At a recent fundraiser for our Avon Walk, we had more than one person ask us how she could walk, or how she could get involved with Avon as a volunteer for the walk. All we were able to do was to tell people the website address for the walk, so I’ve been brainstorming on ways to easily share that information if we’re asked at our next fundraiser. I think I’ve got it…

I’m contemplating ordering business cards from VistaPrint that will provide people with the URL for this blog. I think the end result would be more traffic (duh) and it’s always a way to engage people who are interested in learning more about our cause. Why VistaPrint? They did my business cards for my other blog last fall, and I was super pleased with my order and the price. They do business cards, checks, baby announcements, invitations, and even car magnets. Ooh, that’s another idea! A big pink car magnet for the side of my SUV with 3DayMom.com printed across it – that would definitely get us some attention! There are definitely a lot of well priced options at VistaPrint for shameless self promotion. Hey, it’s all for a good cause, right?

There are 158 days to go until the Avon Walk in New York City, and I’ve raised $425 of the required $1800 in donations. Not too shabby, but I can’t stop now! I have another fundraiser scheduled in a few weeks which will be another “begging for change in front of the grocery store event”. After that, I’ll take stock and see how many more fundraisers we need to schedule and work as a team.

The Positively Pink Team (not my team!) has already raised almost $30,000! And one walker has raised almost $12,000. Holy cow – those are some over achievers!

This weekend I (along with a few members of my walking team!) will be at a local store to beg for spare change. It’s weighing your wallet down, and we’re happy to take it off your hands. If you’re in the Tampa, FL area, come out and see us!

Publix at Hollybrook Plaza
Corner of SR. 54 and Bruce B. Downs
Wesley Chapel, FL

We’ll be in front of the store from 10am until about 3pm, or sooner if we die of exhaustion. Raising money is hard work, you know!

1. Put the word out! Put an ad in the paper that lets everyone know the sale is for CHARITY. Send press releases to your local paper. They’ll usually publish your info on the event calendar section of the paper for free since your profits go to charity.

2. Good signage! We had 5 or so signs out in all directions so that our sale was easy to find.

3. More signs! We had signs at the sale letting people know all of the $$ was for charity, and what charity we were supporting.

4. Word of mouth! We told everyone who walked up that the sale was for charity, and if they wanted to know more, we did a little song and dance about the Avon walk. (Not a real song and dance, but you know what I mean.)

5. Donation buckets! We had a donation bucket (and a sign) on the table and people dropped money in it more than once.

6. No hagglers! Early in the sale, when people tried to haggle, we wouldn’t. I guilted more than one person into paying full price since it was all for charity. Later in the day, when we tried to move more items, we made great deals.

7. The buddy system! Doing this with a friend made it 100% easier – don’t go it alone!

I’ve put an ad in the newspaper, which appeared today and will run again tomorrow. I also got some free press in the community section, since the sale is for charity. They put “Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Charity Yard Sale” along with the address and times. Gotta love free press! Our signs are purchased, and everything is priced.

Tomorrow morning I plan to be at the neighbor’s at 7am, so we can set up. I put that the sale would start at 9am, but people ALWAYS come early to garage sales, so we want to be prepared. Once we get set up, I’ll head out to put up the signs, or send her husband to do it if we already have shoppers.

I need to get change and singles and take all of the grocery store bags I’ve been hoarding to her house tomorrow. I need to make a new sign for our donation bucket to entice people to donate even if they don’t buy. Other than that, I think we’re ready!

My post on Why I Walk was recently selected as a finalist in the Blog Battle Royale Charity edition over at Izea. Advertisers who have previously run charity campaigns will be reading the 3 finalist’s entries (one of the finalist’s is my sister!) and picking their favorite. The prize is $1000 donated to your charity. My fund raising goal for the Avon walk this year is $1800, so you can see why I’m trying to win – that donation would be a huge boost for my goal!

Our garage sale to raise money for the Avon walk is next weekend. This weekend, I had planned to organize my own items, price things, and make my way to the neighbors house to drop off my sale items. I had also planned to go to WalMart and buy the signs we needed for the morning of the sale. Then my son got sick, and I spent the day at the urgent care clinic and filling prescriptions, and I didn’t get one single thing done as far as the yard sale. Oops!

On the donation front, I had two coworkers donate to me this week, so I’m no longer sitting at $0 for my grand total. Slowly, but surely, I’ll make it to $1800.

