An Inspired Charity Campaign Uses ColdFusion
BuilderAU.com just reported a campaign by software professionals in Australia that aims to raise over half a million dollars for the Fred Hollows Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to create a world where no one is needlessly blind. The website for this campaign was written in ColdFusion! Check out http://www.millioneyesofsight.com, where you can buy a pixel in an online picture for $2 Australian. As more people buy pixels, the image will become clearer. And of course, you'll be doing a good deed at the same time.
The Fred Hollows Foundation collaborates with local blindness prevention and other health organizations in more than 38 countries throughout Africa, Asia (South and South East), Australia and the Pacific. Brendon Chase, who wrote the BuilderAU article, cites an estimate of more than one million people who can see today because of initiatives started by Hollows.
The website is simple but fun. A framed, pixelated image is front and center on the website. Clicking on a link at the top of the frame brings down a windowshade-like panel with explanation of what the campaign is trying to do and a Paypal button allowing you to donate to this cause. You can get back to the image by clicking either the frame or a "Close Panel" link on the upper right.
The campaign is of short duration, so you'd better hurry if you want to donate. It only lasts 20 hours – from 4:30 PM on April 10th until 12 pm on April 11th. (And I'm not sure if that's Australian time, which is ahead of U.S. time...)
Congratulations to Mark Blair, technical director at Adobe Pacific, for managing this and for building the ColdFusion backend for this page, and to the other software professionals who helped him create the website.