Besides being a devout following, Blood Ties fans are proving to be resourceful in both giving back to the community and creating awareness of their favorite show. In their latest campaign listed on the Blood Ties Fans Give Back blog, Blood Ties fans are encouraging fans and other people to donate eyeglasses and sunglasses to the Lions Recycle for Sight program. This campaign is most likely inspired by Vicki Nelson, one of the main characters in Blood Ties, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (a degenerative eye disease).

BLOOD TIES FANS RECYCLE FOR SIGHT

As spring cleaning gets under way, Blood Ties Fans are asking people to look through dresser drawers and closets for used eyeglasses and donate them to the Lions Recycle For Sight program.

During the month of May, the Blood Ties Fans Give Back Lions Club Drive will be collecting used prescription eyeglasses and prescription and non-prescription sunglasses as part of a unique recycling program. The collected glasses will be cleaned and prepared for distribution in developing countries where eye care is often unaffordable and inaccessible.

“We need everyone to donate their used eyeglasses,” said Candy Burke, spokesperson for the Blood Ties Drive. “In most developing countries, an eye exam can cost as much as one month’s wages and a single eye doctor may serve a community of hundreds of thousands of people.”

The drive is an International effort with fans participating from all over the world. The donated glasses will be shipped to Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers where they will be cleaned, categorized by prescription and prepared for distribution by Lions and other groups.

To donate used glasses, including sunglasses and reading glasses, pledge online at http://www.youchoose.net/campaign/blood_ties_fans_give_back_to_save_blood_ties or email SaveBT@gmail.com. For more information you can visit www.btfgb.wordpress.com.

Blood Ties Fans Give Back is a product of the fan base dedicated to the television series Blood Ties. The lead character in the series, Vicki Nelson, suffers from retinitis pigmentosa and inspired the fans to sponsor the drive. The fans have previously held a blood drive, and made a donation in the cast name to the Best Friends Animal Society. For more information about Blood Ties, please visit www.bloodties.tv , www.bloodties-bloodlines.com and www.savebloodties.org.

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with nearly 1.3 million members in approximately 45,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. For more information about Lions Clubs International, visit the Web site at www.lionsclubs.org.

Press release from the Save Blood Ties web site. It’s nice to have once place with unified information about all of the difference campaigns to save this great show.

Central website to save Blood Ties launched

A new website, http://www.savebloodties.org, was launched last week and is intended as a central resource for fans to work together and bring the show back for a second season.

From my time in the Blood Ties fandom I’ve seen that there are several great campaigns going on to help out charities and to help promote the show for renewal,” said site creator Kevin Bachelder. However, all those groups/campaigns are spread out over several forums/lists/websites. So I created a single place where we can announce and help promote each of the campaigns from a single website to help increase the overall visibility of the show and give the fans one place to keep up on things.

The new site includes daily updates and even a new podcast, “Bite Back” the Blood Ties podcast, devoted to celebrating the show and informing fans on how to save it from extinction. The site also gives fans the opportunity to show their support for the show on their personal websites with banners that can be linked back to the site.

I originally found a copy of this press release on Tanya Huff’s Live Journal. She is the author of the Blood Books, the inspiration for the TV series Blood Ties. How cool is it that the author of the series supports the fans like this?