Sunday, February 5, 2012

seeking support

I knew there was no way to do Cannonball on the cheap.  Even if you showed up at the starting line with just the clothes on your back you'd have a week and a half of hotels, meals, beer, gasoline, etc.  to pay for.  And I'm showing up with much more than that - a spare tire, belt and rollers, exhaust header and gaskets, tools, riding gear for all climates and on and on.  Oh, and I have to ship my bike back to Virginia when it's done and hop on a plane to get myself home.  I haven't dared to do more than a back-of-the-envelope calculation of what it's all going to cost but it's probably going to be at least $2,500.  Nope, not cheap.

But I knew this going in and decided that it was worth it.  It hadn't really crossed my mind to ask other people to help since this is a personal endeavor, but I've been watching some of my fellow riders ask for support and see lots of people happily stepping up to pitch in.  So here I am.


I've been working in professional fundraising for over 15 years.  I've asked people for 6-figure gifts.  You'd think I'd know how to do this but I'm discovering that it isn't as easy to do when you're asking for yourself rather than a cause.

I've set up a fundraising page at GoFundMe.com to make it easy.  Half of everything I get is going to charity so it's funding more than my crazy ride.  Cheers.

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