Give One Million For St. Jude: 2010

Day 278 - $15,890

I've been training for the walk-a-thon. Here's my outfit. Like it? :) Today I walked 5 miles. It was pretty easy.

So I'm not sure what's up with my little Facebook button. It's been stuck on 672 for a couple weeks now... even though we're up to 685 fans. Oh well.

Thanks for all the donations coming in!

So I have a plan... listen up! So here's what I want EVERYONE to do. Since New Year's Day is 1.1.11 this year (all one's) On New Year's Day I want everyone following GOM to donate $11.11. K? OK don't forget! January first... $11.11

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

Day 274 - $15,736

I hope everyone's holiday is fun, happy, and safe. During this season, I am very thankful for my family. I have a beautiful wife, and two beautiful kids that are healthy and happy. I have a good job. I have a roof over my head. I have good friends and a wonderful family. I'm truly blessed.

As we celebrate the birth of the Savior today - I know it's because of him that my life is so blessed. And for that I am thankful. He led a life of service, and I guess this whole GOM thing is somehow my little way of trying to follow his example. Thank you to everyone for joining with me to help these kids of St. Jude that have cancer. Even though it may not feel like you're doing much by just making a donation - trust me... we are helping people that need our help. My kids are 100% healthy right now (knock on wood!), but just imagine for a minute how thankful you would be if you were in there situation! Doing that is what got me and Melissa started with all this. Think of how grateful you would be if someone did something to help your son or daughter- or gave a donation to help your child fight cancer. Just think about that for a minute...

Visit a couple blogs for me. This will show you the kind of people we are helping. And let you see what they are going through.

http://crystalandskyler.blogspot.com/

http://www.kissesforcami.com/

I hope I can count on everyone's support as we finish out the last few months of GOM. I know we can reach our goal. We just have to believe and keep working. Thank you all... and...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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

Day 271 - $15,711

The $500 check from Kohl's went through! As Napoleon Dynamite would say: Yessssssssss!

Last night I wrote a bunch of emails to running/walking clubs here in KC to see if they would like to participate in our Walk-A-Thon. Haven't heard back from anyone yet :( Hopefully someone will want to walk with me. If not, I guess that's OK. I'm up to $47 a mile so far, and I'm going to try for $100 a mile. So even if it's just me, I still think it will be a successful event. I should say I do have one person that is planning to walk and a couple other maybe's (not from my emails last night... from talking to people previously)... So hopefully I won't be walking alone.

You know... one of the hardest thing about fundraising, is putting so much effort and energy into something and trying your hardest to help, and do something good - and then not getting much response or wondering if anyone is even paying attention or cares. Now mom... don't worry. I'm not down in the dumps - I'm actually quite optimistic right now. I'm just making an objective and realistic observation. Over the last 9 months - I've found that one of the hardest things is to keep motivated and pressing forward, when it seems nobody else but you cares about what you are doing. Now... Everyone don't get me wrong. I know there are people out there that care... and many, many people have supported GOM and what I'm doing. But I think every person that sets out to do some sort of long term fundraising has grand ideas, but usually gets a little bit of a rude awakening at the actual response. I can see why people just kind of give up and fade out. That's all I'm saying... It's hard.

But I haven't given up, and I'm not going to give up! So far we've raise almost sixteen THOUSAND dollars for kids with cancer!!! All because we haven't given up! And even though it may be hard, and seem like not very many people are paying attention and supporting GOM ...or as many as I think there should be... which would be the whole world in my dreams :) we ARE making a difference. So to all my supporters from the biggest to the smallest:

THANK YOU!

We can still reach our goal. Let's not give up. We're coming down the home stretch... Now is when I need everyone on board more than ever.

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

Day 268 - $14,916

Only 97 days left folks...

So this walk-a-thon thing is going great. I'm up to $47 a mile! Now... I have to start training, so I can actually walk as far as I want to. The Little Blue Trace Trail is 13 miles. So if I walk up and back, that would be 26 miles.... Basically walking a marathon. hmmmm. Sounds nice, but I'm not sure it's going to be that easy. I can do it though. It's all in the mind baby!

BTW... who is going to walk with me? You will get a GOM t-shirt, and a St. Jude pin for walking. You can either pay $15 and just walk, or you can get sponsors like me. And it's not really that hard to get sponsors. Pretty much every person I've asked has said yes. It's been awesome!

It's not a timed event. I'm just going to see basically how far I can walk. (I told my sponsors, I wouldn't walk more than 26 miles though. So they would have an idea of how much they were actually donating.) I'm going to look into getting some people to donate some muffins or donuts for the startline. I'm planning on starting at 8 A.M. So that's the plan people. Now I just need more sponsors!

Thank you to everyone that has been organizing events over this holiday season! I really appreciate your support! But it's not really me that appreciates it. It's the kids with Cancer at St. Jude. They are the ones we are helping.

Just a few reminders... Follow this blog. Follow on FB. Follow on Twitter. Email your friends this blog. Try to organize a GOM for St. Jude event in your area.

P.S. We're so close to the $15,000 mark. If you've been thinking about donating... now is the perfect time! Donate today, and put GOM over the $15K mark :)

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

Day 264 - $14,509

I am now up to $23 a mile. I asked a few more people at work today. Basically everyone I ask is signing up to sponsor me. And a few are even thinking about walking with me! I'm sort of surprised at how much everyone is willing to sponsor. I have two sponsors for $4.25 a mile, one for $4.50, and one for $5.00 a mile! Thanks you to my very generous co-workers!

