Behind the Button

The Charity Walk Triple Crown: Komen, Avon & Making Strides

Pamela & Karen "Walking Warriors". A remarkable story of courage, determination and caring. These women are being the change they wish to see in the world.

From Pamela..."Karen and I met in 1999 when I moved to San Diego.  A short while later she was doing the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk (then sponsored by Avon) with another friend.  During a social occasion, she invited my husband and I to stop along the route and say hello or have lunch on day 3.  My mother had lost her battle with breast cancer a few years earlier so I was intrigued by the whole 3 Day walk and wanted to see what this experience was all about. 

We went to the designated lunch location and began looking for Karen.  There were hundreds of walkers all in pink and hundreds of supporters with signs, tee shirts and funny costumes.  All united for one cause. I hadn’t seen anything like it before.   When I spotted Karen walking toward us, I was overcome with emotion.  We ran to each other, both in tears and just hugged one another.  At the time, we didn’t know each other that well, but it cemented our friendship and formed a special bond between us that has endured and set us on a path—literally—to becoming walking warriors.

Since that time, we have walked & crewed many single day Susan Komen Race for the Cure and American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events, walked the Susan Komen 3 Day and, most recently, the Avon 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer.  We have walked well over 1000 miles together and raised over $30,000.00!!

People ask us why we do it.  The training can be tough and the fundraising is challenging. Our individual motivations are because my mother died of breast cancer and because Karen’s aunt and cousin died of breast cancer and 2 of her sisters are survivors. (Pamela and Karen both wore photo buttons from Buttons of Hope in honor of their loved ones)  But,even more importantly, we do it because We Believe.  We believe in a world without Breast Cancer.  We believe that we have waited long enough.  We walk so that Breast Cancer will be a thing of the past and we will keep fighting until that day comes.  And we will never give up.  Karen and I have committed to continue doing this either as walkers, crew members or roadside walker stalkers.  Our commitment may seem admirable, but it is so small compared to the devastation that this disease can bring to women and their families.  We walk for all the mothers, daughters, sisters and friends."

Pamela & Karen's story is inspiring and extraordinary -- having completed three breast cancer walks in one year, the "Triple Crown" of fundraising. But remember for them and for you the longest journey begins with a single step. Even if it's your first walk or first stab at fundraising -- you can do this and rest assured you will find people like Pamela & Karen with you every step of the way! Begin a journey today. 

Charity Walks coming to pavement near you!

Yikes! Spring is only 51 days away! Walk season is almost here! Whether you're doing the Susan Komen Race for the Cure in Baton Rouge on March 8th, Relay for Life in Miami on May 19th, or the inaugural Walk to Cure diabetes in Jacksonville on March 29 -- there is a great cause coming to some pavement near you!

Did you know that last year in the US over 10 million (wow!) of your (you?) friends and neighbors participated in a charity walk? I know what you're thinking -- that's a lot of sweat but it's also a lot of heart and spirit.

So think about it Spring is only 51 days away -- are you going to Join In! If you'd like to learn more about the causes and walks -- please visit my Squidoo (what the heck is that) lens about charity walks. And if you would like to join the Buttons of Hope HOPEPOND drop me a note -- we will have a lot of goodies in the coming months!
 

Find your cause and give a little bit of your sole(s) in 2008!

Hello, my name is Michael

I love the name tag guy. Here's why. To some (and I'm afraid) a growing number of people I have become the button guy. So we have something in common, we've been tagged. buy his book                         

I'm a 46 year old guy so let me go down a list of my friends; the triathlon guy, the developer guy, the rich guy, the senior VP guy... you get the picture and I am, remember the button guy. On first blush button guy sounds a lot like the balloon guy at the kids birthday party -- triathlon guy is much cooler don't ya think!? (although button guy is better than invisible guy which I was starting Buttons of Hope)

I have not met Scott Ginsberg (nametag guy) yet, but I think I'll know him when I see him. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all wore nametags? No more sliding back down the same supermarket aisle 3X to avoid a forgotten name conflagration! Scott offers compelling evidence about the difference this simple ice breaker makes -- watch his video below and read often his Hello, my name is... blog -- especially the series on building a permission asset in it Scott adds to the conversation Seth Godin began about the incomparable value of customers, donors, readers insert word here that you have permission to contact. Godin reiterated this in a still ruffling feathers post about how many, not all Non Profits view/use their volunteer & donor asset(s).

