Day 249 - $12,821

A couple of thoughts...

For Christmas what about sending an email to your friends, family, co-workers, etc telling them about GOM, and asking them to donate since this is the season of giving.

What about including a note in your Christmas cards telling friends about GOM and asking them to donate this holiday season.

Is there something you can do at church or school or work to raise some money. This is the season of giving - so it should be a good time to do some sort of fundraiser to earn some money for GOM for St. Jude.

On a different note...

Nobody seems to be interested in the signed footballs. I have some ads up on KSL, but nobody emailed me. I guess everything can't work :( I'm working an angle right now to hopefully get in contact with the Cougar Club and see if anyone there would be interested. Wish me luck with that.

Thanks to everyone that has donated lately. I really appreciate the support, and I'm sure the kids of St. Jude do as well! We just got the $700 from the IF Sonic fundraiser donated, and should have the $1,000 from ATK hitting soon. So when that happens we should be up to about $14,000!!! It's not one million... but it's still a lot!

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

Day 245 - $12,090


Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had some great turkey and mashed potatoes! I sure did. So we have a tradition of going around the table and saying what we're thankful for at Thanksgiving dinner. And this year (every year really) I was just very thankful for a wonderful healthy family. So I did what Marlo Thomas always says, "Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life, and give to those who aren't." I donated $10 today. For Thanksgiving will you donate $10 with me? I hope you can.

Best Wishes,

David


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Day 243 - $12,080

First off - a big thanks to some family/friends up in Portland for the donation. Their kids had a birthday party - and instead of presents for the kids, they raised money for Give One Million for St. Jude. How awesome is that!?!?!!? THANK YOU!

Second... It's Rivalry Week for College Football. BYU vs. Utah! If you know me, you know that I'm a huge BYU football fan. Well... I worked a connection that I have to get some footballs signed by some former BYU football players! I have 4 footballs in total. Three are signed by Jonny Harline, and one is signed by multiple former players. I'm selling these footballs, and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Give One Million for St. Jude. Here's the link to make a bid.

So if you know a BYU fan, this could be the perfect Christmas present, and you will be supporting a good cause at the same time!

GO COUGARS!!!

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

Day 241 - $11,930

We've had a lot of donations coming in over the last week. Thank you to everyone for that. Many of the donations have come from potato sales. Thank you, great job on that, and keep up the good work!

So I have some big news everyone... Drum Roll Please...

St. Jude posted an article about Give One Million on their website!!!!!!!!

Click Here to see it!

I'm really excited about this because I feel like it means that St. Jude is actually acknowledging Give One Million. Out of all the articles written so far - this is definately the best! I know they appreciate all the help, and they always have... but it's just kind of cool because if they wrote about Give One Million on THEIR website... That's a pretty big deal right?? :)

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

Day 237 - $11,071

I've been working on some things behind the scenes lately. I'm trying to send emails to "influential" people asking if they will help. Sending emails to newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, etc. If you know someone in one of those industries that you think could help us - definitely write them an email and tell them about GOM. I need some help doing this, because there are literally thousands of "famous" people we could email, and I won't be able to write everyone. Plus, I'm sure there are some great people out there that I don't know about, or think of that could really help. So if you can please help with emails.

I'm trying to get people to visit the blog as well. If I can figure out ways to bring people here... I think they will donate. It's just getting them here that's the problem. I'm just one of MILLIONS of blogs. But I have a few ideas I'm working on, so we'll see if we can do better there. BTW. If you have any ideas to get more people to visit the blog, let me know - of if you can just refer people here from you blog or website that would be AWESOME!

I'm making a movie right now. an epic movie trailer for GOM. It's just finding the time to get the shots I need that is taking longer than I would like. Don't worry though. It will be out soon. I think everyone will like it.

So, all these things don't really bring home the bacon immediately, but hopefully they help out in the long run. (For as much of a long run as we have... do you realize we only have 128 days left to reach our goal?????)

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

Day 234 - $11,071

OK, so this was a fun weekend for GOM. First I'll tell you about our little adventure here in KC to meet Jessica Simpson and give here a Give One Million T-shirt, and ask if she can help.

BTW... Jessica, or anyone that knows Jessica - if you are reading this... First, Thanks for actually looking at my blog!! Second, I hope you can help! We are doing everything we can to tell everyone about Give One Million - but we need help. We're trying to raise one million dollars for the kids of St. Jude, and if you can do anything to spread the news I will be your best friend!!! Not that having me as a best friend really benefits you in any way... but Melissa and I are pretty cool :) We make fantastic friends!

So we waited in line for about 4 hours and got to talk to her for about 30 seconds. But we did tell her about GOM. And we did give her a note and T-shirt. I don't know if anyone else gave her anything/presents, but it didn't really look like it - so my only hope is that we were the only people that gave her something, and so that will stand out in her mind, and maybe she'll take a look. She did sign a picture to auction off though while we were talking... so that's good, even if nothing else happens. So this is what I need everyone to do. Keep an eye out on the Jessica Simpson Facebook and Twitter account, and her blog. I know I'll be following closely the next few weeks. I already signed up to follow her Twitter and FB. So just keep your fingers crossed that she mentions GOM!!

So here are the pics... Don't mind the fact that I look like a deer in headlights in the first picture. I was just trying to get my face in there to show I was there.



Our next big event this weekend was in Idaho. We raised $701!!! A big thank you to everyone that helped out there, and a big thanks to Sonic! The weather was pretty cold, so I think that may have cut down the number of people out and about - but they still did a great job of car hopping and raising money. My mom and dad are helping so much in Idaho. I can't tell you how grateful I am for everything they are doing. Keep up the good work!


GOM Volunteers - AKA - the childhood cancer elimination patrol!
The Manager for the Idaho Falls Sonics - You da man!
More GOM Volunteers with Pa Feldman.

