IRUSA has something new in the works for you coming up on November 29th, and you won’t want to miss it — a 24-hour podcast for Giving Tuesday.
Why won’t you want to miss it?
1. You’ll hear live from field offices around the world — and you can ask them your own questions live on air.
2. You’ll hear from some of our favorite guests from past podcasts.
3. The hosts aren’t going to sleep for 24 hours, so in between all of the serious stuff, it’s going to be very entertaining.
“This was an insane idea I had to go live with video and audio the full 24 hours of Giving Tuesday, midnight to midnight,” says host B.C. Dodge.
B.C. and his co-host R. Mordant Mahon host a weekly “What a Relief!” podcast about IRUSA work and related topics, with a special guest each week. It’s a treasure trove of information for people who care about the world we live in — and it’s fun too. (How can that be? Listen and see!)
B.C. and Mordant wanted to do something special for Giving Tuesday, the day when Americans step back from all the indulgences of Black Friday weekend and share a little with people who need more than we do.
So they’re going big. They’ve invited back guests including singers Alman Nusrat, Ghuydar Bashmaf and Khalil Ismail. They’ve scheduled calls with the field offices in Russia and Pakistan and the new Philippines office, and they’re trying to work out logistics with the Syria office too.
“You’ll be able to get live reports on what your donations are helping support,” B.C. says.
And they’ll be taking calls so you can ask your own questions directly to the field office staff — something we’ve never been able to offer before.
The topics are wide open, but there are two main focuses: work in Syria and children in need. This is of course a fundraiser, so we hope listeners will chip in, but just as important is to learn about the issues so you can spread the word.
You can join in all sorts of ways, from the regular podcast link to YouTube live to a Facebook chat room. All the links will be on the event page.
“It’s my bag of tricks, I’m just dumping it all out,” B.C. says.
He’ll also post a schedule of the special guests on the event page in case you want to make sure to tune in for something special to you.
B.C. promises there will be no naps.
“Things will eventually get loopy because I know that the more tired I get, the more I enjoy stupid little jokes so there will be more of that the later the podcast goes,” he says. “We try to keep it light. We can’t guarantee that some of the topics won’t turn heavy — some of the topics, especially Myanmar and Syria can get heavy and emotional. If that’s where the conversation goes, that’s where the conversation goes. Unfortunately while laughter is the best medicine, there are topics you just can’t turn around that are heavy but they need to be discussed so awareness can be brought to them.”
You’re going to cry and you’re going to laugh, maybe both at once, or double your money back. (Yes, it’s a free podcast. See what we mean?)
B.C. says part of the inspiration for the 24-hour podcast came from Islam’s prayer cycle:
“It is well known that at every point in the day, someone is always praying,” he says. “Someone in the Middle East or someone in the subcontinent could be praying fajr while we here on the East Coast could be praying isha. We’re going to take this podcast and run through the entire prayer cycle from around the world.”
Get your questions ready and come join us!