A New Idea

I have decided to start walking 5 miles each Friday, no matter what (the only exception would be a blizzard or something like that) and uploading my results on Facebook. This way if people comment on the post, I can ask them to donate $1 for every mile that I walk. So $5 Fridays will turn into 5-mile Fridays.

I used to think that the fundraising would be the toughest part about preparing for the 3-day. But that's not really true. The training has proven to be pretty tough as well. Time consuming. Not to mention that if I skip walking for more than 2 or 3 days now, I get pains in my lower back and my legs get sore. So really the only solution is to keep moving.

I wish I had the time to do at least 5 miles every day. But there's the little matter of these two:

Talia, my 6-year-old, on the left, and Chloe, my almost 4-year-old, on the right. Chloe is only in preschool 3 days a week, so those are the times I have to do my walks. I have between an hour and a half, and two hour block of time to get the walk done, so to get a good mileage in isn't always easy. I think it might get better when the days start getting longer, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

On the days that I really want to walk, but it's late at night and I don't want to walk outside, I use the treadmill. Or "dreadmill" as a friend of mine who is an avid runner refers to it. I don't mind it too much because I download lots of tv shows to my iPhone and watch them. I got almost the entire first season of Pan Am for free--Christina Ricci is quite entertaining! But after a while, the treadmill does leave a lot to be desired. No fresh air, the scenary is always the same, and you can't stop or else you will fall and break something.

Today I did a 5.7 mile walk around my neighborhood. From my pedometer I discovered that one time around the block is approximately 0.5 miles. So not too bad. I wanted to stay close to home in case the skies opened up and it really started to pour down rain. Fortunately it didn't.

When I start to do my regular Friday walks I hope to do lots of different trails, bring a camera and make it a regular installment on this blog. Have a good weekend!

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

My First Restaurant Fundraiser

Revere Ristorante Supports the Ta-Ta's!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

The names of the people I walk for.

Me and Christine, my team leader, and one of my inspirations for walking!

Me & my husband, Al.

My blinged-out fundraising belt!

Had my very first restaurant fundraiser last night at the Revere Ristorante, in West Trenton, NJ. Although it was a good night and a lot of people turned out to support my 3-day team (The Ta-Ta Sisterhood), I was really surprised at what fundraising tricks worked and what did not.

For example, the 50/50. The pot turned out to be only about $100, I was expecting a little more. Also I sold most of the tickets at the beginning of the night, and I expected to sell most of them at the last minute.

The door prize raffle. The raffle tickets were given away with the purchase of a cosmopolitan (pink drink) of the evening! Which would have been fine, except people were drinking multiple cosmos for a better chance of winning. Put it this way, by the end of the evening, the band had a guest singer and a guest harmonica player. And I'm not sure if that particular song had a harmonica part to it.

I had two additional raffles, my husband donated handyman services and a friend of mine donated makeup application services (she is a professional make-up artist) but these did not pan out at this event. This was another surprise. There were really more men than ladies at the event though. I know. I couldn't believe it either.

The band there, Cheap Date (my husband, a guitar player's band) has a pretty good following, but I got the sense that most of the people were there to see the band. Which was fine, I don't care why the people come out just so long as they are out. Because I found that once they are out, they will donate or buy raffle tickets if they are available. I know I am one of those people. Just yesterday, when I was on my way into Shop Rite, there were a group of Brownies selling Girl Scout cookies. I bought a box--I couldn't resist, even though my older daughter is in Girl Scouts and I have those cookies coming out my ears! The box I donated to the troops though.

The last item I had available was a t-shirt I had made a few months ago, for people to sign with the names of loved ones they have lost to cancer, or cancer survivors. That worked out pretty well. Wearing the shirt or hanging it on the tent at the 3-Day really serves as a good reminder of why we're doing this.

Thanks so much to Joe, the owner of the Revere Ristorante for allowing me to have this special night at his restaurant. If you are ever in central NJ you need to go there for dinner, they have the most delicious chicken wings and vodka rigatoni I've ever had. Outside of my Nonna's, of course!

Faith, Hope and Love,

Angela

Did you eat yet?: ATribute to My Nonna

For those of you who have visited my 3-day donation page, you know that one of the main reasons I am walking is for my Nonna, who passed away back in 1991 from breast cancer. She lived for several years with the diagnosis and opted out of the chemo treatments. Being that she was in her 80s when she was diagnosed I cannot say I blame her, but at the time my 19-year-old self did not understand why she wouldn't go for treatment, and was upset and even a little angry.

