Behind the Button

Riding with Lance Armstrong at Ride for the Roses

 Stunningly beautiful Texas day -- here is a picture before the ride with Lance (more to come)

Yes it's true (we've pinched ourselves repeatedly) Rhonda (my lovely wife) and I are off this weekend to participate in the Ride for the Roses LIVESTRONG cycling event in Austin Texas. We are guests of the 24 Hours of Booty Team and its founder, my good friend Spencer Lueders. And YES we are going to meet Lance ~ in fact if all goes as planned I will have the honor of riding with Lance on Saturday (check back here for pictures and giddy commentary)

So why post about this, well first we are obviously bursting with excitement but more importantly I think it shows that if you dedicate yourself to something good and work tirelessly good things do happen. Rhonda loves cycling and it is her way to give back to the Charlotte community that has given her so much! As for me it has been a dream of mine to meet Lance ever since I bought a bike and started MojoRiding in 2005. Since that time Rhonda, me and our team (mostly) have raised over $250,000 for local Charlotte charities including $130,000 for the official LIVESTRONG event the 24 Hours of Booty which takes place each summer in Charlotte.

In Austin Rhonda and I will be riding (and wearing buttons) in memory of our cousins Dale and Janie and so many others we have come to know in our fight against cancer. We will hold a special place for local heroes Brandon Elam, Hope Stout and our new friend Ellie Potvin ~ young people who have and continue to battle cancer courageously. (please check out their websites - remarkable families who are giving back in Charlotte).

I will carry the thoughts of many, many more people (some of you reading this) whom I have come to know through my passion Buttons of Hope ~ you are all with me.

So wish us luck and please take some time to read more about the people who are making a difference at the links above or through the great stories here Behind the Button. Godspeed and makehope!

"Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me"

Today is October 15, 2008 and if you're like most Americans you are full up with political nonsense, scared to death about your finances and worried about your children's future. Fair enough, it's been a heck of few weeks!

But I'd like you to take a few minutes to think bigger, to give some thought to people just miles maybe even steps away from you who are worried too, worried about where they will sleep tonight, if they will have enough to eat and worried if their kids will even have a future.

Today thousands of bloggers are writing about poverty and millions of readers (like you) are reading... together we can make a difference, we can make a start to finish poverty.

Rather than ramble on and on I am going to hand this off to none other than Bruce Springsteen ~ I'll let his music and words speak for me. All I am asking is that you listen (turn it up, WAY UP!) to Bruce's Ghost of Tom Joad  his homage to John Steinback's Grapes of Wrath a poignant duet with Tom Morello (it is a stunning performance). (there is a more beautiful video version on iTunes if you like)

If you would please watch the video and read the lyrics ~ I hope it moves you like it moved me ~ please let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below. End poverty, now.

The Lyrics:

The Ghost Of Tom Joad Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

(Chorus)
The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city aqueduct
(Chorus)
Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me." (Chorus)

Susan Komen Race for the Cure Charlotte | "Fights Like a Girl"

A week ago downtown Charlotte was "in the pink" as 14,000 people walked, ran and inspired in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 2008. The event is all about people like Christie Horn and her team Fight Like a Girl...indeed! I was honored to make buttons for Christie's team, I asked here to share her story...

This year my family is celebrating my mom’s 15th year of being Cancer free after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer in May of 1993.  In year’s past my mom, dad and I have participated in the Race for the Cure.  We decided to celebrate this year in a big way and created a team.  Team “Fight Like a Girl” grew into a team of 40 members that raised almost $7,000!!  Our family was overwhelmed by the amount of support that we received.
 




The most emotional moment came when my mom was holding my niece and released her 15 balloons [one for each year of survival]. They both pointed and looked as the balloons floated into the air.  I hope that when my niece gets older that there will be a cure for Breast Cancer.
 
Our team had buttons made for the mother of a team mate as well as another team mate’s sister (Adriana) that are currently battling Breast Cancer.  They were both thrilled and excited to receive them.  We know for sure that we will have a team next year and that we will also have your buttons!!!  Thank you very much for everything!!

"The buttons will unite us."

The buttons will unite us. Katharine Schweriner talking about the buttons we made for her family to wear in the Free to Breathe lung cancer walk/run in Philadelphia, November 2nd. I asked Kathatrine to share the story of her Oma and Opa. I think once you read the story you'll know why the picture she chose is so perfectly matched to this sweet love story.

After you reead the story come back and click here to make a donation direct to the Schweriner Family team!

A Red Rose and a White Carnation  

Betty and Harold Schweriner were my husband's parents but most people knew them as "Oma and Opa."  Those were the names they chose when their first grandchild, our daughter Jennie, was born in 1979.  As parents they were endlessly supportive and loving.  As grandparents they were fun, involved, caring, and generous.  The photograph on the button was taken in our backyard at Opa's 70th birthday party.  Being in their early 70's and thinking they were both healthy, they looked ahead to the future. 

Oma was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after she and Opa returned from a trip to England, Scotland and Wales. It was thought that she had a bad cold, or at worst, possibly pneumonia… the diagnosis was devastating to them and to the rest of our family.  For the next year and a half, Opa cared for her, through the ups and downs, through chemo, through radiation, through hair loss and weight loss.  His optimism continued through the most dreadful days, he never gave up, he was a rock and the whole family leaned on him for strength. Oma lost her battle on January 25, 2001.  Shortly after that, during a routine stress test, Opa collapsed, and the long story short is that he was diagnosed with the same god awful inoperable lung cancer that Oma had.  To complicate it further, the tumor in his lung had made its way to his heart, an impossible situation.  He was strong and he was able to hang on a bit longer than Oma, in fact we joked that we celebrated his last Christmas with us two years in a row… but he too lost his battle on March 19, 2004.

Charlotte Sky Turns Pink with Hope | Charlotte Susan Komen

A picture really does tell a thousand words ~ this from the Charlotte Susan Komen Race for the Cure this past Saturday morning. Fourteen thousand walked and ran raising over $1.4 million!! Learn more here & here & here
(more to come here)

** each pink balloon is a year of surviving breast cancer