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

Day 263 - $14,509

I'm already up to $8.50 a mile in sponsors for my walk-a-thon, and I've only asked 5 people!!! Two actually signed up to sponsor, two said they will, one didn't seem very interested and just gave me a bunch of excuses. But I think this whole walk-a-thon thing, is going to be a great way to raise money, and this is why: It gives me an excuse to go up to people, and just straight up ask if they will donate. It's kind of hard to do that normally... but when you can say "Hey! I'm doing a walk-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude. Will you sponsor me?" It works really well. I wonder how much sponsorship I can get per mile???????? This could be gooooood!!!

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

Day 262 - $14,509

So I was doing some calculations tonight...

So far I've had 3,800 hits on my blog. We have raised $14,509. Let's do some math.

$14,509 ÷ 3,800 = $3.818158 dollars raised per hit on the website.

$1,000,000 - $14,509 = $985,491 left to raise before March 25th.

So if we keep this ratio going...

It will take $985,491 ÷ $3.81858 = 258,107 more hits to the blog to reach our goal.

Since we have 103 days left...

That means 258,107 ÷ 103 = 2,506 hits per day.

We're averaging 13 hits a day over the last 262 days. Hmmmm.

It's OK. We can still do it! Please send emails to your friends. Post links on FB and Twitter. Put a button on your blog. Anything to help drive traffic! The more traffic. The more we can raise. Help me if you can :)

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

Day 261 - $14,509

Attention! Attention!

I would like to officially announce my next big event...

The Give One Million for St. Jude Walk-A-Thon

Ok.. So here's how it will work. On January 22nd I'm going to walk as many miles as I can for the kids of St. Jude. I'll be walking on the Little Blue Trace Trail here in Independence, MO. It's not just me walking though. I'm inviting/asking anyone else that can - to join with me and walk to raise money. If you choose to walk with me there are two ways you can raise money:

1. You can do what I'm going to do: Get Sponsors! I created a sign-up sheet for people to sign up to donate a certain amount for each mile I walk. I will get you a copy so you can have your friends/co-workers/family sponsor your walk.

2. You can pay $15 and just walk with us! All $15 will be donated to GOM for St. Jude to help us reach one million dollars. (I guess you could pay $15 and get sponsors as well!)

Each person that walks will get a GOM T-shirt. So if you are in the KC area... PLEASE join me in this walk-a-thon! Let's get all of our freinds to sponsor us and raise tons of money for St. Jude!!! Just email me if you plan to walk. If you are planning on getting sponsors, I'll email you the sign-up template to use.

COME ON EVERYONE... I know it will be cold, but let's make this a great event! I can't wait to see everyone on the 22nd! As it gets closer, and I learn more - I'll give details. But until then... bust out that treadmill and start getting in shape :) We have a long way to walk!!!!

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

Day 258 - $14,349

Having a hard time figuring out what to get that special someone for Christmas?? Why not make it easy on yourself and donate to St. Jude in their name? This works especially well for "those" people that already have everything, and you don't know what to get them :)

We've had some donations hit from the donation can's we've had out around town! SWEEEEET! That is something you can do in your city.... Make a donation can and take it to the local store, movie theatre, etc, and then check back on it once a month or so and donate the money online. That's something you can do to help us reach one million in one year for the kids of St. Jude!

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

Day 256 - $14,120

Ok... I wanted to post last night, but my Internet went out :(

The $1,000 check hit from ATK! So we are over $14k now! Melissa and I are going to be sending out Christmas cards this week. We are going to be asking our friends to donate in our "update" letter. Good idea right?

Don't forget we have GOM T-shirts for $10. They make great Christmas presents! And all the proceeds go to GOM for St. Jude.

So I haven't heard back from all the famous people I've been emailing about GOM. Still nothing from Jessica. I was hoping that waiting in line for 4 hours and giving her a letter and GOM shirt would persuade her to help. Wouldn't you be impressed if I waited in line for 4 hours to see you and then gave you a T-shirt?? I'm still trying to get anyone/everyone to listen though. Still writing emails. Still posting on FB walls. If anyone out there can help by sending an email to someone they might have some sort of contact with that could help - that would be awesome. Just do me a favor and send an email today. right now. You're already on the Internet!

We still have the Jonny Harline footballs for sale too. It's not too late to get one for the BYU fan in your family.

P.S. Better than Ezra... if you're reading this... It's not too late for a benefit concert!!! :)

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

Day 252 - $13,026

We sold a football! The multiple signature football is sold, but the Jonny Harline footballs are still left for sale. ALL proceeds to to Give One Million for St. Jude and count toward our million dollar goal.

Thanks to all our good friends who are supporting us and donating. Maybe people don't realize it... but it literally makes my day when I see a donation has come in! I know that may sound funny - because, it's not like any of this money is going to me or anything... but I guess it's just the fact that we are putting so much time and effort into reaching this goal. It just feels good to know friends/people out there support us and what we are trying to do for the kids of St. Jude :)

So in about two weeks we'll be to the 100 days left mark. Can you believe it!?!?! Everyone please keep doing what you can to spread the word about GOM. Become a follower of this blog. Become a fan on FB and Twitter. Email your friends. Organize an event in your area. I'm working on organizing events here in KC... but I need other people to just organize events and take care of everything and just donate the money. That's our only hope. I kind of sounded like Princess Leia there didn't I? :)

Anyway... Thanks again to everyone. I just got news today as well that Kohl's put the $500 check in the mail. So that should be hitting here in a week or two as well. Things are looking up everyone! Let's just stay with this a little longer. Something big may happen tomorrow - and maybe we'll be at a million!

Oh yea... and dont forget!!!:

The Greater Idaho Falls Association of Realtors Holiday Open House and it will be on Friday December 3rd from 6pm-10pm at the Shilo Inn. The Ticket cost is $17.00 and a dollar seventy of each ticket will be donated to the Give One Million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital fund.

EVERYONE GO!!!

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

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

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

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!

