Fundraising

Today is March 26, 2010 and I have done little to nothing beyond word of mouth to fundraise for the 3 Day. I feel like a fundraising failure. Next month I start the official 24 week training schedule and, since I’ve been walking 3.5 miles a day for a couple of months now, I’m not too frightened by the training schedule. What frightens me most is fundraising in a downed economy where people, out of necessity, must cling to their wallets. Let’s face it; much of fundraising is having your friends support you as you support a cause. I’ve discussed this with many people and well, people’s faith in me completing the 3 Day is low. Somehow they seem to think some sort of life altering situation or work or life in general will get in the way of me training/walking in the 3 Day. I would like to state, for the record, I’m walking. I’m training like a champ. I’ve put in to take the time off 10 month in advance. The 3 Day is in my calendar and I’m going to put every last effort I have into doing this walk. So there it is: I’m walking.
However, regardless of whether you think I will walk or not, you aren’t donating to me, you are donating to a cause that provides funding to experimental programs that research ways to help so many women and men who are struggling with the unbearable burden of breast cancer. You are funding programs that help families manage the unbearable burden of caring for someone with breast cancer. You are funding programs that build awareness so that other organizations with a lot of money can donate toward programs that help people with the unbearable burden of breast cancer. You are donating to the 1 in 8 women who will need a cure for breast cancer yesterday, not tomorrow. You are donating toward the people I love who have lost so much, who live in fear of a lump, who spend holidays without, who worry for their children, who visit the doctor more than once a year just in case, who live with the unbearable burden of living without… You are donating toward the people I love who fought, won, and bear the scars on their chest of hours upon hours in a hospital bed with a tube attached to a hole in their body. These are the people who made it through the nausea, the stares, the curious questions, and the feeling of the unbearable burden of the fear of dying weighing heavily on their shoulders. You are donating so that they too can go to the doctor and not have the fear of another tiny lump.
I’m not asking for much. Actually, I’d love a ton. I’d love you to open your wallets, shake out the contents, and then grab your neighbor’s wallet, your best friend’s wallet, your sister’s wallet, and your brother’s wallet. I’d love for you to poke your wealthy friend and beg them to throw some of their hard earned cash to this worthy tax deductible charity. I’d love you to get your company to match your donation tenfold. But, what I’d really love is for you to take a moment to care for all those people in your life that breast cancer has touched. No donation is too small. You are right to have your doubts for me to walk the 3 Day. If I don’t raise $2300 by October 8, I don’t walk. The benefit is I raise a great deal of money to a very important cause but I don’t get to walk with thousands of other strong individuals making a statement to the world that we are taking dramatic STRIDES toward a cure to breast cancer.
Finally, if you don’t help me raise this $2300, I also won’t get the chance to wear a hot pink tutu in PUBLIC… as in… the same town I live in… as in… my neighbors, coworkers, friends, husband’s coworkers… NEWS AGENCIES… will not get a chance to see me in a hot pink tutu… IN PUBLIC (autographed copies of photos provided at your request).
So, friends, please consider donating to my breast cancer walk. I will not be the only person who will be forever grateful…