A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

fundraising

My last-second plea to get Relay For Life donations

If you have a few bucks to donate, I'd appreciate any support!

I have a feeling everyone reading this has somehow seen what cancer can do to someone.

Whether you’ve dealt with it directly, or read about it, or know someone who has dealt with it, you know what it can do. And who knows when or if a cure will be found, but they are continually trying to find it.

For those who don’t know, my father had cancer twice — colon and lung. The first time, he beat it. The second time, the disease won. After a long and courageous battle, he died on Aug. 17, 2007.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him.

Cancer is one of the worst things you can see someone go through. My grandmother died of cancer. I watched one of my best friends — in his early 30s — deal with it. I have other family members and other friends who have battled or are currently battling this disease.

It knows no age. It knows nothing about race and/or sex.

Relay For Life 2012

It knows only that it attacks people and it is a nasty, nasty disease.

Ever since my father died, I have participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in our area. It’s an excellent event. Though the event itself sometimes can drag on, the idea of it is wonderful. And in the end, I’m actually only concerned with one thing when it comes to the Relay for Life — raising as much money as we can.

That’s where you come in.

Many of you who read this blog, I know. Others, I don’t. But I still ask the same — will you donate to my fundraising page?

Every dollar counts. No matter how much you can give, it helps. I understand the economy at this point. It’s not the greatest. But for some things, I always try and give. So anything you can give, I highly appreciate.

This year, I’m trying to spruce things up a bit. So, for every $5 you donate to my personal Relay For Life page(you can do luminaries, too — just do them through my page!), I will give you one entry for a random drawing to win a quilted scarf. The scarf, which is flannel, was quilted by my mother. It’s really nice and warm.

So, donate $20 and get four entries. It’s as simple as that!

The details about the scarf:

  • Material: Flannel.
  • Dimensions: The scarf is about 5 1/2 inches thick and about 58 inches long.
  • Who is it for?: Unisex.

If you want a little more info about the scarf (and more photos), check out the original post I had a couple of months ago.

So this is my final plea. I am trying to reach my personal goal ($500) and need a late push to make it. Even if I don’t make it, I’m happy with how much I’ve raised — and that our team has made its goal as well.

And, remember, you have a chance to win that wonderful quilted scarf! (Click on the link above to see photos and get the info… hopefully, that will sway you to donate!)

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

Contest: Give and win

A hand-made quilted scarf.

The above image is a scarf that was made by my mother. It’s flannel and quilted.

And it can be yours!

Every year, I come to the blog in hopes of soliciting some donations for my Relay For Life fundraising. It’s the one time of year I really try to give and get people to give.

After all, I would say the majority of us have all been touched by cancer in one way or another.

This year, it’s the scarf.

To win?

Donate.

For every $5 that is donated to my personal Relay For Life page, you’ll get one entry to win this scarf. It’s as simple as that. So if you donate $20, you get four entries.

Our local relay runs this year from 6 p.m. April 27 to 9 a.m. April 28.

Therefore, I’ll say that this contest runs until noon on April 28, 2012. Don’t wait until the last second, though! If that happens, I’ve found people forget. And with this, every dollar counts when fundraising!

When that time comes, I might be sleeping after being up so long! But at some point that day, I’ll do a random draw for the winner. I’ll likely use random.org by putting every entry in and then hitting the button 10-20 times to really randomize it.

I’ll then mail the scarf to the winner.

This counts for any way of donating, as long as it credits to my account. So you can buy luminaries in honor of or in memory of someone you care about. If you let me know who you did the luminary for, I will also try and get a snap shot of said luminary for you. I can’t make promises, because sometimes it’s hard to track them all down. But I will try my hardest.

I thank you in advance for helping with this fundraiser.

You can donate by going to my personal Relay for Life page.

Some other photos of the scarf:

The more the scarf is washed/dried, the more frayed and "worn" it gets as part of the look.

Folded up.

Another view.

Details about the scarf: 

  • Material: Flannel.
  • Dimensions: The scarf is about 5 1/2 inches thick and about 58 inches long.
  • Who is it for?: Unisex.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Running for a cause and raising money along the way

Sarah, left, as part of the Team Viacom fundraiser in New York City.

I don’t often try and get people to give money through this blog.

Usually, it’s once a year when I am trying to solicit a few bucks for our Relay For Life team (don’t worry, that will be coming soon enough).

But this time, it’s for a friend and former co-worker, Sarah.

Sarah is trying to raise a bunch of bucks for a good cause. And to do this, she’s running a half marathon in Miami this Sunday. In other words, a 13.1-mile stroll. No problem, right?

Well…

I worked with Sarah at the newspaper for a couple of years. She started as a part-timer in the sports department and eventually became a copy editor. She’s a happy-go-lucky person, but if somebody had told me Sarah would be running a half marathon a few years ago…

… I probably would have laughed in their face.

See, Sarah has been known to injure herself in odd ways when it comes to athletics. So a half marathon? It took me off-guard when I saw it, that’s for sure!

Sarah, right, after competing in the Seaford Wellness Hot Chocolate 5K on Dec. 3.

OK, humor aside, this is serious.

Sarah is a kind-hearted soul and her undertaking this is amazing enough. Heck, anyone deciding to run 13.1 miles for a charity should be applauded. That’s not an easy undertaking.

Sarah is running for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Team in Training. She’s competing at the ING Miami Half Marathon this Sunday.

TNT Training works to prepare people for endurance sports. In turn, those people work to donate and raise money for charities. According to a its fact sheet, TNT has prepared more than 500,000 people to compete in a marathon, half marathon, triathlon, 100-mile bicycle ride or hike adventure. Those people have raised $1 billion to support blood cancer research and patient services.

As she competes, she’ll keep the memory of her paternal grandmother, Betty Weber, in her mind. Betty Weber died in 2004 of complications from breast cancer. Sarah says her grandmother was a lady who was extremely fit and had been a physical education teacher.

Let’s put this race in perspective for Sarah.

She started training in October. At that point, she said she couldn’t run more than a mile without having to give in. Now, her longest run/walk has been 11 miles. She uses a run/walk interval setup where she runs for five minutes and walked for one minute. A resident of New York City, this training has allowed Sarah to run across the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and George Washington Bridge.

That’s pretty impressive.

Her goal, she said, is to finish. Based on her times now, a time of 2 hours, 30 minutes to 2:45 would be about right. But she said she’s not putting a time on her goal — just to cross that line.

This is all being done for a reason, however. It’s not just to run for the sake of running in a half marathon.

She’s doing this to raise money for a good cause. Donations are tax-deductible. Her goal is $3,200. As of me writing this, she’s a shade beyond $3,000. So if you have a buck or two and can donate, send it over and do a good thing. Every dollar helps.

If you can and will donate, you can visit Sarah’s fundraising page here.

Remember, it goes to a good cause.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!