Day 219 - $10,283

We have some big news!!! We just crossed the $10,000 mark! With the donations from the Potato sale we had in Idaho last weekend, and some other donations from potato sales in Utah, and some other donations from great people, we are now into 5 digits!

I'm working on a video from the Halloween party... in the mean time here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Everyone had a great time. Unfortunately we didn't have too many people show up. But I guess everything we do can't be a home run :( However, our volunteers from Kohl's came - so that means Kohl's will be donating $500! So the grand total for the night was $583.

What do you think about my Joker Costume?

The big bad wolf (grandma) and Little Red Riding Hood won the costume contest. J, our little mummy, got runner up. And our tiny cupcake got 3rd place.

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

Day 216 - $8,362

The Halloween party is TODAY!!! I hope everyone can make it! If you don't live close by... We'll take some pics and video for you... Can you guess who I'll be dressed as???

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

Day 215 - $8,262

Here's the interview I did with Jeff from the Jeff & Josh Show on 96.1 The Bull.

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

Day 213 - $8,192

So yesterday was a big day! We were here in Blue Springs at the local Hy-Vee collecting donations. We raised a total of $96.69! Not bad right? Well while we were here in Missouri raising money - we had a great team of Give One Millionaires in Idaho selling Spuds! We are still finalizing the count - but it looks like they earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $1600+ Great job everyone! And thanks to everyone that came out and bought bags of potatoes.

We still have potatoes left, so if you are in Idaho and want to buys some russets, just shoot me an email, and I'll let you know where to pick them up.

ALSO!!!! You can now buy potatoes if you are in Utah too! My sis-in-law/bro-in-law/nieces/nephew are selling potatoes for us in Orem, UT. So if you are in the SLC/Provo UT area, let me know. I have a bag of spuds with your name on it!

Remember... $10 from each bag goes to St. Jude, and toward our goal of one million dollars in one year for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I'll tell you right now, there's not a better way to get ready for Thanksgiving and support a great cause at the same time. I'm just sayin...

Me and J chillin at the GOM booth at Hy-Vee

Tiny came by to help us out too. (J was pulling out the "Blue Steel" look and the donations came in left and right!!!)

J manning the booth. Just like his old man.

Josh from 96.1 FM The Bull was broadcasting live from the potato sale in IF. Scarfing down one of the delicious baked potatoes we were selling. (We earned around $275 from those.)

Here's some pics of (part of) our team that helped sell potatoes. I'm pretty sure if you google image AWESOME you'll find these pictures, but I thought I'd post them for you anyway - just to save you some time.

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

Day 211 - $8,076

Tomorrow's a big day! We have the potato sale in Idaho. See below for all the details on that. And I will be at The Hy-Vee here in Blue Springs on the corner of Hwy 40 and Route 7. I think we will be able to break $10,000 tomorrow!!! Oh yea... I also got news that my employer, ATK, will be donating $1,000!!!!! Is that awesome or what! I won't get it until next week though.

I've been going around getting gifts for the Halloween party on the 28th. I have a lot of cool prizes. I think were going to have a great time. Hopefully everyone can make it.

And last: If you have a FB account - can you please invite all your friends to like us on Facebook? Please? Just think... if we have 1,000,000 fans, it only takes one dollar from each person! So that's one little way you can help make a difference: INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!

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

Day 208 - $8,076

GIVE ONE MILLION

Presents...

SPUD DAYS FOR ST. JUDE

Ok. So we're teaming up with 96.1 The Bull for a huge potato sale on Saturday and here's all the details.

We will be selling 50 lb bags of freshly harvested Idaho potatoes for $20 from 9 AM - 3 PM at 8 different South East Idaho locations. This will be a great opportunity to get some fresh potatoes in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas - and support Give One Million for St. Jude!!! $10 from each bag will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and be included in our goal to reach one million dollars in one year. So without further delay here are the locations:

1. Ammon Farmers Market. (Parking lot in front of Best Buy) - Idaho Falls

At this location we will be selling we will not only be selling potatoes, but we will also have a potato bar... Fresh Idaho potatoes with lots of toppings!!! Also, 96.1 The Bull will be broadcasting live from this location!!!

2. Hallpark Shopping Center. (On the corner of 17th St and Woodruff) - Idaho Falls

3. Cedric's Resaurant/1260 West Broadway. (Near the Broadway freeway entrance) - Idaho Falls

4. Outfitter's Truck and RV/1580 E. Lincoln Rd. (Near the corner of Lincoln and Woodruff) - Idaho Falls

5. Sunrise Cleaning and Resoration/2285 N. Yellowstone (Next to Sam's Autobody) - Idaho Falls

6. Rancho Grande Taco Bus/371 W. 4th St. - Rexburg

7. Ying Yang's/155 Main St. Mall (Next to Zions Bank) - Rexburg

8. The lot on Main St. across from City Hall - Rexburg

So there you have it... all the locations where you can come THIS SATURDAY to buy potatoes for a good cause. I hope you can all stop by. We'll see you there!!!!!

Also, a big thanks to our other sponsors that helped us put this event on:

Sam's Club

Staples

Lowe's

Chili's

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

Day 207 - $8,076

We are over $8K!!! So like I've said before, we have a great team of people in Idaho lead by my Mom and Lex. (See picture above Lex on left, Mom on right.) They set up a booth at the "What Today's Women Want Expo" in Idaho Falls. That combined with the bake sales They've had, have put us over $8,000 mark.

We are also gearing up for the big potato sale this weekend. I will have more details on the locations hopefully tomorrow. I would do it tonight, but I'm trying to make this quick so I can hit the sack... I'm seriously beat.

Oh yea... I also sent out the Facebook invites for our halloween party here in KC on the 28th. I hope everyone can make it!

Oh yea... Don't forget to invite all your friends to become a fan on Facebook.

