By
Charlene Quincey


twitter.com/CQJD


On Monday
evening, Mod Club on College Street was a-twitter thanks to Toronto’s
tech community in support of the Daily Bread Food Bank. The venue was
at capacity with dedicated charity supporters, classy clad
‘twitterati’ and the who’s who of Toronto’s
geek chic. It was a truly inspiring and memorable night.


The event
entitled #HoHoTo, which raised $25,000 and donated over 1300 pounds
of food to Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, was born from a
Twitter message a mere 16 days ago. A dedicated group of twitter
folk, most of whom had never met, congregated for beers and in 9 days
managed to create a catchy name, find a cause, locate a venue, scoop
up well known dj’s, entice sponsors and most importantly, sell
every last ticket to their soiree.


And a
soiree it was…….


Dj’s
Duarte Da Silva and Ryan Taylor carried the evening by playing Tweet
requests all night long. Of honorable mention were: Right Said Fred’s
“I’m Too Sexy” which resulted in a spontaneous
runway ‘walk-off’ mid-dance floor, and Journey’s
“Don’t Stop Believin’” which enticed all
party goers to sing at the top of their lungs – a fitting
message for a charity event, I think. Capturing the spirit and
beauty of the evening was photographer Rannie Turingan, whose
p#hohotobooth complete with a red brick wall, larger than life candy
canes, deer antlers, and glittery boas inspired charity goers, who
wanted a photo memento of the eve, to donate any sum of money to
smile and say ‘charity!’


Duarte Da
Silva, one of the organizers, sums up the evening best however:
‘every little bit helps.’ With the Daily Bread Food Bank
seeing a pronounced increase in usage, every little bit does help.
What the organizers of #HoHoTo have taught us is that charity events
do not need to be a year in the making or require exorbitant ticket
prices to raise much needed funds. In fact, and as we all experienced
Monday eve, socially conscious individuals can raise the roof and
$25,000 for a mere $10 a pop!


Thanks for
an amazing night and we can’t wait for next year’s party!


Cheers to
all those who put this amazing event together:


Leila
Boujnane – CEO, Idée Inc., Alexa
Clark – Managing Partner, Plethora Press, Ryan
Coleman – Chief Community Evangelist, VizThink,Duarte
Da Silva – Senior Manager, Communitylend.com,April
Dunford – Director, Incubation Marketing, NortelPeter
Flaschner – Founder, The Blog Studio,Sheri
Moore – Partner, Creative Director, MCC Planners Inc.,Michael
O’Connor Clarke – Vice President, Thornley Fallis
Communications Inc.,Michael
Penney – El Presidente, Afterlight Films,Michele
Perras – Manager, Mobile Experience Innovation Centre,Corey
Reid – Chief Cat Herder, Fresh Books,Ryan
Taylor – Goldsmith, Adventurer, The Fair Trade Jewellery Co.,
Rannie Turingan –
Photographer, photojunkie.ca, Elena
Yunusov – Founder, communicable.ca


The Daily
Bread Food Bank is still in need of donations. Visit their website at
www.dailybread.ca for more information on how you can help or simply
make a food donation at any fire hall, Loblaws or Real Canadian
Superstore.