So how can we gain the permission (asset) necessary to ask people to volunteer, to donate year after year? I get a lot of charity junk mail (don't ever give fifty bucks to the Sierra club!) that fifty certainly did not give them or the 15 charities who bought my name from Sierra Club permission to deluge me with mail and calls but they do and I don't; give that is. Funny thing is I like the Sierra Club and their mission, I would be a great club member if only they had asked my permission. Oh well I know now they got what they wanted, my name was worth more to them than the $50, in the short term anyway.

be the change you wish to see...

"A year ago Mike Gibbons had never done any fund-raising. Now he hopes
to change the world" my friend & writer Regan White in Message in a Button, Charlotte Weekly November 2006.

Upon reading that I was at first taken aback -- not exactly the kind of thing you want to lead with especially if your stated goal is to "change the face of fundraising". But as I thought about it IT IS PRECISELY what I want people to know and now I open all of my fundraising seminars with that line.

Fundraising is not easy nor is it as hard as you might think. I am proof of that and I am out to help ordinary people understand this so they can do extraordinary things -- the task is not easy but the answer is inside of each of us!

I kinda wish Regan had use this opening line instead..

"Here's to the crazy ones...because the people who are crazy enough to THINK they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Maybe the combination of the two quotes sums it up best as long as CRAZY = PASSIONATE! I have been lucky enough to find a group of crazy people & passionate enough to lead them -- our cycling team MojoRiding has become somewhat of a fund raising phenomenon (often in spite of ourselves I'll add!) -- last year we raised over $110,000 in the 24 Hours of Booty and the ms Bike Tour!

So how did we do it? We personalized our cause(s), we told a story, many stories! But then we took it a step further we made it tangible -- many of us made photo buttons of our loved ones to wear while fundraising -- can't fully explain it but there is just something powerful about these little buttons -- I have seen it make a difference and in some cases make all the difference!

I hope you grab a cup of coffee & take a look around @ my blog and then @ what I am building on Squidoo. There I have built unique, useful and updated lenses or mini sites on active charity events like Relay For Life, Avon Walk, Susan Komen Race for the Cure...& many, many more. I hope you will also take a minute to visit my website Buttons of Hope -- where U2 can go on make a custom photo button to wear in YOUR charity event -- be prepared the process may transform you... as you search for just the right photo of a loved one & don't be surprised, you won't be the first to cry when you receive your button.

The title of the full quote above is THINK DIFFERENT. I suppose Regan was right, I do think different and maybe a times it seems a little crazy to think I can Change the World. But I believe by helping you to not only think different but to be different....it will change you and together we will be the change we wish to see...I hope one button at a time!

Relay for Life in Mitchell SD, in January?

I came upon this today in the the Daily Republic, Mitchell SD...

"Relay for Life, a signature event of the American Cancer Society, will return to Mitchell on Saturday and Sunday at (IN I hope) the Davison County 4-H Building. “This unforgettable event raises awareness and funds to support research, education, advocacy and local programs in collaboration with the Avera Queen of Peace Cancer Center,” said Judy K. Wise, general chairman. The event runs from 6 p.m. through 6 a.m. the following day to symbolize a cancer patient’s journey through the darkness of treatment to the daylight of hope."

Judy, either way inside or out -- people who do one of the more than 4000+ Relay for Life Walks are some of the most dedicated, passionate active fundraisers I know! Godspeed and please stay warm (forecast low 14f degrees Saturday) --most of us would not even attempt to get to the building in a South Dakota winter let alone walk for 24 hours! Kudos to you and everyone in Mitchell who is being a difference!

And while it may be too late for the 2008 Mitchell Relay for Life -- Buttons of Hope is here if you or your teams would like to make custom photo buttons to wear in honor of your loved ones. WALK WARM!

Making their story part of your cause

Looks like a softball for me! I may have part of an answer in my Buttons of Hope project, call me a maverick (I'll like it) but here is the thing - I think Seth Godin is spot on today in his I gave at the office where he talks about the interesting state of fundraising & non-profits.

I've had a pretty good taste of the current fundraising world myself, last year my cycling team MojoRiding (yeah the Doors) raised over $110,000 for multiple sclerosis and cancer -- we are not so fast --no so thin -- and not so professional at fundraising -- but we did it and I think I know how! I should right I captain the team!! But I digress.

I've read two books Purple Cow and Made to Stick that changed my business life -- summation in 6 words: "be remarkable and tell a story" -- six words that can help the non-profits, now!

Seth's key point on non-profits... 