Oh yea... DONATE!! :)

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

Day 204 - $7,691

This is going to be a busy couple weeks. The crew in Idaho is kickin butt and taking names. They have bake sales, they're setting up booths at events, they're organizing a huge potato sale, and lots more! Great job guys!

I'll be keeping things real here in Blue Springs as well. We'll be at the Hy-Vee here in BS on the 23rd. The same day as the potato sale in Idaho. I'm getting ready for the Halloween party too! That's going to be a blast for everyone. It's at B&D Skating Rink in Independence by the way. We got news that Kohl's is going to be helping us by volunteering at our Halloween party! Since there is going to be 5 of them there, Kohl's is going to donate $500 to GOM!!! Aaaaaahhhh yeeeaaaaaa!

St. Jude has been reaching out to help as well. I gotta give a shout out to Shaun Martin for hooking me up with St. Jude banners and posters. That's not all though. He'll be helping me as I organize the rest of our events. With their help, I think we'll be able to organize some big events.

So, I'm thinking we could possible break $8,000 this weekend! I know that's nowhere near $1M, but you have to admit... that's still pretty impressive. We can make $1M though... if You donate. Yes, You! Someone else isn't going to do it. If everyone thinks, "Oh... someone else will donate.", then we won't make the goal. But if we each make this personal - and take "making a difference" into our own hands, we will reach our goal. So click on the donate button, and let's do this!!

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

Day 200 - $7,428

Well, today is day 200. We've come a long way, and we still have a long way to go. 165 days to be exact. Welcome to everyone who is joining with us. We can definately use your help. I know it seems like we may not be close to our goal, but just remember - all it takes is one big break, and it could be a whole new ball game.

Remember the small things. Every day I send emails. I hand out flyers. I suggest the GOM FB page to my friends. I post links to the GOM website on the internet. etc. etc. If you want to help... it doesn't have to be huge. It can be small. It's actually better for a bunch of people to do something small than it is to have a few people do something huge. So if you can. Do something small today to support Give One Million.

Donate $5

Email a friend

Post about GOM on FB.

Just do something to help today not tomorrow.

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

Day 199 - $7,428

Fudge
Brownies
Cupcakes
Poppy Seed Bread
Cookies
Chocolate Cake
Rhubarb Crisp
Raspberry Bars

YUM!!!

And everyone at the Farmer's Market in Idaho Falls thought so too. A huge thanks to Ma & Pa Feldman and Hohoa Southwick for having a bake sale. They earned $290.50 for Give One Million for St. Jude. Great Job!

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

Day 197 - $7,137

We are $30 closer to our goal thanks to the donations today! Thank You!!

So I was crunching some numbers tonight...

When you take our total amount raised so far and divide it by the number of days we've been doing Give One Million we are averaging $36.23 per day raised for St. Jude.

Not too bad.

If we continue at that pace... We will raise an additional $6,036 for a total of $13, 223. Not even close to our goal, but still very admirable. That would be $13,223 the kids of St. Jude didn't have before we started this whole thing.

Well, in order to meet the goal of one million dollars we need to raise $992,863 over the next 168 days. That averages out to $5,909.90 per day.

Hmmmm.

Piece of cake!! :)

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

Day 193 - $7,107

Well we broke 600 fans on Facebook! Good job everyone. Just remember to keep inviting your friends to like the GOM Facebook page. If we get one million fans it only takes one dollar from each person to reach our goal! We're well past 7k now thanks to some donations (Thanks to some great friends!) and Bike Night here in Blue Springs! October is going to be a big month. We have a lot planned. The potato sale should be huge, and I'm going to be sending out invitations to the Halloween party soon too. I just have to take care of a few things first.

I just received my event coordinator package from St. Jude too. I've been in working with my contact there to get their help on upcoming events. There are a lot of cool things in the package, and I plan to use them when planning the next events.

OK. So now that we're over half way to the year mark, we really need some volunteers to put in some time coordinating events. I get great ideas from people all the time, and wish I could get around to doing all of them... but I just don't have the time. I can only focus on so many things at once. That's where I need you to come in. I need you to plan and coordinate the event where you live. If we can get event coordinators all across the country/world, that's how we'll reach the goal. So I need some volunteers. Who can plan and hold a Give One Million fundraising event?

BTW... if you can donate 5 bucks today... DO IT!

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

Day 188 - $7,002

Everyone tell your friends and family! Thursday October 28th - the only place to be is a B&D Skating for the Give One Million for St. Jude Skating Spooktacular! for only $5 a person, you can skate, munch on some ghostly treats, play some spooky games, and win some killer prizes. We will be having a costume contest for adults and kids. Yes, there will be kids there, so dress appropriately :) The party starts at 6:30 P.M. - and goes until 8:30 P.M. You pay at the door, but I'll still be sending out a Facebook invite. But I need your help to spread the word. If we can get at least 100 people there. We get $2 per person donated to St. Jude. Soooo mark it on your calender now! OCTOBER 28th!!!

So we have some other events coming up as well. The big one is the Potato Sale in Idaho on Oct 23rd. I will give more information as it comes - We're just working out some details before we make the big announcement.

Also... If you live anywhere in or by Blue Springs, MO, I will be at the Blue Springs Hy-Vee on Oct 23rd as well collection donations at the entrance.

I'm going to add all this to the upcoming events section on the left. We need to start thinking about and planning Thanksgiving/Chirstmas fundraisers or events right now. Do you have any ideas of something you could do to raise money for Give One Million??? Send me an email, or a note on Facebook, and let me know.

Last. If you're reading this... please donate. Donations have slowed down for some reason lately. Please make my day, and donate what you can today. It only takes a minute, and you'll not only help us reach our goal of one million dollars, but you'll be helping the kids of St. Jude.

