Here is a great article about different ways young adults are giving back. My personal favorite is about half way down and talks about a VP of Goldman Sach’s private equity arm running a marathon a month to raise money for charities he cares about.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704429304574467633086321634.html
For some reason I seem to receive more information from the Yoga community about what they’re doing to give back than any other. I’m assuming it’s the culture surrounding the practice of yoga. Regardless, this is another example of the Yoga community and it’s athletes using their practice to make a difference. I received this email today and thought it was a good one to post on AG.
“At LBBC we are already busy preparing to kickoff our fundraising campaign for Yoga Unites 2010. There are a couple of reasons for our early start this year. First and foremost, despite the current uncertain economic climate, we are challenging ourselves to raise more money than ever before to help women and families affected by breast cancer. Did you know that over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year? To help support our mission, and to honor those lives touched by breast cancer, our goal is to raise $200,000 to fund LBBC’s programs and services. And we need your help.
Please save the date: Sunday, May 16, 2010 for the 8th annual Yoga Unites for Living Beyond Breast Cancer. I am inviting you all to be a part of this event once again by exhibiting at our healthy-living expo. There are also other opportunities to get involved, volunteering, sponsoring or forming a fundraising team! Our event website has launched, so you can also find out more information there: www.yoga4livingbeyondbreastcancer.org. One major change we have made this year is we have eliminated our registration fee for yoga class participants. That’s right – it costs nothing to register for the event. Instead, we are encouraging more people to get involved and fundraise for LBBC. We are challenging each and every participant to raise as much money as possible. Please consider starting a team and spreading the word today.”
Doug Ulman is a 3 time cancer survivor, President of the LAF and a HUGE voice for young adult cancer. Each year in the US, 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer. Doug is doing something about it!
Learn more HERE
I recently had the pleasure of kayaking on the Hudson with a group of disabled athletes who are part of a program in NYC called “Achilles”. The group primarily does running but they also do tandem biking, hand cycling and now they have added kayaking. They were training for a circumnavigation of Manhattan. Pretty awesome stuff and not an easy feat!
“Achilles is a worldwide organization, represented in sixty countries. Our mission is to enable people with all types of disabilities to participate in mainstream athletics, promote personal achievement, enhance self esteem, and lower barriers.”
Not only is it a great way for people with various disabilities to engage in sport but also for people passionate about athletics to volunteer their time doing what they love. Find a chapter near you and get involved!
At AG, we’re always looking for ways for people to give back through sport. Charity water just launched this inspiring campaign and one of the calls to action is raising money through an athletic event.
Check it
If you are in the Vail Valley, make sure to swing by e-town, in Edwards, for the Team FD Fundraiser. It starts ar 5pm and goes til 8. There will be awesome raffles and silent auction items. I am crossing my fingers that I win the tandem mountain bike.
If you were watching the tour today you saw Lance flying around the lake on This, yet another custom bike as part of Stages the global art exhibit to raise money for Livestrong.
What are you doing this weekend? Wanna ride? I am doing the Colorado Eagle River Ride, a 100 mile loop starting and finishing in Beaver Creek. It is a beautiful route and raises money for the Snowboard Outreach Society
Sometimes the best thing an athlete can give us is a little entertainment and a laugh. Check out the new Nike P-Rod video.
thanks for reading!
mike
Nau is a really progressive clothing company. Not only do they make really cool looking clothes that are made with organic/recycled materials they also donate 2% of each sale to a charitable cause. Consumers actually choose where the 2% goes within several pre-selected causes. F
This year Nau is launching their first annual Grant for Change. It is a $10,000 grant for those who instigate lasting, positive change in their communities. One of the categories is for ATHLETES who are challenging assumptions about what it means to move through the world. Nominations are open until August 17th and voting is open until August 31st. This is a really cool and progressive idea form a really cool and progressive company, take some time and check it out!
Here is a video about Nau sponsored athlete making a difference:
With Brad out of pocket at First Descents Camp, this is becoming bike week here at Athletes Giving. I see more and more people out on their bikes as the Tour de France heats up. Hopefully all of you guys are catching tour fever and are getting out on the bikes. So why not take your new found Bike-Stoke and use it for a good cause? Every weekend there are fun, well supported group rides that benefit charitable causes. There are rides all over the country to benifit MS. For a ride near you please check out http://www.bikems.org/. To find other charity rides in your area check out http://www.bikeride.com/. Search “touring” or “special events.”
