Lots of Love for Love A Heart

 

By Michelle Rivard

    

The Love A Heart event for the Heart & Stroke Foundation was held at the Hideout on Thursday, February 9th. I had a chance to catch up with the founder and organizer of the event, Shannon Hunter, about what Love A Heart is and how it came to be. In its second year, Love A Heart is a charity auction where the prizes up for grabs are some of Toronto's most eligible bachelors & bachelorettes! Who wouldn't want to go on a date with Cosmo TV's Wilder Weir or musically-inclined Community Manager Jeff Cole? On the ladies side, dates with MLSE's Kat Stefankiwicz and blog legend Raymi the Minx were yours for the bidding, among many others. This year's event raised $11,301, for the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

Shannon came up with the idea for Love A Heart while simply enjoying a Starbucks coffee one afternoon; she had been noticing that young people were becoming engaged and donating to "sexy" charities with youthful campaigns, like Movember and The Underwear Affair. How come this same attention wasn't being given to the Heart & Stroke Foundation when heart disease and stroke are the LEADING cause of death among Canadian women?

Shannon's mother was diagnosed with a leaking heart valve 25 years ago. While the condition is manageable, it's something she deals with daily. This is one of the many reasons the Heart & Stroke Foundation is important to Shannon.

Love A Heart was organized and promoted strictly using social media. Spreading the word and recruiting auctionees through Twitter and Facebook was a great way to target the exact target market she was after; young, tuned-in, fun, fresh people. The Heart & Stroke Foundation was so pleased with the amount of money raised, they've already asked if she's planning on organizing an event for 2013. Of course, the answer is yes.

If this event is something you'd want to be a part of (and who wouldn't?!), you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for the hashtags & status updates next year.