Day 37 - $1,185

Ok... I'm headed to Disney World soon, and have been racking my brain to figure out ways I can promote Give One Million there. Anyone have an idea??? Please let me know ASAP if you do.

I've already thought about wearing a T-shirt with the website... etc... on it. But I'm still working on the design for the official Give One Million for St. Jude T-shirts, so I don't have them yet (they are coming out soon though!!!! I'm working with a graphic designer on the concept - and we almost have it narrowed down! So keep checking back!) and I went to Hobby Lobby tonight to buy a shirt and some Iron on letters to make something - but I didn't want to wear some tacky looking shirt around Disney... So I decided against that (for the time being... I may go back tomorrow.) I plan to carry my flyers/business card - and hand those out to whoever I can strike up a conversation with... But that's about the extent of what I have come up with. I need your help! Ideas please. And by the way... if you are here reading this right now - please donate - please tell everyone you know to follow this blog - and follow me on facebook and twitter - and I really need some people to step up and start organizing a fundraiser in their community. We only have 11 months left!

And last thought... It's about the donate part - It can be any amount! Any little bit helps. I have some friends that have already donated that literally have no money. I think most of us can spare ten bucks!

I'm reading: Day 37 - $1,185

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 35 - $1,185

Today I'm introducing vacation homes for Give One Million.

From now on you will see another button on the left side of the blog. If you are going on a vacation this year - or know anyone that is - listen up! I negotiated a deal with my dad and his house down in Mazatlan Mexico. Here are the details:

He rents it out for anywhere from $600 to $800 a week depending on the time of year. He said that if someone donates $50 to Give One Million, he will discount the price $75 per week. Also, if you donate $100, he will discount the price $150 per week. It's a brand new 3 Bedroom/3bath home in Mazatlan!

So let's say you and your significant other decide it's time for a vacation. You invite two couples to go with you. Let's say you pick a week that goes for $600 (May-Nov). You donate $100 to Give One Million - So the rental cost would only be $450. As you have all noticed I like to do calculations... So let's look at this.

$450 + $100 donation = $550 Total Price for a week

$550 / 7 Days = $78.57 per day for everyone

$78.57 per day / 3 couples = $26.19 a day for portion

$26.19 * 7 days = $183

You can stay in a brand new house in Mazatlan for a whole week for $183!!! So here is the link to the webpage with all the details on the vacation home. His number is on there. If you call, just tell him David told you to call. And yes... that is Pa Feldman holding two giant fish...

Attention: Do you have a vacation home or cabin? Do you know someone that does? If you or anyone you know would like to support Give One Million by setting up a deal like this please let me know! I will add your vacation home or cabin, and provide details for perspective vacationers! You can support Give One Million, and rent your property at the same time. It's a win/win situation!

I'm reading: Day 35 - $1,185

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 33 - $1,185

I don't know what to say... We just passed the thousand dollar mark and are up to $1,185 thanks to very generous donations from family and friends! Thank you for the support!!!

I'm reading: Day 33 - $1,185

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 32 - $675

Thank you everyone for your support and donations! Thanks to my sister for her donation -having the support of family means a lot! I think this is going great so far. It's going about how I expected - and that's a good thing! Hopefully everyone out there can spread the word, and we can get the snowball effect going on. Month One is going down in the books as $600. If - each month - we can double the amount of donations coming in... We would reach our goal with a month or so to spare. Simple enough right... So here's how were going to do it:

1. Donate Now! Don't think someone else will do it. If everyone thinks that, what will the outcome be? It doesn't have to be a lot. If you're like us you eat out a few times a week. So cut out a burger and fries just one time and there you go - you just freed up ten bucks. I know it may be hard to give money when you really don't see where it's going... or when there's not a face or name to see. But if you just push pause on life for one minute and think about who we are helping here, and what your money would be doing, perhaps you'd think a little harder about giving up that burger and fries.