OK. I think that jsut about covers everything for now. Oh yea... Fans??? Where you at? We are so close to reaching 600 fans on FB!!! Please invite your friends to like the GOM FB page. and if you have a google account FOLLOW THIS BLOG!!! Hmmm I just thought of an idea... maybe I will make a link you can click on that will make the GOM blog your homepage...

OK, It's late. I'm out.

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

Day 186 - $7,002

Well folks... We've reached the half way mark. Can you believe we've been doing Give One Million for St. Jude for 6 months!?!? Time flies when you're having fun I guess.

Back in March when this all started. I had no idea how this would all work out... We just wanted to make a difference, and had an idea. Now that we're 6 months into it, I'm still "learning on the job" and trying to figure this out. We're doing the best we can to reach our goal of One Million in One Year, and want to send a big thanks to everyone that has helped out so far!!!

We've worked at Sonic
We've had a 5K
We've had garage sales
We've had a bowl-a-thon
We've made movies
We've put donation cans at businesses
We've held up signs on steet corners
We've handed out fliers
And lot more...

Some idea's have worked... and some haven't. But Thanks to everyone's help and support we have raised over $7,000 for the kids of St. Jude!!! And even though that's not as much as we were hoping for to this point. It's Still $7,000 more St. Jude has that they didn't before we began. Like I said when we started this, "No matter what the outcome - We can't fail."

Now that we're half way there. We can look back and see how far we've come. We'll learn from our mistakes and keep moving forward. We have a lot of projects in the works, and events coming up. So you better hold on, because the next six months is going to be bigger and better! Here's to the next 6 months of Give One Million! Let's reach our goal! One Million, here we come!!!!!!!!!

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

Day 179 - $6,798

So I think we came up with our next big Idea for a fundraiser. We are going to throw a huge Give One Million Halloween Party!!! No details yet. I've been thinking about it for a few days now, but just decided to go forward with it. There will be games, prizes for the best costume, Raffle, food, and fun. Don't have details on the location, date, and price yet. (I think I will be charging a small cover, and that's how we'll raise the money for St. Jude.)

I'll let you know as soon as I find a place and set a date.

BTW... Our party will be somewhere here in the Blue Springs area... but to my other fellow Give One Millionaires out there... A Halloween party would be a great idea for a fundraiser to do in your town!!! Start planning it now. If you do put one together - let me know, and I'll let everyone know about it on the blog.

Last... Donations... we need them. They have kind of slowed down. I'm still sending out emails, and trying to contact news/media people to spread the word, but I'm not having nearly as much luck as I would like. In the mean time, I just hope those visiting will be kind enough to leave us a donation showing your support - and helping us reach one million dollars in one year for St. Jude!

Talk Soon,

David

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

Day 175 - $6,774

Avoid the Give One Million Look at all costs!!! Donate today!

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

Day 173 - $6,774

So I've been doing a lot of brainstorming lately. Or I guess you would say thinking. I'm trying to think of the next big fundraiser I want to tackle for Give One Million. In the mean time, I'm trying to do as many small things as possible. You know... send emails. Set up a donation booth at Hy-Vee. Update my Facebook. But I want to think of something big for the next event. Something that can put us over the $10,000 mark! But what could it be.... Hmmmm. I'll let you know soon what I come up with.

So how are everyone else's Give One Million for St. Jude projects coming along? If you need any help or ideas just send me an email. I'd be more than happy to help.

Everyone - don't forget to email your friends and family about Give One Million. Ask them to donate. Every little bit counts.

Thanks everyone for your support. We can reach our goal of one million in one year!

Talk Soon,

David

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

Day 172 - $6,774

There's always something you want. Something you need to buy. Something you have to do. Helping others is usually an afterthought. Always pushed aside. Always tomorrow.

Everyone likes a good cause, but few actually like to help.

Few are willing to act.

I made a conscious decision to change that. To not be like that... even if it's just for one year. And sometimes I feel like I'm walking a lonely path. I can't seem to get people to walk with me. To follow me. To join me.

A smart man told me I shouldn't "Should" on people. "He should do this, or he should do that." "She should be this way, or she should have helped me.". Etc.

It's hard not to do that when you feel like you're doing everything you can for something good - and it seems like nobody is even paying attention. I think a lot of people should have done a lot of stuff by now - but they haven't. I'm trying not to let it get me down. I'm trying not to think like that. I'm always trying to stay positive. I think for the most part I am. I just remember those who have helped out so much up to this point.

But we have a long way to go...

"Someone else" isn't going to donate.
"Someone else" isn't going to organize the fundraiser.
"Someone else" isn't going to send an email.
"Someone else" isn't going to tell their friends.
"Someone else" isn't going to give up their time.

YOU have to do it. I need YOUR help!

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

Day 170 - $6,774

The half way mark is fast approaching...

You might be thinking to yourself, "$6,774 is nowhere near one million dollars David!"

Well... To be honest, I'm thinking the same thing. But that's no reason to quit! I'm still working at Give One Million just as much as I was on day one.... Just ask my wife and kids. I know that if I don't keep working 100% - I can't expect others to keep working with me. I see this as a no fail goal. We can't fail... No matter what the outcome is... I think the world, and more specifically the kids at St. Jude are better off becuase of what we've done no matter the amount.

Just keep in mind... All it takes is one big break. One Donation. To take this goal from something that seems unacheivable, to actually reaching our goal of one million in one year for St. Jude.

I spoke with the Assistant Manager at Hy-Vee today. I think I will be able to set up a donation table there next Saturday. It's not for sure, but It's looking good.

There is one thing everyone can do for me. Send emails. Send them to your family, your friends, and everyone you know. Ask them to donate.

