With only one month to go before the big day, I've finally crossed the $5000 mark! That's $1000 over my target and DOUBLE the minimum! I'll be the first to admit that I lack the contacts or the charm to raise the HUGE dollars that some of the leading participants get, but it feels good to hit a milestone like this.
I guess it makes me feel like anything is possible.... and when you're talking about fighting cancer, feeling like anything is possible is a really good feeling.
So? How's everybody doing with their fundraising? Have you reached your goals?
Congratulations MysteryBee. That's a great accomplishment. This is my first year on the ride so I set my goal at the $2,500 mark. And, thanks to the generosity of friends and family I hit it about a week ago. It's a great feeling to raise so much money for an important cause.
worst year for me. I didn't fundraise or really do anything. I sent a cheque for $2,500 in last week, with that and the incoming pledges, I'll be lucky if I hit $3,000 max this year.
I'm finding lots of "fund raising fatigue" this year among my donors. This is my third year in the ride and some people are getting tired of me asking. Also, there are so many other good causes out there (how can you say no to Camp Ooch?) like heart and stroke ride, ride for kids, breast cancer walk, plus several fund raising walks/runs pretty much every weekend. In addition to being slow to get donors (I haven't cleared $1000 yet), its cost me so much more than in previous years because of "reciprocal support" (I'll sponsor you if you sponsor me). Lastly, several people I know have joined the ride and consequently are less inclined to sponsor me, but a bigger problem is that they are tapping into many of the same donors as I.
Just venting a little here.....I've made my delayed self pledge already and am resigned to the fact that it might be big this year.
AWESOME! and congratulations, that's a great figure to have reached
as others have mentioned, i'm sure some friends/family get tired of constantly being asked for donations. This past year and last fall, I told people in leu of giving my christmas or birthday gifts, simply donate whatever you can. Or a recent tactic i employed was when i was near the $3000 mark, (maybe $40 away from it). I sent a facebook message to all my contacts asking "who's going to put me over the $3000 mark?" , within 10 hours i raised nearly $500 just from $20 to $40 donations.
MysteryBee = great work! i hope the ride goes just as smooth!
This is my third year in the ride, and my totals are down but still respectable. I hit the minimum in March and with one last push should top $4000. The drop is due primarily to a late start in fundraising, not beginning until after Christmas. The year previous we did a few fundraisers in the fall that really pushed up the total.
I do see the signs of fatigue, in both my donors and myself. But, as Slalom noted, just participating can be an inspiration to others to get involved. Last year, a brother joined me on the ride. This year, a sister is volunteering. My wife and her friends are talking about the next baking day - for a charity yet to be decided. It goes on from there.
As the saying goes: Be the change you want to see in the world.
I'm glad to hear people are making their goals. I have to admit this year was a bit tougher than normal, especially since I've taken on leading a team of mostly rookies this year.
Since I'm planning on continuing the Ride over the long term, I've had to think about how to raise money year after year and I think I've got it down to four things:
1. I will tell my family to forgo Christmas and Birthday presents in favour of donations. 2. Every year I'll do a raffle of some sort. That generated spectacular results this year! 3. We have an annual Christmas Party every year for 40-50 guests, and all end up bringing gifts. From now on, I'll ask for donations instead. 4. Finally, I'm going to be very aggressive early this year to reel in a corporate team sponsor for next year.
I'd like to believe I will be able to participate in the Ride for many years to come... and without driving my family and friends nuts. Time will tell.
I too am way down from last year and still short of my goal (which is significantly lower than what I actually raised last year). As a survivor and first time rider last year was an easy ask, this year not so much, there is fatigue and candidly I am not sure I will do the ride again after this year.
I did the Ride for the first time last year and had no problems raising the minimum. My dad had died the year before and I decided to do the Ride in honour of him. I guess people felt sorry for me and were quick to donate. This year, things were very different. Far fewer people donated and I struggled to meet the minimum. I'm at almost $3000, but my mom did most of my fundraising for me through her company. I was fortunate enough that they were willing to help this year. I self-pledged $500 to get the ball rolling. I don't have a wide network of people and I think this will be my last year doing the Ride for at least a few years. I will continue to support the amazing cause, but I don't think there's any way I would be able to raise the funds next year and I can't afford to pledge more. So, I'm going to enjoy this year's Ride and soak it all in...