"Unlike the Fortune 100, not known for being cutting edge in themselves, the top charities rarely change... if you're big, you're used to being big and you expect to stay big. That means that generation after generation of staff has been hired to keep doing what's working. Big risks and crazy schemes are certainly frowned upon."

Seth says "the big guys are stuck" I would add...and the little guys want to be just like the big guys.

Seth goes on...

"The big win is in changing the very nature of what it means to support a charity. The idea of "I gave at the office" and of giving money in the last week in December speaks to obligation. Many people donate to satisfy a guilty feeling, or to please a friend. This doesn't scale. Not one bit.

The big win is in turning donors into patrons and activists and participants. The biggest donors are the ones who not only give, but do the work. The ones who make the soup or feed the hungry...

...responsible stewardship requires that you find and empower the mavericks and give them the flexibility to build something new..."

So here's to the mavericks.... I think this here is part one of the answer -- in every Race for the Cure, Relay for Life or Free to Breathe 5K there are stories 100s, 1000s truth be told millions (many people have more than one) stories about cancer & pride & love & family & courage &.... A way The way to be remarkable is to help these people tell their stories genuinely + tangibly. Let me splain... Some non-profits are doing this notably March of Dimes' Every Baby Has a Story and ms' Faces of ms help people tell their story ..."Making their story part of your cause"

Part duex is you have to engage, motivate and inspire the the perspirers who run, walk, cycle and yes, hike -- sometimes year after year for a cause - NPs, do everything, everything in your power to facilitate their storytelling -- because it's your story too. Then make it tangible...Still with me? GOOD now heres the answer/plug -- ask me how wearing a photo button can change everything -- Join me I am out to change the face of fundraising, one button at a time.

polycystic kidney disease is definitely not cool, Philip DeFranco is

Duh...apparently been hunkered down too much totally forgot to add the Walk for pkd information --please visit my Squidoo lens on pkd to learn more about the 2008 walk and the National Convention on polycystic kidney disease.

Been hunkered down the past week in front of my new iMAC 24 (eternal gratitude to Santa Rhonda) hunkered crafting a family of handcrafted Squidoo lenses Huh what's that? about Charity Walks -- there are about 50 of them; some you know: Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, Relay for Life, Memory Walk and some you(I) probably don't NASCAR Track Walk, Walk for Hope & Walk for pkd (polycystic kidney disease). I have scoured the web doing research trying to find interesting and helpful resources for the people who participate in the walks and fundraise for the cause.

I found a lot of cool things, some well done like: Light the Night walk websites and candidly some pretty bland websites and uninspiring stuff. Don't get me wrong every one of these causes is worthy -- just think some need a marketing kickstart or kick in the pants as it were.

So back to the cool...I didn't know a lot about polycystic kidney disease but I do now thanks to a good website & an entertaining, no holds barred video by Philip DeFranco -- I'm not saying this type of pub is right for everyone or for every cause -- nor can you purposely set out to make something like this -- I am saying if you are lucky enough to find a Philip DeFranco passionista for your cause embrace him, her! Watch and learn...

Resolve.

   

2008, Make promises and keep them.

...filled cardboard boxes

Have you been here? I have.

Funny I was drawn to Tom Asacker's New Year's day blog post because of the title, "Henry David Thoreau on predictions" and it inspires this talking about filled cardboard boxes -- that's the way it goes Blogs are like a box of chocolates, you never....

So Tom relates the story about a...very kind proprietor on his hands and knees filling cardboard boxes with unsold merchandise after his shop closes. Tom wonders why? (as is no doubt the shopkeeper) The point is, I think that no matter how hard or how smart we try sometimes (oft times) things do not work out but we are better for the experience at living. Maybe, the chance at greatness.

As for me March 7, 2007 found me packing boxes -- well actually it was the 9th or 10th after the shock wore off a bit -- 20 some odd years of selling flexible packaging was gone -- no severance, no nothing! My fault, it was: I was doing double duty busy birthing my new baby Buttons of Hope while trying to sell polyethylene film -- buttons won! But did I lose? Dunno yet.

What I do know is that cardboard boxes are a big part of life -- they're there when we move to our first apartment, when our first wife kicks us out and in the end when somebody else packs up all our stuff -- "man can you believe he had all this crap!"

So today my boxes are empty -- I am living the dream -- I don't expect to pack up this dream in a cardboard box --not just yet.

Oh and as for Thoreau -- I prefer my coffee cup "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you imagined."

I guess filled cardboard boxes are a part of life but they can sometimes be the first step in that direction. 2008 is here have you got boxes to fill, to empty?