I'm TOTALLY JAZZED about working with the American Cancer Society!

Yesterday, I met with Lesa Brandt of the American Cancer Society...Talk about an infectious optimism; Lesa definitely chose the right career! ...By the time I left the local ACS office in Savoy, I was floating, and not just because they gave me this cool new shirt! She told me the people in the office have been talking about my climb since I called them, and they are all as excited as I am about it. It's always a heady feeling when people, especially those doing important work like the ACS team, rally around to offer support and encouragement. Thank you Lesa and the Savoy/Champaign ACS Team! With your support, I know more than ever this is possible and that together we'll meet our $100,000 fundraising goal!

Lesa gave me a couple of website options and promised that there would be a press release going to local media very soon (a week or two). I look forward to starting the fund raising process almost as much as I look forward to climbing Mt. Kili. Preparing for fund raising takes a lot of baby steps; making the decision what organization to support, contacting the organization, setting fund raising goals, developing a donation site, planning the different fund raising efforts to pursue throughout the campaign...One thing I was not expecting was for Lesa to suggest that I couple my campaign with that of the annual Relay for Life campaign. My friend Anda and I were team captains of a Relay team a couple of years ago, and it was an awesome experience...I definitely have a fondness for the Relay, but I hadn't thought of my efforts in terms of being Relay related, even though, I had intended to be involved in the Relay this coming spring. Lesa pointed out one very important fact; an independent donation site would not be as visible as one connected with the local Relay site. After giving it some thought, it seems to me that Lesa is most likely right that being connected with the Relay will bring a higher visibility to my challenge and goal.

So the next step is pretty clear. I'll be developing a fund raising website connected to the Relay for Life campaign, and since I've chosen to go this route, please-please feel free to join my team! You don't have to stay up all night or walk, I'm planning to walk the entire 12-hours of the Relay (with a few breaks for...you know :-) on my own, but you could definitely encourage your friends and family to support the climb with donations. Think about it, and when I get the donation site up and running, I'll post instructions of how to join my team here.