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

Day 230 - $10,643

So my awesome sis-in-law has been selling bags of potatoes from her garage in Orem, UT! Here are some pics. A HUUUUGE thanks to Amber, and everyone that's been helping her in Utah.

YOU ROCK!!!

So if you are in the Utah area - don't forget we still have bags of potatoes! You can get a bag just in time for Thanksgiving. How perfect is that. a 50 lb bag of spuds for only $20. And $10 from each bag goes to St. Jude/Give One Million!!!! So you support a great cause and get a killer deal ALL AT THE SAME TIME!




Now as promised... some details on other events coming up

First is the Sonic Drive-In Fundraiser in Idaho Falls on the 13th of November. (THIS SATURDAY!)

So here's the scoop. We are going to have Give One Million volunteers doing the car hopping at both Sonics in Idaho Falls from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.
The locations are at the corner of Yellowstone and 17th st on 17th st in Ammon.
During our time there we get to keep all tips and donations we get from car hopping, AND... 20% of the proceeds from all the sales!
So if you are anywhere in the beautiful state of Idaho, plan on stopping by a Sonic Drive-In on Saturday for lunch! Help us reach our goal!

Second is the Greater Idaho Falls Association of Realtors Holiday Open House on December 3rd from 6-10 pm at the Shilo Inn in Idaho Falls.

It's going to be a BLAST!!! And $2 from each ticket will be donated to the Give One Million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Fund.
I should have more details soon on this - but I just wanted to let everyone know about it so they could mark it down on the calendar.

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

Day 227 - $10,493

We are going to be doing a Sonic Fundraiser in Idaho Falls on Saturday - so if you are in the Idaho Falls Area, be sure to stop by one of the Sonics in town to pick up a burger, and support a good cause. I'm going to be listing more details about the event in the upcoming events soon. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

Question??? Is your company or church having a holiday party? Will there be any way to raise money for Give One Million for St. Jude at the party? If so, please contact me.

Still no word from Ellen or the Ellen Degeneres Show. I emailed the producers... and haven't heard anything back. I'll keep trying. I'm working on an epic movie trailer for GOM right now. I hope it turns out well. I'll need some volunteers to help me with the film crew, and as actors. So if you're in the KC area, let me know if you want to help with that.


I think that's it for now. Remember, we still have $1,500 coming in. 1k from ATK, and $500 from Kohl's.

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

Day 223 - $10,283

Hey everyone. How's life? I hope it's going good for you. So I've been thinking about a few things for GOM lately.

1. Just donating. When we first started we were getting a lot of just plain old donations. I know we've been doing a lot of events, and raising lots of money, but I still think that if this is going to happen, we have to have people just flat out donate. Every morning, the first thing I do is check the GOM hotmail account to see if anyone donated. And I'm just being honest here... but sometimes it gets a little disappointing when I check it day after day - week after week at times... and nobody has just plain donated. When I do open my email and see there is a donation - it literally makes my day. It doesn't matter the amount. Just knowing that someone out there is paying attention to what we're doing, and wants to help us reach our goal, and help the kids of St. Jude... That's what makes my day. So if you can, will you donate today? Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated!!!

2. Facebook. The reason I push FB so much, is this: IF WE GET ONE MILLION FANS ON FB, AND EVERYONE DONATES ONE DOLLAR - WE REACH OUR GOAL! I know that sounds far-fetched... Maybe it is. But what if we get to 100,000 fans? Then it's only $10 a person (Actually less than that because of what we've earned so far.) Or, even if we get 50,000 fans. The bottom line is this. The more fans - the more money we are going to raise. So PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEE invite your friends on FB to follow and like the GOM page. www.facebook.com/giveonemillion

3. I just had a friend from High School call me up this week. Her company is having a Christmas party. Every year they have one, and raise money for a charity. This year... she thought of Give One Million! :) I can't tell you how happy I am to have her help! When people like that step up to help, it really makes me think we can do this! If I can just somehow figure out a way to get others to do what my friend is doing - we CAN reach our goal. It doesn't have to be anything huge... it can be something you already do (like my friends Christmas party) I just ask that you think of GOM.... I have so many irons in the fire with GOM, any help I can get is awesome... And that was the whole idea from the beginning. I'm not doing this by myself. This is a "we" project. I just so happen to be the one getting the ball rolling so to speak. My intent from the beginning was not to do everything myself - but rather do as much as I can, and hopefully inspire others to join with me. So think with me for a minute... is there something you can do? Something at your work you could do to raise some money? Are you going to be doing anything over the holidays that will let you tell people about GOM or raise some money? Maybe it's a dress down day at work. Maybe it's a donation can at your church Christmas party. There's hundreds of ideas.

4. And last... Sponsors! Do you know a company or does your company want to sponsor GOM for St. Jude? They can do it by donating money, advertising, or even their services. Can your company donate anything? I work for ATK, and I just got them to donate $1,000. Will your employer donate anything. We'll list them as a sponsor if they do. Do you own a business? Can you state that you support GOM on your website? Can you put up a button? Do you have business that advertises or can spread the word somehow? Maybe you work for a marketing firm. If so, can you donate some marketing services? It's just a thought. You'll notice we have lots of sponsors down on the right. (Please visit their sites!) But we'd love to have more!

Well... I think that's it for tonight. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day at work. Gotta get some shut eye :)

Talk Soon,
David

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

Day 222 - $10,283

So you may have noticed... or maybe you didn't. But if you want a GOM T-Shirt, I just added a link. You should get one, and then when all your friends ask about it, you can tell them how your trying to raise one million dollars in one year for St. Jude. They will all think you're totally awesome, and want a T-shirt just like you. Then you can send them to this blog :)

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