HoHoTO Says Goodbye
[UPDATE – as of October 09, 2013 a new group of organisers have risen up to #SaveHoHoTO – or as I like to call it HoHoTO: TNG – Dec 19,2013]
5 years ago 13 people connected on twitter and inspired a community to come together in 13 days and raise over $10,000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank. We called it HoHoTO and we had a kick-ass party for over 600 in the process.
Corey Reid — “It didn’t take very much. Just Twitter. I was riding a bus down Dufferin street when I saw some folks I’d started following talking about getting together at the Drake to discuss this Christmas party idea. I just jumped off the bus and walked up to the hotel, walked in and tweeted something like, “If anyone sees the tall guy in cowboy boots at the bar, he wants in on HoHoTO.” That was all it took. That is sometimes all it takes to get started making a difference.”
In the 5 years since, the HoHoTO community – partiers, bidders, sponsors, volunteers, organisers and founders alike have enjoyed 6 parties (yes 6… don’t forget the oddly timed and sweaty hoHOTo summer event), 3 Hangover Auctions, countless photobooth poses and many high-fives over the almost $285,000 raised for Daily Bread to help our hungry neighbours and our community as a whole.
Rob Hyndman — “#HoHoTo was like a flash mob of generosity – over the years, thousands of people from our community came together spontaneously to support the Daily Bread, and to celebrate the season together. It was a marvelous demonstration of what your community can do when it’s determined to help out.”
But 5 years is a long time. We live and work in an industry and community where 5 years is a lifetime. Things change. Lives change. We change. Sadly, hunger doesn’t change though we wish it would.
After much deliberation, debate, countless tweets and emails, brainstorms and insights, the HoHoTO organisers have decided it’s time to retire HoHoTO.
We are honoured to be part of such a special community.
Thank you for the wonderful years. The giving. The sharing. The dancing.
April Dunford — “I loved that this event was fueled not only by a few charitable big companies but also by many, many small start-ups and individuals that dug deep and did the right thing for the Daily Bread Food Bank. HoHoTO was a success because of the giving spirit of the Toronto tech community. Ah those folks will miss my yearly calls badgering them for their money. Yeah, probably not.”
We encourage anyone and everyone to think of a way to blow HoHoTO out of the water and make a difference in any small or HUGE way you can think of.
We know this community is filled with ideas and heart, but we are here as sounding boards and will happily share our thoughts and guidance.
But HoHoTO is retiring.
5 Years of HoHoTO. from Michael Penney on Vimeo.
Thank you from the founders & organisers of HoHoTO
- Leila Boujnane: CEO, Idée Inc.
- Alexa Clark: Founder & Managing Partner, Ellipsis Consulting
- Ryan Coleman: Applied Innovation Specialist, BMO Financial Group
- Duarte Da Silva: Senior Manager, Communitylend.com
- April Dunford: Founder & Managing Director, RocketScope
- Peter Flaschner: VP Strategy at Klick Health
- Rob Hyndman: Founder, Hyndman | Law
- Wendy Koslow
- Amanda Laird: Account Manager at Maverick Public Relations
- Rochelle Latinsky
- Sheri Moore: Partner, Creative Director, MCC – Moore Carlyle Consulting
- Alistair Morton: Creative Director, Partner, Peapod Studios
- Nicole Morton: Director of Strategic Development, Partner, Peapod Studios
- Michael O’Connor Clarke: Vice President, Digital, Media Profile
- Michael Penney: El Presidente, Afterlight Films
- Michele Perras: VP Strategy – Mobile, Klick Health
- Joseph Puopolo: Founder, Printchomp
- Corey Reid: Scratch Factory
- Ryan Taylor: Goldsmith, Adventurer, The Fair Trade Jewellery Co.
- Rannie Turingan: Photographer, photojunkie.ca
- Heather Williams
- Elena Yunusov: Founder, communicable.ca
Please share your thoughts, comments, and links to your HoHoTO experiences in the comments below. We’d all love to hear them.
Tweets about “hohoto”
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Thank you HoHoTO founders and organizers! You’ve done amazing work and you should be proud. You’ve succeeded in making the world suck a whole lot less and you will be missed but not forgotten.
Nock4Six Aw man, I was gonna go this year, too 🙁
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wellred I don’t know why this makes me sad even though I haven’t been around for the last three!
easternblot My sad, it is contagious 🙁
wellred 🙁
Thanks for all the support skanwar ! cc: craigmillr
EdenSpodek Thanks Eden.
NBomb Nock4Six Hey, you can still donate the ticket price to Daily Bread and grab some friends to go out for drinks 😉 #HoHoTO
Thanks so much to all the HoHoTO organizers. I’ve been an enthusiastic participant/partier at every event. While we are all sad, I can completely understand. It is an event that almost shouldn’t have worked, pulled together by everyone’s sheer will and passion. I feel blessed to be part of such a caring community.
Namaste
My thanks to all the organizers for having pulled off something both very fun and very charitable!
I wish to chime in and say that HoHoTO has been an awesome event that really meant a lot to me. I’m really sad to see it go. Maybe it’s weird but it feels a lot like losing MOCC again. Thanks to all of you that have made the event so great over the years. I worry about the hole in the FoodBank budget and in the Toronto tech community charitable involvement…what does this mean?
I would be interested in joining a group of like-minded individuals to try to keep the Toronto tech community doing something for the FoodBank around Christmas.
It was a great run. Congrats to everyone involved in such an awesome cause!
I’m pouring out all the liquor for HoHoTO. It was my first taste of what Twitter had to offer in 2010, and it was a highlight of my year ever since — I always called it Toronto Twitter’s Christmas Party.
There are already people trying to come together to revive it from its ashes — a testament to how much it touched everyone over its run.
Long live HoHoTO 🙂
aranh Aran, I miss Michael O’Connor Clarketoo, and writing this just reminded me of how much we bounced things off each other for hohoto
There are some people starting to talk on twitter about stepping up and possibly taking over where HoHoTO has left off. Maybe you want to connect with kdblez CasePkuttysarkcpantazisdestiniyadoomzTO
CaseP So glad to see you are interested in keeping Toronto Twitter’s Party rolling!
RohanSJ And thank you for volunteering and working the party every single year!
conniecrosby Thanks Connie. You hit the nail on the head with “pulled together by everyone’s sheer will and passion.” It’s a great community we are a part of!
After 5 great years, raising over $280K for DailyBreadTO HoHoTO Says Goodbye http://t.co/1ldXwGAAdB Well done!
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