Using Special Days to Share a Message, or "If I Can't Dance, I'm Not Coming to Your Revolution"

In 1976, Americans Bob Love and Rose Lehman (above) went to Haiti as Mennonite Central Committee volunteers.

Bob worked in the pharmacy, while Rose was a nurse.

Bob and Rose had never met before going to that country. But as sometimes happens when young people meet on an MCC assignment, they fell in love and married four years later.

Through 38 years of marriage, they’ve never forgotten their relationship’s beginnings with MCC in Haiti, or what service in that country meant to them.

Why am I telling you this? Because MCC cleverly found a way to use their love story to promote the idea of service and helping others by telling their story on Valentine’s Day.

Seeing that story made me think: What other annual special days can NGOs and non-profits use to get their messages notice by the public and the media?

And there are a lot of special days to choose from!

There are 36 special events for February alone, including things like Toothache Day (9), Umbrella Day (10), Make a Friend Day (11), Drink Wine Day (18), Love Your Pet Day (20) and Cupcake Day (27).

Not all days would be suitable, of course. But there would be ways to use some of them.

Take Groundhog Day, for example.

If a municipal, state, provincial or federal government fails year-after-year to make progress on a pressing issue (homelessness, the environment, foreign aid), you can invoke the famous movie of the same name: Here we go again.

What about Pi Day? (March 14). Maybe the math for a desired change just doesn’t add up.

For donations, can three people be helped, three trees planted, or three anythings be done by a donation of $14?

Those who are fans of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy could use Towel Day, May 25, to talk about the importance of hygiene in the developing world.

Of course, we also need to be sensitive; not every issue can benefit from a lighthearted campaign.

But many of these special, offbeat, fun and quirky days could also allow groups to hitch their causes and issues to things already in the news, giving them an extra boost—and maybe some additional donations.

They would also be great for social media; something fun for people to share.

And if we can’t have a bit of fun now and then, what’s the point? We can’t be serious all the time.

Or, as the paraphrased quote from the radical feminist Emma Goldman puts it: “If I can’t dance, I’m not coming to your revolution.”

So when it comes to special days, dance and share away.

For a list of international days about causes, click here.