Hey all. I'm writing this for both a blog post and email, so please pardon if it reads weird. Basically, I'm asking you to donate some money to a good cause, and I'm really not good at asking people for money. (Odd, I know, for someone who spends so much time volunteering and working with nonprofits.)
On September 25, J and I will both be riding in the Wapiyapi Classic, a 50 mile bike ride starting in Aspen, Colorado. 100% of the proceeds from this ride will benefit Wapiyapi, a Colorado based 501(c)(3) non-profit. The mission of Wapiyapi is to offer a community of hope and support to children and their families affected by childhood cancer.
This ride is very personal to me, for the same reasons as I made a fundraising plea on this blog last year: there is a direct connection to our friend Gretchen Life. Gretchen was J's best friend in medical school, and J was the maid of honor at her wedding. She died in a boating accident in 2005, just before she was to finish her pediatrics residency in New Orleans and return to Colorado to become a pediatrician in Rifle. She was incredibly gifted with children and people, and it's no surprise that she was a longtime volunteer with Wapiyapi.
I wrote about Gretchen at much more length in that post, and I'd encourage you to go read it, since just writing this is making me cry. Actually, I'll paste in some of the backstory at the bottom of this post.
J and I will be riding this year with Gretchen's father, who I rode the Children's Hospital Courage Classic with last year.
On to the ask: each ride participant is required to fundraise a minimum of $200, and we are also encouraged to exceed that amount. ($800 covers the cost for one child affected by cancer to go to summer camp for a week.) Any amount you can give, even $5 or $10, is helpful, and 100% tax deductible. Please check out http://goo.gl/jnaaU to donate, and be sure you fill in my name at the top of the page where it says “Find a fundraiser to support:” (Either my full first name or nickname will find my personal page.) Anything is immensely appreciated!
An aside: I'll probably get notified when you donate, even if you select the “hide donation amount” and “anonymous” donation options. A had the irritating experience of trying to make it anonymous with the Courage Classic, and I still got an e-mail saying something like “A________ donated!”
More information about the ride and organization can be found at: www.wapiyapiclassic.org
THANK YOU!
p.s. Here is some of that prior post, explaining a little more about Gretchen:
...to honor her life, and her commitment to pediatric medicine, which she was natural at: she had an immense amount of love, compassion, dedication. She was genuinely one of the kindest people I have ever known.
Gretchen's death was, in a strange way, sort of caused by Hurricane Katrina ([for] which I flew to New Orleans to assist with protests, rebuilding, and resistance work around, and to stay at Gretchen and Frank's house, only to show up on the doorstep and find out they had drowned two days before.) This drowning was a little different than the ones we heard so much news coverage of: Gretchen and Frank went out in a boat that Frank had built on Lake Pontchartrain shortly after the hurricane, it capsized in high winds, and they held on for hours: long enough to shred their lifejackets from the friction of the boat bobbing up and down. Before the hurricane, a boat floating out on Lake Pontchartain within a half mile of the Pontchartrain Causeway would have been cause for alarm. Not so after the hurricane, when debris was still floating throughout the lake, thoughout New Orleans. So for J and I, and perhaps for Gretchen and Frank's families, the official death toll from Katrina should be 1,838.
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