Ripples

I thought you'd enjoy reading the impact so far on the Tim's Place story that aired on the CBS Evening News.  It's pretty cool.  This is an email from Tim's father, Keith:

Gentlemen;
I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Father's Day weekend.  We had a blast!

Here's a brief update on impacts of your story (so far):

Tim's Place:
The "Place" is packed.  Starting last Friday, we've had record crowds.  Father's Day was a record for one day sales - we even ran out of eggs and had to send someone to the grocery store!!  Lots of out of towners had seen the story and dropped in.  Also lots of locals who had never visited before.  The hug counter rolled over past 19,000 on Sunday when Tim delivered a record 172 hugs!

Facebook:
Tim's Place Facebook page has over 750 new likes and a very lively flurry of conversation.  Tim's personal Facebook is very, very acitve as well.  People all over the world in the Down Syndrome community are sharing the story.

Tim's Place website:
We've had around 200,000 hits on the website since your story aired.  We had around 92,000 on Father's day alone.  We've passed 265 people who have taken the time to write in and send Tim a Wish.  You can see those posts at www.timsplaceabq.com under the Send Tim a Wish tab.

Special Olympics International:
Tim Shriver's organization sent a blast about the story.  You can see it here:  http://www.facebook.com/SpecialOlympics  They followed up with an email to all their North American delegations this week.

National Down Syndrome Congress:
The Congress sent a blast email to their members worldwide on Friday and posted links to the story on their Facebook page.  They report that they think the story is "viral" within their membership.

Albuquerque Journal:
We were contacted today by our local newspaper in Albuquerque.  We've been after them since we opened in October 2010 to do a story on Tim.  They've told us that restaurants are not news.  Apparently your story changed that as they're coming by tomorrow for a story that will run in their Sunday edition.

CBS News website:
We've been watching the traffic on your website.  As of right now the story has 9,100 likes on Facebook on the On The Road page and around 1,700 likes on the Sunday Morning page.  What other feedback have you gotten on your side?

Thanks again for what you've done. 

We'll keep in touch,

Keith Harris