2. Ok, so now that you've donated. Next tell everyone you know to donate. Send personal emails. Tell people what you are doing, and why. Tell people you don't know. Get some flyers from me and hand them out. Talk to your neighbor down that street that owns a business, and see what he/she can do. I'm finding this out first hand... You'd be surprised how willing people are to help out for a good cause.

3. Follow this blog. See there on the left... yep, right there with the little squares full of faces. Add your name there. Even if you don't know me. Especially if you don't know me! Follow Give One Million on Facebook and Twitter. See the little buttons at the end of each post? Use them! Digg the posts if you like them. All these things are ways to show the world we're here. And maybe if we get enough of that going on, people will start to take notice. And when people take notice - donations will come in.

4. Last, but not least. Stand up and do something in your community for Give One Million. Organize something big or small. Contact me to see what you can do. I need help from people all across the country - Why can't it be you???

Thanks to everyone for everything you've done so far!!! One month is gone, we've got eleven left. Let's see what we can do this month!

David

I'm reading: Day 32 - $675

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 31 - $600

So as each of you know... I am doing anything and everything (Click here if you can't remember what I will do to raise money for St. Jude's.) to raise one million dollars for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I'm definitely trying to organize and sponsor the biggest fundraisers/events I possibly can. But in the meantime, to fill up the little times when nothing big is going on - I will do whatever I can to spread the word and raise money for my goal of one million in one year. So that's exactly what I did this Saturday morning...

As soon as we woke up this morning, my little boy and I went to the store to buy a gas can. We made a quick stop at the gas station, and brought it home to fill up the lawnmower. After a quick spring tune-up, I set out. I pushed it down the street stopping at each door to ask, "I'm trying to raise one million dollars in one year for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. If I mow your lawn this morning, will you donate $20 to St. Jude?" I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that I wasn't having any takers. So after a half hour or so, I lowered my asking price to $15. Still nobody would let me do it. So I went to $10. That's when I finally made a deal to rake up all the leaves/those little poky ball things that fall out of the trees for $10. FINALLY! I was just happy someone agreed to let me do something! So I called my wife. She brought the rake, broom, and kids. (I don't plan on using my kids real names on this blog, so for future reference, I'll call them Tiny and J)

I had two great little helpers!

Melis was a big help too, as you can see from this wonderful picture J took :)

J's a good example to all of us!

We ended up getting a $15 donation for our efforts (and possibly more later), which I was really happy about. It started raining, so we were only able to do one house, but like I keep saying: every little bit helps! It was fun to do this as a family. and great for the kids to learn about doing service and hard work for others. When Melis asked J what he thought about doing the work he said, "It makes me feel good in my heart."

I'm reading: Day 31 - $600

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 29 - $585

Thank you for the donation U.G.!!! Also a big thanks to all of our friends for donating. Let's keep the ball rolling eveyone. If you're here reading this right now... donate! Every little bit helps.

I'm reading: Day 29 - $585

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 28 - $535

We've passed another milestone. Someone that doesn't know me donated. Actually two people that don't know me donated - and some good friends of ours. I'm impressed. Thanks to the three donations that bring us up to $535!

Just a few things I've been thinking about...

People are coming up with great ideas for fundraisers and ways to raise money for Give One Million. For the people that have told me their ideas so far - I think they are awesome. Let me know when you plan do do them, and I will post about it on this blog, so everyone can support you. And do your fundraisers sooner than later - Remember - We only have 337 days left. For those who are just recently joining the Give One Million for St. Jude cause and want to help, let me know what your idea is to raise money! It's going to take a lot of fundraisers to get to a million dollars - so I'm going to need some people to step up and help me organize some events in their city.

A big way to help is to talk to people. Send emails. Put a button on your blog. hand out some flyers (I can get some to you if you need some. I've been posting them all around my town!), write a post on your blog. Etc, etc, etc. I feel like a broken record, but I have to keep saying it: We need to spread the word. We need to reach a ton of people if this is going to work.

I joined Facebook. I've been holding out on that for some time now. But I figured that is a tool I can't pass up when it comes to getting the news out about Give One Million. If you're on Facebook, please look me up and friend me! Also become a fan of the Give One Million Facebook Page.

