Those of you who know me know that I'm a sucker for a good cause.
I like volunteering. I like raising money for charity. Trelina is
of the same mind, and so nothing of any worth ever gets thrown away
in our house. If any measure of use can still be derived from something
we no longer want, it goes in a box to Goodwill.
(I'm not tooting my own horn here or trying to imply -- or 'exply',
for that matter -- that I'm in any way nobler than the average bear.
Just the opposite, in fact, as I think my primary motivation for most
'good' things I do is so I can feel better about myself. Don't tell
Trelina though... I get lots of mileage out of that Boy Scout image.)
So my latest justify-my-seat-on-this-planet scheme involves a place
called St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
St. Jude was the first US hospital established solely to research
and treat catastrophic childhood diseases (read: cancer). The hospital
is non-sectarian (meaning they don't discriminate based on race, religion,
or creed), and it's almost entirely supported by public contributions.
That, and whatever insurance its patients have. Families without insurance
are never asked to pay.
The
patients themselves currently number around 4,000. The hospital treats
about 160 outpatients every day and maintains 50+ inpatient beds.
Treatment for standard-risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL -- the
most common form of childhood cancer) requires a 2-1/2 year protocol
and about $272,000.
Sound like a good cause to you?
Yeah, me too. You can't really go wrong with a place that's trying
to help out kids with cancer, and doesn't even insist on payment.
That's Mother Theresa territory there. I mean, I'm sure somebody somewhere
could find something wrong with it, but I don't think I'd ever
want to, like, take that person out for a beer or anything. Who needs
that kind of chronically negative crap in their lives?
So
here's why I'm telling you all this...
St. Jude is sponsoring a fundraiser called the 100-Mile Resolution,
which I'm participating in. What it involves is volunteers agreeing
to run 100 miles between 1 January and 30 April of this year, and
collecting pledges along the way.
If you start right on 1 January, you only have to run 5 miles a week
to hit this goal. I got started a month late, but have no fear...
I'm up to about 30 miles already and I've figured out how to slip
my 100 miles in by the deadline without killing myself.
My fundraising goal is $500. I've already collected pledges for almost
$250 of that. If I come up short of $500, I intend to make up the
difference out of my own pocket.
But, you know... that would suck. Especially since I'm the
one doing all the ground pounding.
If you'd like to pledge any amount -- $5, $10, $20... I got a couple
of $50 pledges, but those were from a couple of office managers who
can afford to be generous like that -- to help me reach my goal, please
drop me a line at [email protected].
I won't need the money until 30 April, so you've got plenty of time
to save your pennies.
 |
 My
leg after mile #100 |
If you're concerned that St. Jude is going to pull a Red Cross/9-11
Fund on you, this is how all collected monies are reportedly disbursed:
Not bad. And just to sweeten the deal...
St. Jude has offered a $40 Foot Locker gift certificate to all runners
who reach the $500 mark (apparently they figure you'll need new shoes
by that time). If I get to $500 without paying out of my own pocket,
I'll put all the pledges' names in a hat, and whomever I pick out
of said hat can have the certificate. I won't need it.
I'll have already gotten everything I wanted out of the experience,
after all. And no, I'm not talking about shin splints.
- Russ, 2/22/02
P.S. If you'd like to check St. Jude out for yourself, they're located
on the web at www.stjude.org.