Be the people walks/rides

[greysangel]

Hi everyone!

I'm really interested in doing a 3 day AIDs Vaccine walk in new york. It's a 60 mile hike from Bear Mountain to NYC.

Has anyone done this before?

I think I'm more worried about the fundraising aspect of it as I've never really had to do that kind of thing before?

Any advice? Imput?

TIA
JeAnne

[Shirley Panek]

JeAnne -

There's several of us floating around that are doing/have done the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day. I'm walking in Colorado in August.

The thing that was definitely the "scariest" part was the fundraising. How could I possibly send a letter out to all my friends asking them to send me money? Well, as you know, they're not actually sending it to you, but still, it's hard to do.

When I first signed up for my walk, I didn't have a real goal in mind - then my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and obviously, my outlook changed.

As far as writing letters, I took a look at several examples of letters, and kind of pulled what I liked and added my own stuff as well. I've probably sent out 100 letters. The important think is to ask. I haven't done any face-to-face asking, and haven't really been talking it up to total strangers (I'm too shy/nervous/self-conscience - I don't think I could work up the nerve), but have already made my minimum $1900 from the letters alone, and I've only gotten about 20 responses back.

Good luck on your decision. Let us know if you're walking - we'd love to cheer you on!

Shirley

p.s. Here's a link to my homepage that has my fundraising letter on it: http://homepage.bethepeople.com/display/mp_page.php?page_id=8487

[slknight]

JeAnne, I just mentioned it on the WW thread. I just did the 3-Day Avon Breast Cancer Walk (the DC one). It was amazing! There are several of us floating around here on the board who are doing it (there's a thread on the Healthy Living board).

I haven't gotten a chance to post a full summary of my experience. I promise I'll do it this weekend and then you can learn everything you always wanted to know about walking 60 miles and raising $2000+!:D

[Natasha]

Hi JeAnne!

Good for you!! I'm sure you'll do fine with both the fundraising and the event!

Just wanted to quickly mention this, for anyone interested in doing a fundraising event for charity: many different charities and organizations train people for walks, runs, triathlons, etc. Besides Avon's events, which I think are FANTASTIC and for a tremendous cause, there are other organizations such as the Leukemia Research Fund's Team in Training (you've probably seem them out in force at certain races, all in purple), the Arthritis organization (Joints in Motion, I believe?), MS organization, and so on. I love the fact that everyone can choose an event that means the most to them. In my case, I was a Participant Co-ordinator for Team in Training and a member of the team for a while - and the fact that family members had had the disease was an added motivator for me. That's not at all to say that that's the right group for others - it's all about what moves YOU.

Also, JeAnne, if you're worried about the fundraising aspect, we had talks about fundraising and also we'd give out fundraising tips and materials in our start-up packages. Moreover, there was someone at the office to support with fundraising. I would imagine that there is similar help from the organization and from other participants for the Avon event. :) So fear not!

Anyway, whichever organization you choose to go with and whichever event you choose to do - it's a noble cause, and YOU ALL ROCK! :)

Natasha