Day 365 - $25,033

Well... that's all folks. The final number as of one year was $25,033! (We actually have a couple checks still coming to us from fundraisers we did in March that will hit the account so it will end up being a couple hundred dollars more... but that's the number as of now.)

One year flew by pretty dang quick! I can't believe it's over. Everyone keeps asking me, "what are you going to do with Give One Million once the year is up?"

Well I have some ideas, but I haven't really come to a conclusion yet. I do know I'm not going to just quit cold turkey! There are a couple opportunities for fundraisers that may occur in April, so we'll see what happens there... but I will say - As of right now, I won't be able to keep putting in as much time as I did throughout the year. I put a lot of personal things aside/neglected a lot of things I needed to do throughout the year because I was spending so much time doing GOM stuff. So I kind of need to give some attention to those now that GOM is over.

I'm very happy with what we accomplished this year! I learned a lot along the way. I plan to write of a summary of lessons learned from GOM for everyone. I will post it on this blog, so don't stop coming back to visit quite yet :)

I hope to have that up for you soon.

And most important: Thanks to everyone for your support this year. Especially those of you that really supported me! My wonderful Wife. Thank you for letting me spend all my free time with GOM! I know it was kind of hard on the family sometimes or you had to take on extra kid duty, stayed up with me to all hours of the night, or whatever because I was doing GOM stuff - You were there with me every night, every event, through it all - and for that, I'm very grateful! Thanks and I love you!

Thanks to my kids! They are the best thing in my life. I love them more than anything. They were there with me through all this too. J and Tiny... Thank you!

My family! Mom and Dad... A Huge thank you for everything you did. You have always supported me with everything I do - and this was no different. It means so much to have such great parents. You did a ton too! They were responsible for a large portion of what we raised - so I want to really say thank you to you Mom and Dad! Also my Sisters and Brother. You have been there through all of this too! Donating time and money. I knew my family would support me in this... but when it actually happened - and you really did stand with me. I really made me feel like a very lucky guy to have such good sisters and brother! Thanks for everything you did!

And last - thanks to my very supportive friends! You know who you are! There are a few of you out there that really supported me through this last year. When times got tuff, and it seemed like not too many people were listening - Some of my best friends and supporters were there to keep me going. Thank you!

So that's all for now... but that's not all. I'll be posting lessons learned, and let you know about anything else going on, and the future of GOM.

Thanks again to everyone!

Talk Soon,

David

I'm reading: Day 365 - $25,033

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

Only 3 hours left...

PLEASE DONATE!!!!

I'm reading:

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

Day 364 - $24,554

ONE DAY LEFT! Here is a video that I wanted to put out a long time ago - but I just didn't have the time to film it. I was hoping to do a big Action Trailor for GOM, and get this out months ago... well it's a little different now... but still EPIC!!!!!!!!



Enjoy & Donate Please!!! (Help us reach $25,000!

I'm reading: Day 364 - $24,554

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

Day 362 - $22,199

3 Days left!!! Everyone please donate. Especially those of you out there that are reading this that haven't donated yet. If you are reading this right now, and you haven't donated - please take this sentence as a sign from heaven above - that you are at this website at this time for a reason... and the reason is: TO DONATE!!!!

Seriously everyone... I'm literally begging you... PLEASE!

Just click on the donate link. It doesn't take much time or effort - and it doesn't even have to be very much. Just donate something.

OK - now that I have that out of the way, you may have noticed I have some photos below. And I'm sure your saying to yourself, "wow - those look like some pretty cool photos, I wonder what those could be from?" Well... I'm here to tell you. They are from our GOM for St. Jude week we had in Idaho last week. We raised around $4k from that! HUGE! just plain HUGE! Thanks to everyone involved. I don't know all of your names - but nevertheless, a BIG thanks to you! Enjoy the pics everyone.

Some of the ticket sales from the Idaho Falls Basketball All-Star game went to GOM for St. Jude

Here are the All-Stars warming up


Ticket Sales again... plus see the donatation can?? BOOYAH!!

Proceeds from Consessions went to St. Jude too!

Fellow Give One Millionaires!

I'm reading: Day 362 - $22,199

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

Day 360 - $22,199

OK... ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT PEOPLE!!! So if there is anyone out there that hasn't donated yet... Please for the love... Donate now.

We had our Sonic Fundraiser on Saturday! Thanks to everyone that came out to help! I really appreciate your support. Speaking of support - I appreciate everyone that has helped so far... But I'll save the big overall thank you's for when we're done. So anyway... Sonic we great! We raised $229.79! Not too bad for a cold rainy day. Below are some pics from yesterday.