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

Day 166 - $6,774

Big Milestone!!! We passed 500 fans on Facebook! Thanks to everyone that is following there. If you have a google account, don't forget to follow this blog as well. And don't forget about Twitter...

I'm still sick, but I think I'm almost over it. But... I finally finished the Bowl-A-Thon video. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to pass it on to your friends and family. For those of you out there planning Give One Million events - be sure to take video and pics and send them to me so I can post them on the blog. And that reminds me... I NEED volunteers to help. If you have some extra time on your hands let me know. I can fill it up!

Enjoy the video:

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

Day 161 - $6,774

Thanks for the donation! Tell Oma and Opa thank you. We truely appreciate their support. It was nice to see that donation - because I've been under the weather the last few days. So that was a nice pick-me-up.

So yes... sorry you haven't seen much from me - I've been sick. Once we get the kids in bed, I've just been crashing. We were planning to get some donations tonight at Bike Night @ Side Pockets... but it got rained out - So hopefully we can do it next week. I Promise, I'm still working on the bowling video and the 2x2 campain video... We just had a couple day setback because of this bug.

I set up a meeting on Facebook to try and get others involved with some stuff here in Blue Springs. Well... It didn't work out so well. Nobody came. No worris though. We're just going to keep on keepin' on!

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

Day 157 - $6,764

Working on editing some videos. Working on sending out some emails. Planning a meeting on Thursday at the library to get some other people involved with specific responsibilities. Have a lead on a possibility for next Thursday to go around asking for donations at "Bike Night" here in Blue Springs. We have a big Potato Sale coming up with all the proceeds to Give One Million. Let me know what you're working on... I'll post about it.

Also... if you're here for the fist time - remember - The most important fundraising tool we have at Give One Million is the "individual donation". If you can donate today - Help us reach one million for the kids at St. Jude.

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

Day 154 - $6,764

So yesterday was the last day of month 5! I can't believe we are already approaching the half way point. I'm not going to lie... I was hoping we'd be further along at this point. But that's OK. We still have 7 months to make some magic happen. We are still working as hard as we were on day one - and I'm hoping that eventually something will happen, and all of our hard work will pay off. Just remember, everything we do is going to the kids at St. Jude. Kids that are fighting for their life. We've been so blessed in our life with J and Tiny, I think all the time that this the least we can do to help those people out there that aren't as fortunate as us, and have sick kids.

So we earned $1,758 in month 5. Not too bad if I do say so myself. It was nowhere near our goal, but we're trying, and that's all we can do. If you're out there I need your help now more than ever. The main thing to do is actually donate some money. The next best thing is to tell your friends. Email someone and ask them directly if they will donate. Add a button to your blog, and blog about Give One Million. Follow this blog, and encourage other to do the same, and last, but not least, follow us on facebook! If we get one million fans, and everyone donates just one dollar.... WE MAKE OUR GOAL!!!

Talk Soon,

David

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

Day 152 - $6,764

Tomorrow will be the last day of Month 5. I'll talk more about that tomorrow. Today - I just want to say... Please DONATE! Especially if you haven't donated yet. Or have visited multiple times and haven't donated yet. It doesn't have to be much. It's just that fact that you donated that counts. It could be a dollar. Every little bit helps!!! It's just nice to know that there are people out there supporting Give One Million, and people that want to be part of what we're doing here. It's really easy. It only takes maybe 2 minutes to donate. It's on St. Jude's secure website - so you don't need to worry about that. So... if you are reading this right now, don't leave without donating today! Thanks.

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

Day 149 - $6,764

Success! Tonight we had the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude at Lunar Bowl. A HUGE thanks to everyone that came out tonight. I know everyone had a great time. Especially Mr. Johnson who rolled out of there with a $80 tool set from Lowe's and two sweet tickets to the Royals/Twins game. Another funny winner was Steve. He won a weight watchers cookbook and a Blue Springs Fitness membership in the raffle. We promise Steve! It was just coincidence! We weren't trying to imply anything!

So I know you're all dying to know how much we made... And the grand total for money raised from the Bowl-A-Thon is...

$1,449!

We were very happy with that. I was getting pretty nervous these last few days - hoping people would even show up. I think we ended up with around 60 people attending. We pretty much filled up 12 of the 14 lanes we rented. The raffle is what really saved our bacon. It was a hit! We sold tickets for $5, and we sold a lot. Way more than we expected. We had some sweet prizes, and lots of them - so most people that bought a ticket won something.

The silent auction didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I figured that the silent auction would be a little harder of a sell. We had some pretty big ticket items for auction, and were asking for quite a bit of money for the minimum bids. I.E. Diamond Necklace - minimum bid $250. A few items I had originally as silent auction, I ended up just throwing into the raffle, because nobody bid on them. That's OK though. We earned enough money from the raffle to make us feel good about that move.

Melissa and Danielle deserve a round of applause. It was getting pretty busy checking everyone in online and setting everyone up with their lanes, etc. But they pulled it off. Danielle had her laptop there so we could accept donations right there on the spot as payment. That worked out well.

The guys at Lunar Bowl were great too. They really did a great job of helping us get this set up and helping us during the event with whatever we needed.

I think that covers most everything. I'll be posting pics and video from the event soon. Thanks again to everyone that came out. We put a lot of time into getting this set up. for the last month or so I've been spending every lunch break, and a couple hours after work going business to business or doing something to get this event pulled together. Plus the time every night after the kids go to bed. Now it's on to the next one. Stay tuned! This is only the beginning!!!

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

Day 146 - $5,500

Remember the 5k in Provo earlier this month? My friend Caleb Scoville put that on and donated the proceeds to Give One Million for St. Jude. Well... I mainly focused on the fact that he was raising money for Give One Million - but a cool aspect of the race, I didn't tell you too much about was that that fact that it was a barefoot race! And guess what?? The Barefoot Runners Society did a write up on the race!!! Check it out!

