World Crohn's and Colitis Day
About WCCD
The first annual World Crohn's and Colitis Day (WCCD) was celebrated on May 23, 2007.[1] The event was created by Josh Golder and recognized by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, as well as by people from around the world. Josh is a prominent figure and activist in the Crohn's and Colitis community (who himself has Crohn's disease), who directed and produced the internationally known, community-wide movie, "True Guts: Struggle and Triumph over Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis" (which is more commonly known as "True Guts"). Josh created WCCD as a way to bring people affected by either disease together, as well as friends and family members of those individuals, and even those who knew nothing about either disease in order to increase awareness of them.
WCCD Events
In a statement posted on his MySpace blog, Josh said, "The first World Crohn's and Colitis Day will not be big. The first Earth Day was pretty weak. So was the first a-lot-of-days. But this day is different anyway, and different already." However, Josh was soon to find out how mistaken he was, as people from around the country, and even far away parts in the world recognized and celebrated WCCD.
- Josh set out on WCCD to the streets of Boston during the middle of the day to capture people on film and discuss the meaning of WCCD, and to promote awareness of it as well as the True Guts movie. He approached 30 people and handed out free DVDs (need picture) and T-shirts (need picture) to further increase awareness and motivation about Crohn's disease and Colitis.
- The picture on the right is a flyer which was created for Josh, to commemorate WCCD. (Insert picture).
- Mary Beth from Minneapolis, Minnesota created the WCCD flag shown on the right, and hung it up on a flag pole outside her house. She flew it for everyone to see, and invited several media sources from Minneapolis to report on it and film the event. Additionally, she also sent Josh a flag to thank him for his community-wide efforts in Crohn's disease and Colitis. (Insert picture).
- People in New Zealand came together for a True Guts film screening to commemorate the day and watch the True Guts movie.
- Ashley from Las Vegas, Nevada sent out an email to 50,000 people who worked for the insurance company, Merrill Lynch, making them aware of what the meaning of WCCD was in order to create awareness and motivation for it. - Nicole from Portland Oregon made a picture of the event (need picture).
Events leading up to WCCD
- On May 17, 2007, Josh launched a short video clip to reach a larger audience about the background and purpose for WCCD and to give an overview about what WCCD is about and what people are supposed to do on May 23. This video clip was also posted on his MySpace blog - under "blog").