Every year, I make it one of my missions to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The organization came into existence a year or two before I was diagnosed in 1974, I think, and the walkathons and fundraising began shortly thereafter. I've walked, biked, skied and roller skated more miles, over the last 30-odd years, so that for me to "expect" my name to be included on the "registered walkers" list (not that I am in the general habit of expecting anything), is NOT too much to ask! I register on line months in advance....I do a fancy letter, and I do email campaigns, and I raise a good chunk of money, and more as an individual, than most people. Oh, there are family groups, with cute little kids, who raise tons more, but I guess if your mommy or daddy is a lawyer or stockbroker, they have lots of contacts to ask, and the corporate teams who have companies who will match their gifts - they always raise lots. Me, I just ask friends and family, most who have supported my cause over the years, and while I don't raise TONS of money, as I said, I do raise more than the average individual walker.
This is the third year in a row that my NAME is not even on the list as being registerd to walk! What the hell is that? I don't want the silly plaque they give everyone who raises over a $1,000...I have several - I don't need a physical token of appreciation, but just to have my name on the friggin' list....One year that I was on the list, and it had how much I had raised next to my name and she looks up in awe and said, "Wow, you have raised more than anyone I have checked in today," and then she said, THANK YOU. And THAT, my friends, that was what I was waiting for. Someone to say THANK YOU. Sure, I am raising money to find a cure for a disease I have, so it may seem a little self-serving, but it isn't really. See, I could make a donation of $50 or $100 and feel pretty good, but I also go out and raise tens times more...People give to people, not causes, and my friends and family support the JDRF because of ME (or another diabetic they know). It isn't like I made a personal donation of $1500, but the fact that my begging and pleading with my friends and family result in this chunk of money, that might not otherwise have been raised, and for someone to say, THANK YOU, to me, for doing it, makes it mean so much more.
well....whatever...I was in a snarly mood for the first 20 minutes of the walk...I got over it, and enjoyed the rest of the walk, and even got a free 10 minute massage after.
If you are a reader of my blog, and you are one of the people who donated, THANK YOU - I love you, and your support of my cause means more to me than just the monetary value....Now, if only JDRF can figure out a way to get my name on the LIST, I will be satisfied!
3 comments:
Your comment on my blog was hilarious - in that tragic way that crazy mothers are hilarious. Girl, you win the prize :)
I soooooo understand in a completely different context. CU built a new law school building and did a HUGE dedication ceremony with the main speech by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. To a lawyer, this is the fricking motherland. I showed up at the prescribed time and attempted to get in, only to be told that unless my name was on a specific list, I had to go sit in a tent in the parking lot and watch via satellite tv. I asked how did people get on this list. It turns out, if you donated money for the building of the new school, then you were on the list. Needless to say, I was not on the list. I almost had to be physically restrained. I humbly retreated to the tent with the rest of the riff raff and watched as the Dean spoke about social equality, blah, blah, blah. Where was the equality? It was counted in single dollar bills. I paid my tuition. I got my degree. And no one (not even career services) helped me get a job. Then I had babies and still had no money. So, apparently, despite having graduated from CU law school, my value to the law school is less than that of the rich family that donated oodles of money to have the school named after them. It took a long time for my heart rate to return to normal. It's such incredible bullshit. But there's not much you can do about it.
My baby sisters outrage at injustice is something I admire. It takes courage to be outraged.
I infrequently run into people who have any sence of outrage much less any interest in anything outside themselves.
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