So I have one more little video to release. I wanted to shoot some actual film to go with it - but I just didn't have the time - so it's just going to be maybe some pictures or something to go with the "music". I should have that out in the next day or two.

Like I said before. Everyone please donate and ask your friends to come to THIS blog and donate as well. I'll see everyone tomorrow.

I'm reading: Day 360 - $22,199

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

Day 356 - $21,928

Sorry it's been so long since the last post - but I wanted to leave the Black and Yellow Remix up at the top for as long as I could. BTW... if you haven't seen it, take a look at the post below - you won't be disappointed!

So Give One Million for St. Jude week in Idaho was awesome!!! Thanks to everyone involved. I really appreciate everything everyone did. When this all started, that is what I had in mind of how things would happen.... people would see what we were doing, and just take their ideas and run with them. And that's exactly what happened in Idaho this week. So THANK YOU!

Now - for Saturday - We will be at the SONIC in Blue Springs MO (on South Route 7). So please come and make a donation and get a burger! ALSO... I still need people to help with the car hopping. I'm having a little trouble finding volunteers :(

OK... now for all the random thoughts that are running through my head constantly - especially this last week of GOM:

send emails to everyone you know and ask them to donate!!!

PLEASE TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!! We only have 9 days left!!!!! ONLY 9 DAYS!!!!

I wrote to Ellen and all her crew again this week. I'm doing everything I can to try and reach her. If you know of anyone that can help us with a big donation please do everything you can to convince them this is a good cause! One million for the kids of St. Jude with cancer... They need us!

Send invites on FB.

Tell everyone at work (I'm having a screening tomorrow at my work and showing everyone my Black and Yellow Video in our conference room, hence the poster above - they are plastered all over my office.)

I never heard from anyone else making a GOM video... That's too bad. I was hoping someone would make one. hmmmm.

If you haven't donated... DONATE for crying out loud!! I don't know what else I can do to convince you. It doesn't have to be much either!!! Any amount is awesome! Just do it.

Even though there are only 9 days left - we still have a chance. Just tell everyone... OK... TELL EVERYONE EVERY WAY YOU CAN.

Alright... I'll see everyone on Saturday at

SONIC DRIVE-IN

I'm reading: Day 356 - $21,928

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

Day 351 - $19,279 Video Drop!

The Moment you've been waiting for...

I'm reading: Day 351 - $19,279 Video Drop!

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

Day 351 - $19,279

THE

GOM

VIDEO

DROPS

TONIGHT

AT

7PM

CENTRAL TIME

RIGHT HERE!!!

DON'T MISS IT!

I'm reading: Day 351 - $19,279

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

Day 348 - $19,279

One day into Give One Million for St. Jude Week and we've already raised $242!!! Way to go Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt in Ammon, ID! Thanks to everyone that came out to support GOM last night. Your support is very much appreciated. I added Orange Leaf to the sponsor list down on the right - so everyone keep going there to get some gooooooooooood Fro Yo!!

Tonight is Chili's night in IF! We get 10% of everything the make tonight - So everyone go get your Chili's on!

And just look below for everything else that is going on this week. The last post will tell you everything you need to know.

Some more good news! I got a call from the manager of Sonic here in Blue Springs today - and we are officially on to do the car hopping fundraiser on the 19th! It will be from 10-2 here in Blue Springs, MO. So if you are in the area - stop by for some good eats and help us raise money for the kids of St. Jude.

I'm still working on my latest video... and I'm ready to make an announcement! THE OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE FOR THE MUCH ANTICIPATED VIDEO WILL BE.....


DRUM ROLL PLEASE......

FRIDAY!!!

so everyone tell all your friends! The big day is Friday. That's when the next GOM video is going to be released. I think everyone is going to like this one :)

I'm reading: Day 348 - $19,279

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

Day 345 - $18,933

We have a big week planned for next week! Ma Feldman (many people have helped her out - and a big THANKS to all of you as well!) has done a fantastic job of organizing a Give One Million for St. Jude week in Idaho Falls. So without further delay, here are the details for

GIVE ONE MILLION FOR ST. JUDE WEEK

Monday March 7th
Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt
On Hitt Road near the Edwards Theatre
10% of proceeds from 7pm-10pm

Tuesday March 8th
Chili’s Grill & Bar
On Utah Ave.
10% of proceeds from 4pm to Close

Wednesday March 9th
All Star District Basketball Game at Idaho Falls High School
Girl’s play from 6pm-8pm
Boy’s play from 8pm-10pm
Activities include 3 point and slam dunk contests, door prizes and other
half time activities
Concession proceeds, part of gate proceeds and several other donations as a part of the evening’s activities will be donated to "Give One Million for St. Jude".

