introductory video:

So find 29 things that you can do this month to make the world a better place to live. Or have fun with the number 29 and use it to make a difference in a big way or in a small way–even if it just puts a smile on someone’s face.

Professional polish goes a long way

The 29 Leaps website is simple but effective. It shows that you don’t need to have something complicated with loads of content if you know what you key messages are and deliver them clearly.

The site and the introductory video benefits from professional polish. I’m confident that the response to this initiative especially by the local media would not be nearly so great without it–though the fact that it comes from a youth makes it newsworthy (even if many other youth are also working to make their community better.) You can see the difference and you respond to the quality of the presentation. It goes back to what I’ve been talking about in several of my recent posts about the importance of valuing communication. While Madi was fortunate to have some connections to an online marketing firm,there are lessons to be learned from her success for all social profits.

I’m also impressed with how social media has been integrated into this initiative. Like many others, Twitter is how I first found out about it. Just another reason to join the conversation happening online there.