Hometown Rankin - October & November 2016

It was already late by then. I hated to leave
knowing that I was in the midst of something so
special, especially with the movie just starting. But I
wasn’t particularly interested in sleeping on the field
in a sleeping bag either, so we loaded up and headed
back to the hotel. It was around 11 p.m., and I checked
Facebook for the first time since making my posts.
One post had been shared almost 400 times. The
other related posts were picking up steam, too. I stayed
up a couple of hours longer that night just watching all
the shares and likes grow.
Shares were at 2,500 the next
morning and over 5,000 by the
time I got out of the shower, just
thirty-minutes later. They had grown
to 15,000 by lunch and were at 30,000 by mid-day.
I had never seen anything like it–especially from such
close proximity.
By Sunday, shares were nearing 90,000 and it was
clear that it wasn’t slowing. It had gone viral–and all I
could do was watch.
One post has been shared over 150,000 times on
my Facebook page alone–and is still growing! It’s been
shared another several-hundred thousand times on other
pages and been featured on countless news sites
including The Houston Chronicle, AOL.com, Fox News
and The Huffington Post. It’s been on Love What Matters,
Good News Network, Little Things, Do Something.org,
and Reddit. The promotion was talked about on K-Love
and Fox Sports along with numerous radio and
television outlets and, by any estimation, has easily
touched millions of people.
I have to admit, I’ve had an incredible time watching
this phenomenon unfold. It’s been surreal, to say the
least. Ironically, I’ve spent my entire adult-life in the
marketing and media industry but could never have
predicted this. And truth be known, there’s no way to
predict how people will react anyway–especially in the
realm of social media. But I can tell you this; people like
good news! And beyond that, it all boils down to good
timing–and good old-fashioned luck. Lightening in a
bottle, as they say.
The Dallas Cowboys Organization, Tempur+Sealy
International and Ashley Furniture HomeStore DFW
gave those kids an ultimate sleepover and the experience
of a lifetime. One little girl said it was the best night of
her life. She also went on to say she had never had her
own bed before–or a teddy bear. God bless her.
The program is called Hope to Dream and they
have donated over 40,000 beds to children across the
nation and around the world. And now, because of the
generosity of these companies, another hundred kids in
Dallas can sleep a little better, too. Amen to that. ✭
Hometown Rankin • 65