Thursday March 10th
Johnny Carino’s Italian Restaurant
On Hitt Road
10% of proceeds from 2pm to close
“Give One Million for St. Jude” coupons required and
will be available at the following locations:
• The All Star Game at IFHS on Wednesday night
• Bonneville High School
• Hillcrest High School
• Skyline High School
• Johnny Carino’s on Thursday

Friday March 11th
Midnight Movies at the Paramount Theatre
Near 17th St. and Channing Way
Tickets will be $3.00 with $2.00 going to “Give One Million for St. Jude”
Movies start at 11:30pm

So there will be lots of ways to get involved and help support Give One Million for St. Jude. 96.1 The Bull will be helping us again to get the word out about everything - so a big thanks to them as well! I hope everyone can come out, have some fun, and help us reach our goal of one million dollars in one year for the kids of St. Jude!!!!


On another note... I'm working on some thing out here in KC as well. I went in and spoke with the Sonic Drive-In manager today. It looks like we're on for March 19th. We will be doing the car hopping. All donations and tips will go to Give One Million. So if you are in the KC/Blue Springs area - let me know if you're free to help out on the 19th. It's a Saturday, and we'll be there from 10 AM to 2 PM. I'll need about 8 or 9 volunteers to help me and Melissa with the car hopping.

I put out some more donation cans in the area. One is at Zarda's BBQ here in Blue Springs. They were really cool about it. It's Good BBQ, and seems to be quite a busy place, so hopefully a donation can right on the front desk will raise some money!

I also spoke with the manager at Chili's in Independence today. We are going to set up a Chili's night here in Independence kind of like we're doing in Idaho Falls. I have to get the date(s) lined up, but it will be going down in March (of course). He also let me put out a donation can there at Chili's too.

So it was a pretty successful day. We're just trying to do anything and everything we can fit into these last few weeks to reach our goal.

I'm just imagining myself reaching the goal. I want everyone to join with me in doing that as well... Just picture it in your mind. Stay positive and just keep thinking we can do it!

If you believe it, you can achieve it!

I'm reading: Day 345 - $18,933

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

Day 341 - $18,734

OK... it's March 1st. This is it folks. We only have until March 25th. If anyone out there is still listening to me at this point - I need your help now. First of all... DONATE!!! And try to get everyone you know to donate as well! Try just getting two friends to donate, and then have them ask two friends to donate. And on and on like that. It doesn't matter how much you donate, or how much your friends donate... Just donate. Please!

I am going to try and do a Sonic Fundraiser again in March. I'm going to call my Sonic contact tomorrow and try and set it up for the 19th. We'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work, I'm going to have to think of something else big to do in March. I'll let you know how that goes.

We have some big things going down in Idaho as well. The Idaho Falls Area High School Basketball All-Star game is going to raise money for GOM!!! They are going to do a bunch of things. I'll have more details on that soon.

I'm still editing my video. I am hoping to have that done by this weekend. I know I'm building this up! It should be worth the wait though. I think everyone is going to like it. Hopefully it goes viral!!! :)

I'm going to send my last plea to Ellen. So far I haven't heard anything back from her.. :( I'm just going to keep sending her the video that I made for her. Maybe I'll hear something back.

Send people to this blog! Tell people to visit the blog and become a fan! The only way we can get donations is if people come and look around the blog for a while... that way they can get excited about what we are doing, and want to become a Give One Millionaire!

25 days left everyone! Don't give up on me...

I'm reading: Day 341 - $18,734

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

Day 337 - $18,734

OK everyone. Now is the time for our last push to reach our goal. We have less than a month left to reach one million dollars so if you are going to organize a GOM event - now is the time to start planning. Remember!!! March 25th is the cutoff. If you're going to send emails to friends, now is the time. If you are going to invite all your facebook friends, now is the time. If you are going to donate - or have your family/friends donate, now is the time. Come on everyone... we've raised almost $2ok!!! Let's not stop there! Let's reach one million just like we set out to do.