But back to the title of my post. One of the most important parts of an Italian family is food. My Nonna was the best at cooking. I can say honestly even after so many years, she made the best Italian food I have ever eaten. Even better than fancy restaurants. Really it was amazing. Some of the most vivid memories that I have are of coming home from kindergarten (my grandmother would walk to my school to pick me up), and smelling the tomato sauce from halfway down the street. The door to her tiny rowhome would be unlocked. And more times than not, her "stories" would be blaring from the 19 inch color television in the living room.

I lived with my grandmother during the week, for my kindergarten year and, even though I joke with my parents that they "abandoned" me when they had my youngest brother that same year and were moving into a new house, secretly I loved having Nonna all to myself. She treated me like a little princess, showering me with attention, affection and food! It was probably one of my childhood's happiest years. When I would go home on weekends, although I loved being with my parents, I had to compete with two younger brothers for attention and frankly, at the age of 5, I didn't really want to do that!

One of my favorite activities to do with my Nonna was helping her to cook. Until I was probably 7 or 8 years old, I thought all grandparents had a second kitchen in the basement! My mom explained to me that no, that's not something everyone has. My Grandma on my mom's side only had one kitchen. And my mom's parents lived in California, so I couldn't see them all the time.

My Nonna was the one grandparent that I had regular contact with throughout my childhood. My Nonno passed away from lung cancer when I was 3 months old. So Nonna was it. After she passed I thought about her a lot, nearly every day in fact, trying to make sense of what exactly happened to her. Her death was the first time I had ever had someone close to me die. It was scary and sad.

My Nonna and Nonno came over to the United States from Italy in 1929. They settled in central New Jersey and had 3 sons. My Nonno took a job in a pottery factory and Nonna took in sewing for extra money. Neither of them ever drove a car, which would be unheard of in this day and age but they lived right down the street from schools, their church and a bakery. Sometimes I imagine what life was like for them and I picture it being simple, and happy. I studied the Great Depression in school but couldn't even see them being slightly affected by it.

Nonna had a very clear and profound sense of right and wrong. She was very religious and prayed every day, several times a day. She would light candles for people she knew who were sick, people who had died, and in addition to that, she would never hesitate to help a family member or a neighbor who was in need, whether it was cooking, running errands, whatever she could do to help. If she saw someone who was being taken advantage of she wouldn't hesitate to speak up on their behalf. She was an amazing, caring lady with a big heart.

I know that she would probably say I'm crazy for walking 60 miles, but in the end I know that she would support me no matter what I do. But, one thing I am positive about, if she were here, and I came to visit her after walking those 60 miles the first thing out of her mouth would be:

"Did you eat yet? You are too skinny!"

And I would hug her tight, and never let her go.

Just the beginning

This past October I decided to take the bold first step of signing up for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day, for October 2012. I have created this blog to help chronicle my experience of preparing for the 3-Day, including all the fundraising events that I host, the training, and the self-discovery.

Let me tell you why I have chosen to do this walk. It isn't only to raise money for breast cancer research and community programs, although that is the largest reason. I also do it for the sense of unity that the 3-Day has fostered in its participants. It is just amazing to me how many wonderful, caring people, both women and men, I have met so far in my journey. People who are patient, kind, generous and have an amazing sense of perspective. These are people who either are breast cancer survivors themselves, know someone who is a survivor, or have lost someone close to them to breast cancer. Even though our situations are all slightly different, we all have a singular focus, a world without breast cancer.

Since October 2011, I have raised $900 towards my $2300 goal. To this end I have tried a variety of fundraising ideas. My first fundraiser was called "Coffee for the Cure." I made about $100 over the past 4 months, putting out coffee and biscotti every 2 weeks at the pharmacy where I work. In November I along with two of my team mates, Christine and Lisa, decided to take part in a craft show at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania. I had birdhouses and framed photos (mostly landscapes) for sale. The only things we ended up selling that day were pink rubber duckies purchased at Oriental Trading months before. Most definitely not handmade!

Another fundraising idea that I have implemented is "Parents' Night Out" that I have had at my house 3 times, once in December and twice over the Valentine's weekend. I have made $160 with this fundraiser, and all I had to do was watch people's kids for them for a few hours, do crafts with them and feed them snacks.

My first team fundraiser was the Ta-Ta Sisterhood (my team's name) Super Bowl Pool. This has been the most lucrative so far of all the fundraisers. Christine (our team leader), Lisa, Tricia and I each raised $250 by selling Super Bowl boxes.

Most recently I have tried $5 Fridays on Facebook, asking friends to donate $5 on Fridays, much like a "Happy Hour" for breast cancer awareness. To date I have made $5.

The second part of my journey, the training, has been going well. I took a 5 mile walk last Friday with my mom (a 2007 3-day alum) which went very well. Being that it's still winter weather, I am not expecting to do a whole lot of outdoor training for a while yet. One day at a time.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey.

Faith, Hope and Love,
Angela