I was lucky enough to be involved with the Buffalo Chapter of Social Media Club, @SMCBuffalo, when it was first getting started by our chapter President, Nicole Schuman @Buffalogal and many other volunteers. Through my companies (@ASBuffalo) corporate membership I was able to attend and help plan events like TacoVino and beSOCIAL. The opportunities to network and learn more about Buffalo’s ever evolving social media community is always enjoyable and offers many valuable learning experiences.



My favorite connection though made through @SMCBuffalo was getting the chance to meet @dangigante and become one of the participating artists of his newest company @You_and_Who (http://youandwho.com). That connection has allowed me to become, while small, an agent for good in our community that I most certainly would not have had on my own.



You and Who brings artists and designers the chance to create t-shirt designs based on a theme, the sale of each shirt results in a donation of a matching shirt to a local charity and the artist receives a dollar from each sale. My shirt design was originally an unused design for Algonquin Studios that got repurposed because it matched the first Buffalo theme ‘New Beginnings’ perfectly, so every $1 made from my t-shirt sales benefits our nearest and dearest not-for-profit Buffalo Soccer Club (http://buffalosoccerclub.org) started and funded by Algonquin Sports for Kids.

The Buffalo Soccer Club facilitates low and no cost soccer programs for youth in the City of Buffalo. And while I am really no good at playing soccer (trust me I’ve tried), it gives me the opportunity to contribute, while small, way more than I could personally afford on a monthly basis.

I feel lucky to have an organization like @SMCBuffalo in my city where I can connect with so many smart, fun and creative people. Hopefully #mysmcstory will encourage others to participate and benefit from all it has to offer.

Social Media Club recently launched their first ever fundraiser which will help expand SMC's efforts to meet their global missions of sharing best practices and promoting digital media literacy across our more than 325+ chapters in 52 countries.