Do you have a service or skill you can donate? If so, we can utilize it to fight childhood cancer. You can do the service and donate the money to Give One Million for St. Jude through this blog. I.E. I used to run a window washing business when I was in college. among other things, I plan to wash windows this summer and donate all the proceeds. Can you do something similar???

And last but not least - if you're here reading this right now, please donate by clicking in the top right corner.

Thanks again to everyone for donating. And today - thanks to those people that don't know me that donated! It feels good to have family and friends support, but I know this is going to have to go beyond them. Today's donations give me the boost of confidence to know that there are people out there that will back me as I reach for this goal.

David

I'm reading: Day 28 - $535

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 27 - $500

WOW! We just hit $500! Somehow that feels like a milestone. Thanks to everyone that has donated so far. We are making a difference. I know this is only the beginning - but just think... even if this is all we raised, we just gave $500 to a family and child that really needs our help at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. We just gave $500 toward finding a cure for cancer. It's pretty cool if you stop and think about it. Just think how cool it will be when we hit our goal!

I'm working on lots of fundraisers I can do. From Big to Small, I don't care. Soon I'll start posting pics of what I'm doing, so you can see. And if you do anything - let me know and I'll share it with everyone as well. I know we have some big ideas in the works - So I can't wait to get some of it posted.

I have so many Ideas and things going on, it's hard to keep them straight. Melissa and I are going to sit down and consolidate all of the ideas (and sticky notes - that are making our computer desk almost unworkable at this point) into a list we can actually keep up with everything and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

You may have noticed Give One Million is officially on Facebook now. Take a look at the button on the right side of the blog. Click there to go to the Give One Million Facebook page. Become a fan and invite all your friends to be fans as well!!!

This is kind of a random thought, but here it goes... This morning on my way to work I heard Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror". I've heard that song many times, but never really listened to the lyrics. After actually paying attention to the lyrics, I think it describes what were doing here pretty well. If we want to make a change - it starts with us!

Talk Soon,

David

I'm reading: Day 27 - $500

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 26 - $400

We're coming up on four weeks and guess what... We hit $400!!! Thanks Mom and Dad for the donation. I really appreciate your support! We are keeping with the average of $100 a week. But actually... It's starting to creep over $100 a week. I'm excited that the word is starting to spread about Give One Million. Please come back often to see what we are doing, and what you can to to help. Because that is the key - YOU! yes you out there reading this post... We need your help to 1. Donate 2. tell everyone you know about Give One Million 3. contact me about how you can hold a fundraiser in your community to support Give One Million for St. Jude.

So I have to ask... I've had great support from friends and family so far on this project. I consider myself very lucky in that respect - very lucky! Well... Having said that, I wonder who will be the first person to donate that doesn't know me personally? I know there's a lot of you out there...approximately 6 billion :) (Not that if you do know me, I'm discouraging you to donate in any way!) If you're thinking about supporting what I'm doing here... well... DO IT! Don't say you'll donate tomorrow. Do it today. Don't tell me your wallet's in the other room. Go get it! Everyone out there remember this: It doesn't have to be a huge donation! Every dollar counts! You can donate one dollar for all I care... Just take the step to show you support the kids at St. Jude - and you support finding a cure for them!

I'm reading: Day 26 - $400

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 25

Has teamed up with

Give One Million for St. Jude

To help us raise

One Million Dollars in One Year

for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!

June 19th, 2010

1408 Highway 7, Blue Springs MO

Yep, that's right. We landed our first big fundraiser for Give One Million for St. Jude. On June 19th Give One Million volunteers will be manning the Sonic Drive-in - In Blue Springs, MO. We will be doing the car hopping only. (not cooking the food) From 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. all tips and donations will go to Give One Million for St. Jude. Sonic will help promote our fundraiser with flyers and advertising on their marquee.

So if you're in the Kansas City area (or will be on June 19th), and want to help - send me an email!

