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.

I'm reading: Day 271 - $15,711

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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

I'm reading: Day 245 - $12,090

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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?? :)

I'm reading: Day 241 - $11,930

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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

I'm reading: Day 135 - $5,152

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Day 75 - $3,431

Hey everyone! I wanted to post this yesterday, but blogger was down. So without further delay, here’s a big shout out to the Give One Million supporters in P-town (Portland)! My sister’s husband’s brother (I think I said that right…) is PUMPED about Give One Million! He’s “feeling inspired!” He, his wife, and family held a Give One Million garage sale in Vancouver, Washington! My sisters contributed some of their old stuff as well, and altogether they raised $661! Here are some pics from the event:

Yea! That's right!

Ever wonder what it looks like to fight cancer? Well folks.... you're lookin' at it!

The Give One Million dream team!

I need to send big thanks to my brother’s wife’s mom and husband (I think I said that one right too…) Their support means a lot.

So, I picked up the 1200 flyers for the Sonic event coming up. I’m working on the Give One Million banner, and Give One Million T-shirts. I try to send at least a couple emails a day to “people” asking for their help and support. I’m trying to start thinking ahead and planning some events for 5-6 months from now. So they can be big. I’m trying to think big. That’s one thing I keep telling myself, “don’t hold back. Don’t think anything or anyone is too big for this.” We are well on our way to meeting our month three goal of $2,400. So everyone keep the donations coming in. P.S. I need some help… anyone want to organize a Give One Million fundraiser in your city???

I'm reading: Day 75 - $3,431

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Day 53 - $1,676

Way to go Mom! She held a garage sale over the weekend and donated ALL the proceeds!!! For a grand total of $296.85! (I guess I should say good job Dad too!) I plan to hold a garage sale too sometime soon... if it would ever stop raining in Missouri! Melissa made a donation as well. She put her hair cutting expertise to use and donated the proceeds to Give One Million for St. Jude.

Can you think of something you can do to raise some money for Give One Million? Can you spend a little time on a Saturday to raise some money? I know I sound like a broken record - but I need your help out there - people of the world reading this... I'm asking... will you join me in the fight against childhood cancer? Do something this week and email me about it :) Please ;)

I'm reading: Day 53 - $1,676

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Day 50 - $1,370

My sister emptied out her change jar and donated her spare change!

Does anyone else have spare change?

Is there any better way you could use that extra change, than to help the kids at St. Jude who are fighting for their life? Think about it. If we can help them in some way... if we can make just a small difference... think about what that would mean.

Put yourself in their parents shoes for a minute. How would you feel if your son or daughter was sick and someone offered to help? Even if it was the change from their pocket - just the thought that someone out there cares enough to give (whatever amount) would mean a lot! I know as a dad myself, that would mean a lot to me.

That's what we're doing here people! True... some spare change won't make much of a difference, but if a few hundred people give their spare change - maybe it will make a difference. If we work together, and actually accomplish one million dollars in one year - think of how many lives will be blessed.

Now onto some good news! My mom is sponsoring a Give One Million garage sale in Idaho Falls, ID this weekend! So if you are in Idaho - make sure you go over and pick up some cool gadgets while you support Give One Million for St. Jude at the same time. So here are the details:

It's at 1302 Tipperary Court in the Shamrock Park Addition
Idaho Falls, ID
Saturday, May 15th 8am to 1pm
100% of the proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital via Give One Million.

I received my official logos - A big thanks to Denise Hadley for those. And a big thanks to everyone else that has donated since the last post! Keep it up everyone... We're on our way!

Talk Soon,

David

I'm reading: Day 50 - $1,370

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Day 31 - $600

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

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

I had two great little helpers!

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

J's a good example to all of us!

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

I'm reading: Day 31 - $600

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Day 18 - $300

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

I'm reading: Day 18 - $300

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