Isabella Mori – An inspirational blogger who dedicates her time to helping others, Isabella is the former coordinator of the Vancouver Blogger Meetup group and still holds an important role in the local blogging realm as well as the Twittersphere.

i’m a psychotherapist in vancouver, canada. i’ve been working in the field of mental health, counselling, psychotherapy and movement therapy for 15 years and enjoy helping people build better lives. [Moritherapy]

Isabella’s website: Moritherapy
Isabella’s cause: Canadian Mental Health Organization
Isaballa’s Blogathon motivation: “right now all i’m thinking about how i’m connected to all these other bloggers from the vancouver blogathon and the blog-a-day, how this is going to be an experience of a lifetime, and how this is going to get me feel even stronger about the organization i’m sponsoring, the canadian mental health organization in the vancouver/burnaby region.” [Moritherapy]

Ayeza Garcia – The beauty of the Blogathon is that it can also introduce you to many other blogs that you may not have had the chance of spotting before. I’ve been able to explore Ayeza’s blog and aside from having a sleek layout it’s filled with great information from such a unique perspective.

Balikbayan box – translations:
BALIK means to come back.
BAYAN means hometown or homeland.
So if you put the words together, BALIKBAYAN means someone who is coming back home.
Balikbayan – refers to Philippine nationals who are permanently residing abroad including their spouses and children, regardless of nationality or country of birth. It also refers to those of Filipino Descent who acquired foreign citizenship and permanent status abroad. [Balikbanyan Box]

Ayeza’s website: Balikbanyan Box
Ayeza’s cause: Davao City High School – visit the website or there is a PayPal donation button on the blog.
Ayeza’s Blogathon motivation: “I finished my high school at Davao City High School now known as Davao City National High School. It is a public school but this school produces not just good students but very successful graduates. Through Blogathon Vancouver 2008 i would like to give back to the school who mold me to who i am now.” [BalikbanyanBox]

Karen Hamilton – I have not had the pleasure of meeting Karen although she runs one of the most successful food blogs in the city. With beautiful photos to accompany her reviews and comments, she’s truly a frontrunner when it comes to recipes and recommendations.

Karen will be mobile during Blogathon and you can follow her ‘game plan‘ on her site.

Karen’s website: Tiny Bites
Karen’s cause: Davie Suzuki Foundation
Karen’s Blogathon motivation: “While the coherence of my posts will likely deteriorate as I near the finish line, I do hope that I’ll be filling your screen up with true content and not sleep-deprived gibberish. There will be posts dedicated to the David Suzuki Foundation and its programs. Many of the posts will attempt to be relevant to regular readers of Tiny Bites.” [TinyBites]

Shane Gibson – Through the magic of the Vancouver Real Estate Tech Meetup and the Vancouver Young Professionals Meetup groups I met up with Shane Gibson. He’s a highly successful sales blogger and podcaster who shares his winning international entrepreneurial knowledge through the power of social media.

Shane’s website: Closing Bigger
Shane’s cause: MSMF – “Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation (MSMF), a registered Canadian charitable organization, is aiming to promote rural community development in India, through education and vocational training, health care and emergency relief.”
Shane’s Blogathon Motivation: View Shane’s first video podcast for Blogathon here to learn more about his cause.

Raul – I first met Raul virtually during last year’s blogathon. Since that time we’ve become good friends on and offline and he’s catapulted into Vancouver’s social media realm with enthusiasm and a bright spirit that everyone can appreciate.

Raul’s website: Hummingbird604
Raul’s cause: BC Cancer Foundation
Raul’s Blogathon Motivation: “I struggled a long time to decide what charity I would choose, but I recently learned from my mother that her sister (my Aunt) had been battling cancer for a while now. I have lost both my Grandmother and my Mom’s only other sister (who was like my second mother) to cancer, currently one of my local friends is afflicted with it, and with the news of my aunt’s illness, I have decided to fully dedicate my Blogathon 2008 efforts to the British Columbia Cancer Agency, and to undertake Blogathon in memory of my late Aunt, my Grandmother and to motivate and encourage the people I care for to keep fighting, especially my Aunt.” [Hummingbird604]