OK. So here's a challenge.... I'm working on a Give One Million for St. Jude video right now. I think most of you know that. You've probably seen all my other videos I have posted on Youtube as well right? Well... now it's your turn. For this last month everyone out there make a video telling the world about Give One Million and how we're trying to raise one million dollars in one year for the kids of St. Jude. Ask them to donate. Ask them to help. Ask them to make a video and pass yours along. Make it funny. Make it serious. Have it be just you. Make it with a bunch of friends. Anything (appropriate) goes. Just make the video and send it to me (by March 15th - the sooner the better). I'll then post it here on this blog, on FB, and post it on the GOM Youtube Channel too. Let's flood the internet with GOM videos and reach our goal!

Send videos to giveonemillion@hotmail.com

Talk Soon,

David

P.S. If you have a youtube account... subscribe to the GOM Youtube Channel!! :)

I'm reading: Day 337 - $18,734

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

Day 335 - $18,734

OK... so I'm pretty ticked off right now! As you know, I've been working on my latest GOM video the last few days (week). Well - the video editing software I use is Cyberlink Power Director Version 8. I don't intend to not speak well of anybody/company... but I have to say this: DO NOT USE Power Director! I spent $70 on it. With the sole intent to make GOM videos - and I have not been impressed. multiple problems all the time. Not easy to use. I've been very disappointed. This is the latest problem I'm having. Except the answer given isn't really a real solution!! I spent about 3 hours last night trying to fix this without luck. I googled and read every thread on the Internet... about ten times. I downloaded the latest drivers for my video card. I updated the latest patches from Power Director. Anyway - the reason I'm so ticked off is because I'm going to have to start over from scratch, and that means about 15 hours of editing down the drain! Whatever!

So I'm going to get some new/different software tomorrow, and hopefully we can get this video out before the end of the month.

Sorry to sound so negative... It's just a little frustrating.

I'm reading: Day 335 - $18,734

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

Day 330 - $18,734

So this week was a little crazy. Work has been crazy. I didn't get home from work until 10:30 last night. But I'm not letting that stop me. The good news is, we just went to 9/80's at my job - so I have today off! well... sort of... I had to log on from home for a couple hours, but for the most part I was off :)

So we started filming our video today! Melissa and the kids were kind enough to work with me and all the demands I have as the director. (Melissa is my Camera Woman - and the kids are going to make cameos.)

We have another long day of filming tomorrow, and then the editing begins.

Everyone keep spreading the word about GOM! One Million in One Year for the kids of St. Jude!

I'm reading: Day 330 - $18,734

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

Day 325 - $18,708

Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. If you remember... one year ago on that day is when the idea of Give One Million was born. And now over 700 Facebook fans (Hallelujah!!!), 5 Twitter followers (the whole Twitter thing didn't take off quite how I hoped...) almost $19k raised, a few fundraisers, and a couple Youtube videos later... here we are! Not too bad. We're not at a million yet - but we haven't stopped trying.

So we actually have quite a few things we're working on.... Ma Feldman has a bunch of things planned in Idaho - so for all the Idaho Give One Millionaires, stay tuned for that. I'm just trying to finish up this video I'm working on. We will be filming on Friday and Saturday. I'm working on getting extras, and actually landed a couple today... but I still need about 20 more. I wrote the Story Board tonight, and I'll be tweaking that throughout the week. Once we wrap filming on Saturday - I'm guessing it will take a week or so of editing to get it out. I'm not really trying to build this video up... I'm just talking about it a lot because that's really the main thing I'm working at the moment - so that's what's on my mind. hopefully since I'm talking about it so much, it turns out good.

I'm reading: Day 325 - $18,708

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

Day 322 - $18,625

Well, we made it to 700 fans for one day, but now we're back down to 699. I saw that we were up to 700 last night, and I was so excited. I came home tonight and even googled how to spell Hallelujah so I could show how excited I was on my blog and FB. Well, when I went to FB we were back down to 699. No worries though. We'll get there soon, and I'll save my Hallelujah for then :)

I've been staying up waaaaayyy too late the last few nights working on my next video. I finally finished with the audio portion of it, now I have to film it! So this is the official call for extras. I'm going to need some extras to film this video - so if you're interested please email me at giveonemillion@hotmail.com.

I'm getting a little nervous. I was talking to a friend today, and he was asking me how much longer I had left on GOM... And when I was telling him - it hit me that we really don't have that much time left!!!! We need to sprint the last little bit of this "race" everyone! Send all your friends emails. Email every person you can think of, and ask them to help us raise money for St. Jude somehow! Organize an event. Post on your blog. Just do anything these last few days! We can do this. It's not over til it's over!

