image courtesy of WKTV.com

As we work to inspire others, we are often inspired ourselves. We’re celebrating a local family that has taken adversity and turned it into a positive experience for others. Jason and Kristy Nole found a way to give back to a community and organization that helped their daughter in their time of need, the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) at Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica. The CMN provides programs, services and life-saving equipment for children and families in Central New York. Their month-long “Dining for Miracles” event will be hosted at their family-owned restaurant, ANCORA!, and include other local restaurants as well.

“Children’s Miracle Network is an organization that positively impacts so many members of our local community,” said Jason Nole. “I wanted to give back in some way. I thought, what better way than through Dining for Miracles.” We couldn’t agree more. Read the whole news article here.

Also interesting: Jason’s newest restaurant, Simmer, was branded and named in collaboration with Romanelli Communications. We couldn’t be prouder to work with so generous a client and friend.

from the Unnecessary Quotes blog

You’ve heard about the ‘Long Tail’ and how the web has brought out millions and millions of small communities. And its true.  Maybe there’s not a huge group of left handed people in your stores buying left-handed notebooks… But there are entire communities online devoted to being left-handed.  There’s blogs and groups for power parachuting, noodling, and even a blog devoted “unnecessary quotes”.

The point is, there is no better time to get engaged in an online community or build one of your own.  The most important thing is to get out there and do some research on your industry.  Is there already an online community out there?  Can you contribute expertise or add value to the community?  If so, DO IT.  Just don’t be That Guy (you know, the one who thinks that online communities are just a way to advertise for free). You’ll find that contributing your expertise, or helping to solve a problem DOES affect your bottom line.

Some great places to start: Google Blog Search – Twitter Search – Alltop - LinkedIn.

What’s the craziest online community you’ve seen out there?