You know what the funny thing is... I was in D.C. last week on a business trip - and as I was walking past the Washington Monument - I say a guy running barefoot. I wonder if he's a member of the Barefoot Runners Society D.C. Chapter? :) They have one you know.

Well, good for Caleb - that's awesome what he's doing - and awesome that he's teaming up with us as well to help the kids at St. Jude.

Now... a special note for everyone in the Blue Springs area reading this:

It's going to be a blast, and there will be tons of prizes! You're not going to find anything else better to spend $12 on this Saturday - so RSVP now! Remember to do it by Friday - because it's $15 if you pay at the door.

See everyone there!

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

Day 144 - $5,450

Don't forget... the tickets for the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude are now

ONLY $12!!!

When you pay in advance. They are $15 at the door. It looks like there are a bunch of people planning on coming (according to facebook). We had a few pay to reserve their spot. Don't forget to pay before Friday so you get your $12 price. I submitted some press releases today. I hope they help. If you're on facebook please invite your friends to attend. If you're not on facebook - send out a couple emails. This is ALL going to St. Jude and toward our million dollar goal. So don't be afraid to send a few emails for a good cause!

It's almost time for school to start, if it hasn't already for you/your kids. Is there a fundraiser you can do at your local school? Is there a way you can get some students involved in reaching our goal of one million in one year for St. Jude?

That's my plan. I am going to approach some of the clubs at the local High Schools to see what they can do.

We are over 300 fans now on facebook! Way to go everyone! If we can get one million fans on facebook just think of the good we can do. Keep sending those invites, and if you haven't already... Follow Give One Million on facebook!!! (P.S. Also, if you have a google account - don't forget to become a follower of this blog.) This is going to take some serious grass roots campaigning to get that many followers - so help me if you can.

We're coming up on 5 months down, and I'm still going 1000% I haven't given up in the least. I'll admit - I have my down days where I think nobody is even paying attention to me, but overall my spirits are up. I still believe we can do this. It will just take one stroke of luck, and we could go from $5,450 to $545,000. You never know. So keep doing those little fundraisers. Keep telling your friends. Keep following and reposting Give One Million info.

We can do this people! We can do this!

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

Day 142 - $5,364

I've spent a lot of time advertising for the Bowl-A-Thon. I basically walked up the entire hwy 7 placing flyers in businesses. Sonic is putting flyers in their to-go bags. So I'm getting the word out. Lunar Bowl is making announcements to all their bowling leagues. Melissa and I went to Lunar Bowl last night, and went lane to lane asking people to sign up for the event... I've been putting a lot of time into this.

Well... here's why I'm worried. I gave the bowling alley A LOT of money to reserve the 14 lanes. And as of now... Nobody has RSVP'd and paid.... :( I'm getting worried. Really worried. At this point, I hope I can recoup the money I invested in this. Now maybe I'm getting worried too soon... I don't know. But this blog is suppose to be a outlet for everyone to understand my feelings and thoughts as I go through this whole process... so I'm just being honest and telling you what I'm thinking. I'm worried! It scares me to think that after all the effort and time I put into this bowl-A-Thon only a few people will show up and I will lose money as apposed to earn money for St. Jude.

So I have one week left before the Bowl-A-Thon and I have to get people signed up ASAP. So this is what I'm doing. The price for the Bowl-A-Thon is no longer $25. it's...

$12!!!

Yep, that's right. Only $12! It normally cost $22.50 for two games and shoes on cosmic bowling night. But next Saturday anyone that wants to will be able to cosmic bowl for 3 HOURS (you can fit more than two games in!) with shoes included for less that half the normal cost. $12!!! Since I've received zero response in my first week of advertising, I'm hoping that by making this too good of a deal for everyone to pass up... I can fill the spots I reserved. What do you all think? You think it will work? I sure as heck hope so.

I'm working other avenues as well too. I spent some time tonight with my niece working on SEO for the blog. SEO is search engine optimization for those of you that don't know. I'm trying to do what I can to generate traffic. The more people that know what we're doing here the better right?!?! So a big thanks to my neice for helping with that. We have some other "marketing" things we are working on as well. I'm making a video for the 2x2 campaign I'm going to launch here in the next couple weeks. (Once the bowl-a-thon is over, that will free up a lot of time to work other items) So those are just a few of the many things we have coming your way.

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

Day 137 - $5,364

The time has finally come! Here it is... the official announcement of the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude. Click on the RSVP button above to reserve your spot today!

It will be August 21st at Lunar Bowl in Blue Springs. If you are in the area, you won't want to miss this! Reserve your spot today, and let's raise some serious cash for the kids at St. Jude! 1,000,000 here we come!

If you can... post this on your facebook and twitter. Tell everyone on your blog. Let's get the word out: on August 21, 2010 - the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude is the place to be!

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

Day 135 - $5,152

August is going great so far. A big thanks to Caleb at Run Fearless for putting on the 5K in Provo! They earned $200 all by running a few miles! My mom/dad/aunt/uncle set up a Give One Million booth at a local market in Ogden, UT. They earned $212 today! The best part of these fundraisers today was that they took care of everything while I was off doing other Give One Million stuff- and that's really what we need if this is ever going to work. I need people all over the country "joining" with me in this goal. I'm doing the absolute best I can to do everything I can possibly do... But there's only one of me, and there's only 24 hours in a day. I need like a thousand of me! ...and that's where you come in :)

So we have an official name for the bowling event:

The Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude

it will be in two weeks, and I am doing my darndest to get this all worked out. Today was going to be the day to get all the marketing material out "on the town". Since I was in D.C. all week on business travel (yes, I do have a full-time job other than GOM... unfortunately) It threw a wrench in my schedule, and I'm working furiously to get all the advertising out there so I can have a good two weeks of marketing for the event. I met with Lunar Bowl this morning for an hour or so, and finalized the plans. I was then headed home to create the flyers/posters to take to Office Depot for printing. Well a nail in my tire changed those plans (I type that sentence with anger!!!). It was actually more like a bolt. Well, I really needed a complete new set of tires anyway - so I spent the afternoon at the tire shop.