I'm reading: Day 322 - $18,625

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

Day 318 - $18,599

Thank you to everyone that put on and came out to the work out on Saturday in Vancouver! According to my calculations... You raised $512!

As Nacho Libre would say: That's Fantastic!

So for the life of me... I can't seem to figure out how to pass the 700 fan mark on Facebook! I think I have maxed out my sphere of influence. I'm afraid my acquaintances have given me the "mute button". I hope not, but after almost a year of soliciting donations for GOM... I'm wondering if that's the case :(

I was speaking to a lady on the phone the this week who spent her entire 35 year career as a professional fundraiser, and she was telling me something I already know... and have been trying to address for some time -but when she said it... it just reinforced how true it is, and how I can't avoid doing any longer:

"You have to expand past your circle of friends and acquaintances. You have to do bigger projects that reach people you don't know. You can only hit up your family and friends so many times. Pretty soon, when people see you, they'll start running the other direction."

I've been trying to do that since I started this whole thing... but it's easier said than done.

Hmmmm.

So for the last couple months, I am going to try and do that. I see the Internet as a good medium to expand in that way. YouTube is a good way... I think. Videos are good. I'm working on one right now that I hope generates some buzz. What other ways can I reach people outside my sphere of influence? Any ideas? Anything you can do? If you're reading this and don't know me please help me by spreading the word about GOM to your friends :)

I'm reading: Day 318 - $18,599

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

Day 316 - $18,128

Thank you to all the donations that have been coming in! St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is doing everything they can to help cure cancer... and we're doing our part to help them out. We are almost to $20,000, but it's going to be $1,000,000 by March 25th! Just keep the faith! We can do this.

We've had friends that have had to deal with childhood cancer, and that's how we kind of got started on this whole project. But As I've gotten more involved, I read more and more stories about how so many kids are fighting cancer out there. And even though they are making progress, we still have a long way to go. I'm asking... PLEASE help me stop this! Please help me fight cancer, so we don't have to lose any more kids like AmyLynne.

Thanks for your support Nathlie! Best of luck to you on your marathon!

For everyone up in the Portland/Vancouver WA area... don't forget about the work out tomorrow morning! Bring all your friends and family to get fit and fight cancer.

I'm trying to work out details on how I can get down to Memphis before March 25th. Not sure how I'm going to do that yet... but I'll figure it out. I just switched to 9/80's at my job, so maybe I can take a 3 day weekend and drive down there. I'll let you know when I have more details on that. Also... give me a few more days to figure out what I'm going to do for my big Feb project. In the meantime everyone just tell all your friends to follow the GOM blog (put a button on their blog), follow GOM on Facebook, and Donate! :)

I'm reading: Day 316 - $18,128

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

Day 311 - $17,688

We went out with some friends this weekend. We had a great time. As it seems to frequently happen these days... the topic of Give One Million came up. Our friends were very supportive and generous and donated to GOM. But of all the donations given that night - the biggest one came from our new 6 year old friend Alex (Our friend's daughter). She donated her hard earned lemonade stand money to help the kids of St. Jude. Her one dollar donation is an example to all of us!!

I'm reading: Day 311 - $17,688

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

Day 310 - $17,479

For all Give One Millionaires up in P-Town (Vancouver, WA to be exact), here's the news you've all been waiting for!

On Feb 5th we will be having a benefit workout for Give One Million for St. Jude. It is sponsored by The Workout Performance Cross training/Cascade Physical Therapy.

When:

Feb 5th at 8 A.M.

Where:

The Workout Performance Cross Training
2415 SE 165th Ave. Ste 105
Vancouver, WA 98683

What:

We will be doing a CrossFit Training Workout. <--- Click the link to see what that is. It's just a fun and different way to get in shape. The workout will last approximately an hour.

Contact Info:

A big thanks to Bob Cook for putting this together. If you have question on how to get there, or what exactly to expect for the workout - just contact him.

Bob Cook
Cascade Physical Therapy
www.cascadept.com
The Workout Performance Cross Training
www.theworkoutcf.com
360-253-4767
bcook@cascadept.net

Donations:

We will be raising money by encouraging donations to participate in the workout. So remember... everything raised is going to the kids of St. Jude and helping us reach one million in one year for St. Jude. So please be generous :)

If you live in the Portland, OR / Vancouver, WA area I hope you can make it. It will be a great way to get a fun workout overseen by a professional Physical Therapist.

I'm reading: Day 310 - $17,479

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