Men! Get Walking!

March 20th, 2010 | Posted by john in General - (Comments Off on Men! Get Walking!)

If this is your first year walking, you may not know this. If you have walked before then you definitely know that there’s not a lot of men in proportion to women on the 3-Day. I realize that it’s a health issue for women and that means that a lot of women will be there, but I honestly expected to see a higher ratio of men to women. With that in mind, I put together this small set of reasons to do the 3-Day if you are a man, or to help you convince the man in your life to do the 3-Day.

Men Love Women!

By far the simplest reason that I can come up with here. I would say that 99.999% of men love at least one woman. It doesn’t matter whether they are gay or straight, everyone has a mother or a sister or a great friend that is a woman. Not to mention the men that have girlfriends, wives, daughters, neices and so forth. This reason alone should make more men decide to walk, but if not. Let’s continue.

Most Men Love Boobs!

Hey, it might be a little crass to use this as a reason for getting men to walk, but let’s be honest. Men do love boobs. Every dollar that is raised in the 3-Day for the Cure goes to efforts that either:

A) Prevent healthy boobs from getting breast cancer.

B) Saving boobs that have breast cancer.

Most men would agree that we don’t need to have fewer boobs in the world.

Men Love Not Having to Wait In Line for Showers!

The little known fact about the 3-Day is that if you are a man and you want to take a shower at the end of the day there are no lines. Ok, so this may change if the purpose of this article is met, but as of right now, the ratio of women to men is so high that even though there is only one shower truck for men, I have yet to have to wait in line to take a shower.

Bottom Line

Ok, all kidding aside now. I realize that the reasons above are silly for one reason or another. Here are some real reasons, provided by the american cancer society:

  • In 2009 approximately 40,170 women are expected to die from breast cancer, second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths for women.
  • Approximately 192,300 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in 2009.
  • Something a little closer to home for men: In 2009, approximately 1,910 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in MEN and approximately 440 men will die from the disease.

Get out there, sign up and start walking men! I hope to see you on the walk this year! If you would like to sign up to walk, go to: http://the3day.org go to Get Involved and click register. If you would like to join one of the teams that I’m walking with, click one of the links below!

Boston: http://texansfortahtahs.com

Dallas: http://the3day.org/goto/john and click to join John’s team!

 

Fund Raising Start

February 3rd, 2010 | Posted by john in Fund Raising - (Comments Off on Fund Raising Start)

I’ve been meaning to start fund raising for several weekends now. I have done some e-mail outs and stuff like that but I haven’t really gotten into following up with people and really getting out there to do it. I think that this weekend is the weekend that it all starts. I’m going to go door-to-door for the Survivor Bra and I think I will probably finalize plans for a charity poker party.

Sometimes I think starting the fund raising is harder than actually doing the fund raising.

 

Recipient of the 2010 Survivor Bra

January 21st, 2010 | Posted by john in Fund Raising - (Comments Off on Recipient of the 2010 Survivor Bra)

I’m pleased to announce a recipient for the 2010 survivor bra. I could try to write my own intro for her, but I think that what I got in e-mail will do a much better job:

 I am a 15 month survivor of breast cancer. The person who helped me the most through treatment and recovery has been Donna. Donna is a 27 month survivor! She is my Super Hero!


Donna Kaufmann lives in Northern Virginia outside Washington D.C. with her family. Her husband is deployed to Afghanistan for 2 years and she has a 16 year old daughter and 5 year old autistic son. Can you think of anything more challenging?

In 2007 she endured a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and reconstruction, all while struggling with the other issues in her life, and yet has remained a constant supporter and champion to the cause of breast cancer and finding a cure! She took a job with The American Cancer Society and now lobbies in Richmond, Virginia and on Capitol Hill in support of cancer awareness and funding. She took me to the gym when I was 1 month out of chemo. I was so weak yet she convinced me that I could do it and become stronger each day. She celebrated with me on my 1 year cancer- versary of my diagnosis by handing out pink ribbons with me at the local sandwich shop and going to spin class with me (wearing her pink ballet tutu no less!). With exuberance and grace and a smile, she brings awareness to this disease so that others will not have to go through it.

She kept telling me I would be alright and, though I didn’t believe her at the time, she has given me the strength to move forward with a healthy lifestyle and overcome the challenges that breast cancer introduces into a young woman’s life. When I see what Donna has accomplished, I know I WILL be alright!


Thanks for the nomination! I sent in the bra today to be embroidered and when I get it back I’ll hit the ground running to get it filled up with signatures!!!

 

Survivor Bra 2010

December 27th, 2009 | Posted by john in Fund Raising - (Comments Off on Survivor Bra 2010)

For the past two years, my teammates and I have carried bras on our backpacks for people or groups that have gone above and beyond the call to help in fund raising. As we do the walk, we have walkers and crew at the 3-Day sign the bras and then we give them to our fund raising super stars as a small token of thanks for all they have done.

We plan to continue this tradition in the years to come, but I’m adding something that I hope will work out this year. I want to do a bra for someone that breast cancer has directly touched. Maybe they have just been diagnosed, maybe they are going through chemo right now or maybe they are in remission. That’s where you come in. Take a moment to nominate someone that you know to receive the 2010 Survivor Bra. I’ll take all of the suggestions and then at random select a person to receive it.

What happens next is that I will get their name embroidered on a pink bra and get people to donate $10 or more to sign it. My goal is to try and fit 500 signatures on the bra. This means that the bra will hopefully raise $5,000 that all goes to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. When I get to 500 signatures or as close as I can, I will present the bra to the selected person. This is just our way of saying, “We want you to be a survivor and to continue being a survivor.”

Take a minute to fill out the form below of someone you think needs the survivor bra. I will make the selection on January 14th.

Nominations for the 2010 Survivor Bra have been closed. Stay tuned for the 2011 Survivor Bra to make your nomination!

 

First Donations for 2010 Posted!

December 10th, 2009 | Posted by john in Fund Raising - (Comments Off on First Donations for 2010 Posted!)

The first donations for the 2010 3-Day have been posted and I would like to thanks those who have donated so far to my fund raising efforts! Special thanks to the following folks for donating so early:

Chris Puyear
The Garvin Family
Helen Karakoudas
Dee Murphy

Please take a time to make a tax deductible donation to help stop the fight against breast cancer!

http://the3day.org/goto/bostonjohn