May I ask where you got the prizes for your raffle, I thought of doing that but didn't know how to go about getting donations.
I agree with Slalom too in that the charity market is sadly becoming a bit saturated. People only want to, or can afford to give so much. Asking year after year and with stiff competiton I fear it will only get harder in the future. The variety of leaflets promoting this kind of event in most shops is a little overwhelming.
However here we are and mostly of us are doing very well, I'm a couple of hundred under target but I have some promised donations that should carry me over. Well done everyone!
And don't forget if you've had your fill riding this time or your finding it a struggle, you can always volunteer for crew next time, those guys do an equally important job!
-- Edited by Kristo on Saturday 14th of May 2011 12:17:02 AM
In answer to your question, I got most of my raffle prizes by shamelessly begging every business I could think of. We all go to our friends and family for money because we seem to believe that's what the Ride people want... but that isn't true. If you go to a Ride fundraising session, they all but dare you to take some incredibly bold steps. Well, this year I tried to do just that. Granted, they didn't all work. For example, I wasn't able to sell advertising space on our team jerseys. (I still believe it can be done. Maybe next year) However, I have no problem saying that I found some VERY generous businesses who were more than willing to give product, even if they weren't willing to give money.
I got gift certificates from Home Depot and Joey's Restaurants. I got iPods from Best Buy. I got gear from both Salomon and Sign of the Skier. My teammates got several donations from other vendors. One of my teammates even donated a bottle of scotch out of his personal collection for us to raffle off. I'm grateful to ALL of them for their consideration and generosity.
This was my first year trying to do something like this, and to be honest I could have done it better. We only managed to pull in around $1500 with our raffle. But the point is that you don't have to survive on handouts from family and friends. Go to local businesses. Ask your friend if you can talk to his boss. Heck, go to your OWN boss. Yeah, it can be humiliating sometimes. Yeah, I get turned down sometimes.
But when I go visit my dad's grave on his birthday, I don't want to tell him I stopped fighting cancer because it was embarassing.
MysteryBee - your Dad will never be ashamed of you as long as you keep trying. Even if you only get two pennies to rub together, that's two pennies the ride didn't have before.
I follow over 150 R2CC participants from all the rides on Twitter and it seems that a lot of them are having difficulties this year and have not met their minimum. The common theme amongst them (myself included) is waiting until april to start our fundraising campaigns.
Hi RS... gotta tell you I love your photo. Loved it so much that I copied it, in fact. I now have the wrist straps from all three years I've entered into the ride wrapped around my seatpost. But if anyone asks, I'll give you credit for the idea.
I will admit, I've been very impressed with donations this year, basically everyone who donated to me last year, donated more this year.
This year I had a team so donations/fundraising got split, but I will be happy to say I've raised over 5000 again!
rock concert, dinner and silent auction raised our team over 7000 (2 events over a weekend), then my mom, WOW garage sale was huge, and she went around and collected (and still is) HUGE MONEY
that's awesome MB. last year I purchased a five pack of the bracelets from the souvenir tent. Those ones didn't have the year marked on it, just the ride to conquer cancer and the URL. I'm using that this year in place of the one that they sent out that looks like a monster truck tire... That one just looks silly and is wider than my watch strap.
Got there with the help of very generous friends and family. The same friend who's donatioin got me to my goal last year was the same person who got me to my goal this year.
Thanks but that was last year. Not so much this year, set a lower goal and just cleared it by $20.
I stopped wearing mine last summer when Floyd Landis came out. Having, said that I have a set of Livestrong bib shorts that I got last year from the states and they are just too exepensive not to wear once and a while.