For the past 2 1/2 years, I’ve been very involved with raising money for breast cancer charities. In 2006, I participated in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in Philadelphia, walking 60 miles over the course of 3 days around the city of Brotherly Love. In 2007, I repeated the walk, this time in the Tampa Bay area. And this year, I’m walking for 2 days in New York City for the Avon Foundation.

These walks are a huge commitment for someone like me – I have a husband, three children, two dogs, a full time job, and I attend college. I not only spend a single weekend in the fall walking for 2 or 3 days, but I spend countless days in the time leading up to the events, fundraising, helping my team members, and training for the miles ahead. Next month alone I’ve got a charity yard sale to organize and two days in front of the grocery store for fundraising to schedule. I need to draft press releases to send to the newspaper. I need to train and motivate my team, and help them to raise money, as many who are walking with me are doing this for the first time. For the past two years, I have raised over $2000 for each of my events, which has been pooled with the money of the other walkers to make a huge contribution to breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment.

This blog has been a huge vehicle in my fundraising efforts. I began it in early 2006 as a way for my Philadelphia team to connect and share experiences, since we were so spread out (Florida, Michigan, and Maryland), but I kept blogging even after the 2006 walk. Last year, readers of my blog not only helped me to meet MY fundraising goal of $2200, they assisted my sister as well. It was right about the time when her mother had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and my sister devoted all of her time to her mom. She was unable to fundraise for herself, so I took it upon myself to use this blog to raise over $700 for her account, and she was able to walk in 2007 thanks to your donations. It still blows my mind to think of all of YOU donating over $1200 to our breast cancer walks last year, because of this blog – THANK YOU!

It would be easy to say I’m too busy for something like this. And I am busy – with school, little league for my son, the parties and camps my daughters attend, the blogging I’ve committed to doing…but that would also be an excuse. As a healthy 31 year old woman, with two healthy breasts, I feel that it’s my duty to do this, and it’s a duty I happily accept. Maybe I feel a bit closer to the cause, because breast cancer has affected my family (which is the reason I began getting mammograms last year!) but breast cancer also affects women (and men!) who NO family history of cancer. If I had breast cancer, who would walk for me? Would you? I hope that you would!

When a women gets breast cancer, it affects everyone around her. Her husband is left wondering if he will find himself without a partner if his wife’s cancer can’t be cured. Her children wonder if their mom will be alright, or when Mommy will feel better. Her friends and coworkers resolve to do their monthly breast exams, and get mammograms on a regular basis. And of course, the patient herself makes a huge commitment to her healing. She gets sick from chemo, her hair falls out, and she may even lose her breasts.

That’s what I think about when I’m walking, and it’s hot, and humid, and my feet hurt, and my shin splints are aching. I think about that woman, scared, and nervous, and fighting for her life to stop this disease. She keeps fighting…and so I keep walking. We have a saying on the walk, that nothing is as tough as cancer. It’s easy to feel down and out when you’ve walked 17 miles that day, and you feel as though you can’t take another single step. But when I think of that woman fighting cancer…I know that I can take as many steps as are needed to STOP BREAST CANCER. I want to FIND A CURE, and walking is my way of doing so.

Why do I walk? I walk for those who can not. I walk for survivors, I walk for those who have lost their battles with breast cancer. I walk so that when my daughters are older, breast cancer has been cured. I walk so that the hundreds of thousands of people affected by breast cancer can have hope. I walk so that we won’t lose another mother, sister, aunt, or daughter from this disease.

It all starts by tying on your shoes and taking a single step.

My neighbor who is walking with me in this year’s walk (October, in New York City) emailed me earlier this week and asked when we’d start training. I think I already did! Jim and I were in Amsterdam, The Netherlands last week, and we walked ALL over the city for 5 days straight. We took a cab once, from the airport to our hotel, and we took a streetcar tram once, when it was raining. Aside from that, we walked EVERYWHERE, easily 5 miles a day.

With the Christmas season came the need to do a bit of rearranging in our garage. Decorations needed to be pulled down, and we needed to make space for the presents we needed to hide as well. As we did all of this, the thought occurred to me that once again, we have a lot of junk to get rid of. I was in this position lat year and ended up having a yard sale to benefit my 3-day walk. I know that at least ONE of my team members is in the same position, having seen her garage with my own two eyes. I think I’m going to look into planning a garage sale, maybe in March, to once again kick start my walk fundraising.