I'm reading: Day 25

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 23

BUTTONS

This will be a good way to get the word out about Give One Million for St. Jude. The more blogs we can get these on the better. Some of these are created with my temporary logo. The official logo is in the works and should be done in a couple weeks – I was too impatient to wait.

Below you will see a picture of each button. Under each button is the HTML code that can be used to add the button to your blog. All you have to do is:

1. Copy the HTML code
2. Go to your blog in the layout section
3. Click to add a gadget wherever you would like it on your blog
4. Click on the HTML/Javascript option
5. Paste the HTML code you copied and save.
6. View your blog and click the button to ensure it works

Boom! You now have a Give One Million for St. Jude button. Welcome aboard!

<center><a href="http://giveonemillion.blogspot.com">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hJ1o_IStdfI/S8kohh0i-PI/AAAAAAAAAI0
/fL_Hq9X4Hbk/s1600/GOM+Button.jpg"/></a></center>

<center><a href="http://giveonemillion.blogspot.com">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hJ1o_IStdfI/S8aowZmtaUI/AAAAAAAAACg/cZzEAvXMRTQ
/s1600/GOM+Button+Follow+The+Story+1.jpg"/></a></center>

<center><a href="http://giveonemillion.blogspot.com">
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1oFOavDNf-tMJzN330eSlRJs_ch2G5y4FPuV70LYc6bW5Tf48h04Bipa3NTaveupF92S6hwK3Xvgn0AAFvv4ZrAvpVjvUt4FxCw7xaaBsrtkCfvzWTZX64Iic0xObxY0br_wUScqzborC/
/GOM+Button+Logo+Only.jpg"/></a></center>

<center><a href="http://giveonemillion.blogspot.com">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hJ1o_IStdfI/S8apgcK94SI/AAAAAAAAAEY/_Ppo87aYEMw
/s1600/GOM+Button+one+million+one+year.jpg"/></a></center>

I'm reading: Day 23

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 20

So we're almost to the three week mark and so far, so good. We're at $300 as of now, so we are staying just about at our average of $100 a week. I'd be extatic if somone would make a donation that forced me to reference the median dollar amount as opposed to the mean when referring to our average donations on a weekly basis. (That last sentence is exactly why my wife says I'm a nerd :) -but that's a shout out to all the statistics geeks like me out there...)

I know you're dying to know what I've been up to the last couple days so here it goes...

1. You may have noticed I added a Give One Million One Minute Summary button over to the side. There is a purpose to it... Since we will be telling everyone to follow what we're doing here, there will be a lot of people randomly "happening" upon this blog. And it may be a little confusing or generate some questions when they first visit. When they visit and read the random post that happens to be first in line... I can see people asking themselves questions such as:

"Who is this guy?"

Or

"What the heck is this guy doing?"

Or

"Why is he doing this, and is it legit?"

Etc, Etc, Etc...

So... Now they have a place to click that will give them the one minute summary about what we are doing here at Give One Million for St. Jude. And then they will donate!!! :)

2. I've pretty much given up on High Schools to host an event, and moved on to Elementary Schools. They seem to be much more receptive. I'll keep you updated on that. Insurance for the event doesn't seem to be an easy topic either. After my wife made a few calls today, we're still at square one as far as that goes. hmmm.

3. The Give One Million logo is in the works. I've had some logo's submitted, that you may see bits and pieces of - but the official logo is yet to come. I will be working with a good friend/awesome graphic designer who is kind enough to help me develope it. But if it's going to be good... it may take some time.

4. I'm working on making some buttons/widgets for YOUR blog! I am trying to make quite a few, so you have something to choose from. I don't have our official logo yet, but I still wanted to make these buttons in the meantime. They will have to do until we get better ones.

5. I have been thinking about other ways to physically raise money off-line. besides the pancake breakfast, I will be making calls and setting up other activities as well. If you want to host an activity in your town for Give One Million - just let me know - That would seriously be cool, and I'd do everything I could to help.