-- Edited by adiamond on Wednesday 25th of May 2011 09:55:34 PM
You know doped or not, he has brought cancer awareness to the masses and for that alone he needs some credit. All professional athletes push the limits of legal/non legal supplement. HGH or any other steroid for that matter can't create a world class athlete regardless of what you take. Does it tarnish his accomplishments of course it does! Gurantee that the number of athletes doing it or that have done it is far greater than we will ever know. The fact he dominated for so long adds greatly to the disgust people have for whats gone on. If he was a average athlete know one would care or even judge him for it. The technology in products to hide the illegal supplment is becoming so great that the testing procedures will always lag, this being said who else is doping that we dont know about! I'd bet its alot of the same athletes that point fingers and act disgusted. This being said will I still consider him one of the best ever? Yes! Will i still where livestrong? Yes! In todays society its becoming far to easy to judge others actions without looking at ourselves! We all make mistakes! I'm a firm believer that our past mistakes or decisions don't determine who we are. It's what we learn from the mistakes we made and what we do to better ourselves and our society. Maybe I'm just tired of only seeing the faults in so called celebrities that the media pushes. Far to few stories showing the good. Just my two cents!
What the media fails to convey to the general public is what a celebrity is doing in the here and now. I still admire the man, am reading his book, and am amazed that not only did he survive cancer, but he came back from it to ride again. By what's described in the book, by all accounts, he should have died from cancer. But he survived. Look at the good that he's doing in the present. That's what should matter.
Surviving cancer is amazing, but many here have done that. Raising money for cancer patients and research is amazing too. However, all of this for Armstrong was based on his winning the Tour seven times as a clean athelet. This now seems to be called into question. This does not mean we should not all be doing what we can for this great cause and it does not mean that LIVESTRONG has not done amazing things, however, to the extent that LIVESTRONG is synonomous with Armstrong....So for me I will keep doing what I can for the cause, but no longer wear my band.
Having said that, I accept the arguments that at the time it is possible that the entire pellaton was using performance enhancing drugs so it was more or less a level playing field and (even if he was using EPO which has not been proven) he was the best. But his reputation is built on more than that. There is an interestng article in the current Bicycling Magazine (with Armstrong on the cover) on both Armstrong and the impact on LIVESTRONG you might want to read
-- Edited by adiamond on Thursday 26th of May 2011 02:02:51 PM
-- Edited by adiamond on Thursday 26th of May 2011 02:03:42 PM
I did read the article when the issue first came out. I found it to be a little self serving on behalf of the journalist. Having been brought into the team as an outsider and becoming close to them I think he felt very betrayed and his acticle reflected that. Not that its not justified on his behalf. I still hold firm that the peoples judgments agaist Lance seem quite harsh.
"I believe that the man who works the hardest is the man who deserves to win." -- Lance Armstrong
Doping aside, Lance isn't close to being best racer ever, but he's definitely in the list of the top 10 racers in history. That being said, he was the titan on a bike of our generation. Watching Lance and Ullrich battle for supremacy of the Pyrenees was some of the most epic racing ever caught on camera.
Lance's story is an inspiration. Diagnosed with embryonal carcinoma that had spread to his lungs and brain at 25 and given a 40% chance of survival. Four years later he wins the TDF, beating his closest competitor by almost 8 minutes. A real life fairytale was playing out on the TV. An underdog as good as dead handily pummeled all challengers to take the victory. It was like watching Rudy all over again.
Lance has sold himself as an inspirational role mode to the young and old for years while knowing he is a hypocrite and a liar. Take for example the Livestrong Drug Awareness Activities for Kids program... http://www.livestrong.com/article/125867-drug-awareness-activities-kids/
During his tenure on USPS and Discovery Lance, Hincapie, and Leipheimer, all grown men were at the very least complacent in giving drugs to kids who were in their early twenties and I'm sure in awe of the fact that they're racing on the same team as their idols... At the very worst they may of actually supplied and urged these kids to dope.
So yea, I will not support Livestrong in any way as long as a person of no character is the face of the franchise, regardless of the good that has been done in the past and will be done in the future. The real victim of Lance's lies is Doug Ulmam, Livestrong CEO and three time cancer survivor. Next year my livestrong donation albeit small in comparison to the RTCC will now go to The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults http://www.ulmanfund.org/
This year, I'm at $4600 and small change. Four year total is well over $20,000. Four year team total is over $30,000. This is the only reason I ride. I'm a survivor so this is just payback. I"m happy for those top 10 people, but I know that my contribution is gonna make someone's life better, maybe even save a life. I'm gonna keep doing it as long as I'm physically able, so people better be willing to donate each and every year. See you in Niagara Falls!
