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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

No really. I mean it. The Global Hug Tour is a project conceived by Gail Lynne Goodwin and her husband Darryl. I met Gail at SOBCon09 (seriously. I still have SO much material from that one conference) and she is wonderful. Gail’s main blog is InspireMeToday, which offers daily inspiration in the form of videos, interviews, and articles.

The Global Hug Tour is a plan to literally fly around the world, stopping in 45 locations. At each location the goal is to hug 2000 people. That’s right! The goal is to hug a hundred thousand people.

If you visit the Global Hug Tour site, you can sponsor a hug for $10 USD. Each hug is assigned a number. Then when Gail and Darryl get to official hug locations, each hug recipient is given a sticker with that number and they can log on to the Global Hug Tour site to find out who sponsored their hug. In addition, the actual hug sponsor dollars are delivered to important causes along the tour.

For example, 2 hugs can cover a year’s worth of education for a child in Siem Reap, Cambodia. A hundred hugs will save the life of a child in Chennai, India at the Children’s Heart Foundation. Hugs will also go to the Women’s and Children’s Fund in New York City and 42 other places along the tour. A complete list of stops is on the Global Hug Site.

It looks like the tour has changed a bit since I first learned about the concept. Gail’s latest post on the subject says that the tour will be split over continental zones. The North American leg of the tour will launch in the fall of 2009 with other legs to follow.

Hey, if you buy a hug, wouldja let me know? It’d be neat to hear who actually got your hug and if you get to connect with them directly. Also, if you know of anyone who would like to sponsor the tour I know Gail and Darryl would love to hear from you.

Earnest Parenting: help for people who want a hug.