So that's a good summary of the last two days or so. I have a day job I have to get to tomorrow morning (or should I say later this morning) so I better hit the hay. Keep telling everyone you know http://www.giveonemillion.blogspot.com/ !!!!! So far we've raised $300 for the kids at St. Jude - let's keep it going!

Goodnight,

Dave

I'm reading: Day 20

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Day 18 - $300

Thanks to my big sis and her fam for bringing us up to $300!!! You guys rock! Thanks for your donation - but more importantly - thanks for you support. I've been blessed with good family and friends. I come home to a beautiful wife and two healthy kids every day. I have a brother and two sisters that are such good examples to me. Nobody could ask for better parents than what I've been given. God has truely blessed me - Maybe that's why I feel such a need to give back.

I'm reading: Day 18 - $300

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 17

Calling All Followers!!!

If you are here on this blog - reading this post - I'm going to assume you care just as much as me about fighting cancer, and more specifically childhood cancer. So if that's the case, why not follow this blog??? Do you see that little sidebar title down to the right that says FOLLOWERS... Well - that's what I'm talking about. Follow this blog, follow Give One Million on Twitter, and follow Give One Million on Youtube and Facebook (when I get those up and running).

Just to convince you, I'll list the top five reasons you should follow Give One Million.

5. When we reach our goal - you'll be able to tell your friends you were one of the first to follow.

4. Since you'll be up-to-date on everything - you will be able to help out when you can.

3. You'll show your friends and family that you are supporting something to find a cure for cancer

2. It will help me know that I'm not staying up until one in the morning every night chronicling this goal for no reason. (OK - maybe that's a little selfish on my part - but it's nice to know that someone out there is listening - and actually cares about what we're doing here)

And the number one reason to follow Give One Million is...

1. With every donation, and all your support - you will literally be helping kids that have been diagnosed with cancer and the families of kids with cancer at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Anything you can do to help and support them is a good thing!

OK - I'm just thinking out loud here - but go with me for a minute. Imagine if Give One Million had 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 followers? Just think what we could do to reach our goal of one million dollars. Melissa (my wife - for those of you that don't know me) came up with a great idea: Dollar Day. We tell all of our followers that such and such a date is dollar day. Tell all of our followers that on that day (whatever day it is) to donate just one dollar. that's it. Just one dollar. Well, if I get half of my followers to donate $1 on that day - and let's say we have 20,000 followers for this example - that means we earn $10,000 in one day toward our goal!!! Do you get where I'm going with this... That's just one idea of something we can do if we get people following what we're doing here.

So are you in? Good!

I'm reading: Day 17

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 15 - $200

My prayer was answered!!! SWEEEEET!!!!!! I don't think you all understand how happy I was when my wife called me at work to tell me we received another donation today. You know who you are. Thank you!

So we're up to $200. That's 100 bucks a week average so far. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. If we keep it up we would end up with $5,200 raised. That alone would be a victory - but I think we'll get more than that (like One Million!!!). I think as the word spreads, it will grow exponentially. This is just the beginning.

As I'm looking for locations for the pancake breakfast I called a local high school today. I was told In addition to the approximately 500 or so dollars I would need to rent the space - that I would also need proof of a one million dollar insurance policy. Did you hear that?!?! One Million Dollar Insurance Policy! I just thought you might find that as "interesting" as I did. It's just another bump in the road though. No biggie. We'll find a place.

I think T-Shirts are in the works. I'm very excited about that. Just think how cool you'll look in your brand new Give One Million T-Shirt. All your friends will be jealous. No worries though. You can just tell them where you got it, and they can have one of their own. 100% of the proceeds will go to St. Jude :)

I'm reading: Day 15 - $200

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 14

Well, we've officially hit the two week mark. We are still at $175. Thanks to everyone so far, but we still have a long way to go. So PLEASE spread the word!!! www.giveonemillion.blogspot.com Luckily we still have 351 days to pull this off - so I'm still very confident. The pancake breakfast is coming along. What I mean by that is: from the phone calls so far, I can officially mark off a few places we can't hold the event. But I'm still working it, so stay tuned on that front. I'm up late once again searching for ways (any ways) to get the word spread about Give One Million. Once we get some traffic here, I think it will open a lot of doors on things we can do to raise some money. Until then - if you're reading this, do something. If you can't donate money, just tell your coworkers! I'll settle for that at this moment. If your thinking you'll "get around to it tomorrow..." Let me just tell you from someone that knows a thing or two about procrastinating... it will never happen! Act now. Do something now.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed now. But before I do, I'm going to say a prayer - and pray like crazy that when I check this tomorrow we are over $175.