That put me a few hours behind.

By the time I finished making the flyers and posters for printing - Office Depot was closed.

For those of you that have a GPS device - you'll know what I'm talking about. You know how when you're following your GPS, and you miss a turn, or make a wrong turn it says, "Recalculating - please wait..."

Well, It seems like Give One Million works kind of the same way. I think I'm on track with my plans, and something just doesn't work out like it should, or something goes wrong - and I can almost hear the GPS voice in my head, "Recalculating, please wait..." Then I have to figure out the new path to take to my goal. No worries though. I'm still headed toward $1,000,000!

Thanks for the help everyone. Please keep supporting me.

Good night all,

David

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

Day 131 - $5,137

The I.F. garage sale brought in $107! I reserved 14 lanes at Lunar Bowl for the Give One Million Cosmic Bowling Bash on August 21st. I'm off to D.C. to see what I can so to spread the word there. As soon as I get back, I'll be focusing on marketing for the Bowling Event - and you'll see more details on that.

By the way, I'm looking for people that can organize a Give One Million fundraising event in their city. Any volunteers? If you just volunteer, I can help you brainstorm, and give you a few ideas. I'm just so busy doing all the events and ideas I have, and I don't have time to do all the good ideas that I have and other people keep sending me. I need some help, because time's a tickin... Now's the time to start thinking about Christmas fundraising events... So if you can help, please email me at giveonemillion@hotmail.com

Thanks everyone. Talk Soon.

David

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

Day 126 - $5,029

Here it is! I finally made the video for the Sonic fundraiser we had last month. I hope you like it.

I've been busy trying to get this bowling event together. I know I keep saying this - but I'll be making an official post on that soon. But I'm up to 5 sponsors now! So I think I may actually pull if off. I'll have LOTS of cool prizes and items for the raffle and silent auction. So if you are in the KC area - this is a must attend event!

If you're in Idaho Falls - don't forget about the Give One Million garage sale on Saturday! Make sure you stop by and show your support while you pick up some cool items.

It will be at 492 Logan Drive, Idaho Falls, ID - That's on the corner of Logan Dr. and John Adams Pkwy.

Everyone!! We only have a couple more days to reach 460 fans on facebook! Please help me reach that goal if you can. Invite all your friends to follow GOM on facebook.

Now... moving along... Month 4 is over. Unfortunately, I didn't make my goal of $4,800 for month 4 :(

I'm not very happy about that. I can't tell you how much I was racking my brain, trying to figure out a way to get the donations we needed for month 4 - but I just couldn't figure it out. But the past is the past. Not much I can do about it now - except make up for it in month 5. So that's exactly what we'll do. But, as always - I'll need help. The garage sale in I.F. is on the 31st, the 5k in Provo is on Aug 7. The bowling event is on Aug 21st. So we have a couple events set up already.

Is there something you can organize and do in month 5 to help?

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

Day 121 - $5,006

Today was the Blue Springs GOM Garage Sale - and we earned $231.10! I tried to get more people involved so we would have lot's of items to sell, but that didn't work out - so it was basically just the Feldmans selling our stuff. I need a new wardrobe anyway :) I'm not donating it yet though. As you remember, I'm putting together the big bowling event here in Blue Springs on Aug 21st. Well, I've been going from business to business trying to get sponsors. (it's going to take quite a bit of $$$ to rent the bowling alley) So far I have two for sure. Drum roll please...

Cricket Wireless (Blue Springs)

and

Bella Capelli Salon

That's the good news. A big thanks to them for sponsoring Give One Million!

Well... the bad news is I need about ten more sponsors for the event. That brings me back to the garage sale I had today. I'm going to keep working to get sponsors for the bowling event - if I can't get enough, I will use the garage sale money to help sponsor the event. That's the plan.

I'm still doing the big Facebook push. I'm trying to get one million fans on facebook. That way everyone can donate just one dollar and we reach our goal. Well this month, I set an intermediate goal of doubling our fans on Facebook. We need 460 by July 31st. We are at 269 right now. So if you aren't following GOM on Facebook yet - what are you waiting for??? click on the Facebook icon on the right, and then invite all your friends to "like" the page as well.

Last, do you have a blog? or a google account? FOLLOW THIS BLOG! Put a button on your blog or website. We NEED to get the word out! Or I guess I should say I NEED YOUR HELP getting the word out.

And Last, Last... Donate! There were some neighborhood kids that were helping us out at the garage sale today. One of them (11 years old I believe) donated $2 that he had. (FYI - We don't live in the richest neighborhood. I'll just say that comparatively speaking, this kid isn't really in the best position to just be giving away money.) This is what he said, " I feel good now. I donated to help the sick kids. Even if it was only two dollars." And I told him, "Two dollars is awesome bud! What really matters is that you gave up what you had to help someone else. There are a lot of people out there that have WAY MORE money than you do, that haven't even donated two dollars - so you should be very proud of that two dollar donation!"

Today is the last day for month 4. Only 8 more months to go folks. Unless someone makes a $4,500 donation tonight, I'm affraid we aren't going to make our month 4 goal. :( I guess we'll just have to make up for it next month! Month 5 here we come!!!

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

My Video 4 Ellen

Followers

Click The Pic! Get your Give 1M T-SHIRT!

About Me

Blog Archive

OUR SPONSORS