Facebook page: Me and The Girls

Sunday, March 6, 2011

11500

What is this?
It's just a number, isn't it?

11,500


Maybe it will have more meaning if I write it like this for you:
$11,500.00
A lot of money, isn't it?

Welcome to Me and The Girls; this is our magic number for this year.  This is the amount of money we need to raise together in order for the 5 (yes, our team has now grown to 5 members!) of us to walk together 60 miles arm-in-arm in the 2011 Washington DC 3 Day for the Cure!  This is the number that I wake up in the morning thinking about, and go to bed at night thinking about.  I sound obsessed by it!  This number thrills me because of the enormous amount we will be donating towards finding a cure, new treatments, and education about breast cancer.  This same number also terrifies me, because I am starting to feel ultimately responsible for helping to raise this amount, or responsible if we (gulp) failed to raise this amount.

It's funny, I have a facebook friend who thinks the opposite of me.  She says that raising the money is the easy part, it's the training for the walk that's the hard part for her.  For me training is easy, it's just finding time and walking, and challenging myself and my team mates to keep on truckin'.  For me the harder part is definitely the fundraising.  I love having my now larger team this year, I love sharing this experience with people who have never done or felt anything like this before.  It makes it all new and exciting for me again (not that it even remotely lost it's excitement, but you know what I mean) too.  But I am scared at the same time, because I want us all to succeed so badly, and splitting the money we raise 5 ways instead of 2-3 ways like last year makes it more challenging.  I don't know how much to feel responsible for. I know that holding their hand and doing it all for my team mates will rob them of half of the wonderful learning experience that is the 3 Day. I think of all I learned about myself by doing this much work, much of it outside of my comfort zone (who am I kidding, nearly ALL of it outside of my comfort zone), and the strength and determination it brought out in me that I never knew I had.  Yet on the other hand I don't want anyone to resent me for not doing enough to help either.  I guess it's a fine line I will have to walk and figure out with my team mates as we go along...

Updates:
*My Great Pink Hair Challenge of 2011 has officially begun.  I am beginning with 3 streaks.  It remains to be seen if I will raise enough to make them permanent or not.  I will be checking out the fit of my wig this week, and I've set up an appt. to get my pink highlights at the salon, just in case...
*We've started selling Joe Corbi's pizzas, and this week we can set up the online ordering for people who live out of town.  This is a neat feature because it will ship it directly to them and next month we will get a check mailed to us for any money we made online!  Hopefully we sell enough to raise a decent amount.
*Started taking my 2 little guys (Devon is 3 and Gabe is 2) out in the double stroller and talking to businesses around town about donating things for our auction.  Even though it still makes me nervous, it no longer makes me sick to do it.  :)  Really happy that I've gotten better at that!!  Have gotten some hits, some misses, but either way I've gotten my butt started!
*Still working on getting insurance for the treadmill walking fundraiser my team mate Lauren and I are doing at the mall.  Who knew we'd have to be insured for a million dollars???  Not me that's for sure!  This is making me pull my hair out just a little...
*We are making our own t-shirts to sell at fundraisers this year!  I have a friend who is donating all the pink shirts, and my team mate Lauren is working on turning them into works of art...  I am really excited about this development!

2 comments:

  1. Ok, just remember that the fund raising is just like your training... Just put one foot in front of the other! YOU & YOUR Team will get THIS!!!

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