I'm reading: Day 14

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 12

This is what I've been up to the last couple days:

I submitted an add on craigslist (KC)

I tried to post an add on KSL.com multiple times but couldn't. I've posted on there in the past with no problems, but for some reason it's not letting me post... Frustrating!

I used one service on Fiverr.com in an attempt to get some increase visibility for Give One Million. I think I will continue with that.

I submitted giveonemillion.blogspot.com to Twitcause.

I started a YouTube channel. I haven't posted any videos there yet, but hopefully that will come in time. If you have a good video you think will help our cause - shoot me an email or leave a comment, and I'll see what I can to to get it posted. I'll add a YouTube badge to my sidebar as soon as I have an actual video there to watch :)

I contacted St. Jude to discuss the possibility of using their name and information to promote my pancake breakfast. It's looking good as far as that goes. Now I just need a location before I can make it official. I started making some calls today - I'll keep you posted on that.

And last, I've been spending countless hours (mainly on the internet) brainstorming and looking for ways to get the word out about Give One Million. Once again... any help with that would be greatly appreciated. Talk soon.

I'm reading: Day 12

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!

Day 10

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."

~Albert Pike

Pretty sweet quote don't you think... I heard that quote right before this whole project started. (Click here if you don't remember how this all began.) I don't remember where I was when I heard it, but I think that may have sparked the initial conversation my wife and I had that started this process.

What have I been up to the last couple days? Well - besides going out with my wife to celebrate our 8th anniversary, I've been spending a lot of time figuring out ways to spread the word via internet. I think I've found a few, so if you are here reading this now, chances are you may be some of the fruits of that labor :) I continue to work on the blog. I figure it's the communication hub of everything I'm doing - so I tend to spend a lot of time making sure it "does" what it's intended to do. For or those of you in Missouri - I'm in the beginning stages of plannning a pancake breakfast fundraiser. More details to come on that as soon as I have more concrete information - like date and time. And that's about it. So far, I think everything is going great. If you want to help in any way feel free to email me. - David

I'm reading: Day 10

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Day 8

Hey everyone. Thanks for coming and checking out the site. There's a lot going on behind the scenes. Remember it's only Day 8 and a lot of my ideas will take some time to develop and get organized - And it takes time to get the word out. So if there's not a post every day - don't get worried.



Here's the financial analyst in me speaking again... If we (I say we because I know I'm never going to be able to raise this money without every one's help out there) are going to accomplish this goal, we either need to reach a few really rich and generous people, or millions of not so rich people. I have a feeling it's going to have to be the later. So here's the breakdown...


As you can see, I have broken it down from Bad to Awesome. I put the average donation at 5 bucks, but I really have no clue what the average donation is - that's just a guess on my part. Is it too optimistic? Is it too pessimistic? Only time will tell I guess, but I figured it was a good starting point. So what I'm trying to say is that even in the best case scenario above we still need to get the word out to over 4 million people! And if people happen to be not as generous as we would like... Well - we're talking over 20 mil folks. The key is your help. Especially at the beginning. We need to get the ball rolling. How can you help? Well number one is obvious - click on the donate button and donate today. Not tomorrow. Not when you get around to it - but today. Number two is to join me in this cause and tell everyone you know about what we're doing. Thanks for every one's help so far. It's getting late, and I've got to get some shut eye. Feel free to comment. Talk soon...

I'm reading: Day 8

Help me reach one million in one year. Donate now!