Thanks for reading, now get out and ride!
mike
If you recall, Melanie Lidman will be riding her bike from Canada to Mexico as a fundraiser. Her journey is a great insight into the world of athletic giving.
-One of the most effective and easiest ways to raise money for your trip is through a website with online donations. There are two steps to this: creating a personal website or blog and creating a page for online donations. Building a website is free, easy and the best way to keep many people updated on your progress throughout the adventure. I personally like building a website/blog through Blogger (http://www.blogspot.com) because with their layouts, it’s ready in about five minutes and looks fairly professional. The website should be where you gather all of the information—bios of team members, your fundraising goals, a map of your progress, any fundraising events, and updates and photos from the trip. You can check out our website: http://teamgreenjello.blogspot.com. It still needs some work, but you can get the basic idea.
Creating a website where people can donate money to your cause is even easier than creating a blog. The best website is Firstgiving (http://firstgiving.org/), which has over 30,000 organizations to choose from. Even if your charity isn’t on their exhaustive list, it’s simple for your charity to sign up. Friends and family donate via credit card or PayPal to your personal page on the website, and Firstgiving handles everything, so you don’t need to deal with any money transfers or expenses. The only downside: they charge a 7.5 percent transaction fee, so not all of your money goes to the charity.
If you’re working with a slightly larger charity, contact their outreach organizer as one of your initial steps. They can let you know if the organization has their own fundraising technology they can set you up with that will allow them to bypass the higher transaction fee. For example, World Bicycle Relief uses Kintera, a similar service, and gets to keep more of the money. Our fundraising website is here: http://tinyurl.com/mpv3pg
After you have your blog and fundraising page up and running, make sure you get the word out. Send an e-mail, twitter, or relentless Facebook messages to everyone you know. The message I sent out is below:
Dear Family and Friends,
Hope this e-mail finds you happy and healthy. I am fresh back from a stint working as an intern at Outside Magazine in New Mexico, after finally graduating from UMD, and excited for my next adventure on the horizon. Along with my friends Jess and Brendan, I will be biking from Vancouver, British Colombia to San Diego. This is my first bike adventure – I’ve never done anything like it before – and I’m ecstatic to be putting off the job search for a few months while we roll down the coast (it is downhill the whole way, right? That’s how it looks on the map). In addition to some crazy adventures, we will be raising money for World Bicycle Relief, an organization dedicated to building bikes for aid workers and teachers in rural Africa and Asia. Rugged bikes built especially to carry heavy loads allow health workers to access remote villages in a quarter of the time and make a huge difference in the lives of everyone in the community.
We’ve set a goal of raising $3,000, enough to buy 25 bikes for a village. So far, through a basketball tournament and bar night, we’ve raised almost $1,000. I know times are fairly tough right now, but a donation of just $10 would really help us meet our goal of providing bikes for people who need it most. You can donate directly to World Bicycle Relief through our website: http://tinyurl.com/mpv3pg
We also have a blog so you can follow our exploits and progress down the coast:
http://teamgreenjello.blogspot.com
Thanks for your support… Drop me a line and let me know how you’re doing. I’m in Boston till July 1, our departure date, so if you’re around here give me a holler.
Love and bicycling,
Melanie
Before I sign off, I thought I’d share my first adventure: learning how to use a bike with clipless pedals (which should really be called clip-in pedals). With my bike, and most bikes used for racing and touring, my shoes have a cleat that attaches to the pedal so I get more power in each pedal stroke. Since this is my first bike not from Kmart, I had to learn the clipless pedals from scratch. I went to the only patch of grass in all of Santa Fe, confidently clicked my shoes onto the pedals… and fell over immediately. Then I realized what I should have thought of earlier: I don’t know how to unclip. Luckily my cell phone was within reach. “Jess… I’m clipped into my bike and I can’t get up….” [insert hysterical laughter here]. I’m not sure why I thought calling someone in Maryland would help my situation, but when you’re lying on your back with your feet attached to a bike in the middle of a park with everyone looking at you, well, you’re not thinking rationally.
After I finally righted myself, the New Mexico state police ambled over to let me know I could not ride my bike on the only patch of grass in all of Santa Fe, because, it was after all, the only patch of grass for miles around (which was why I chose it… to cushion my wipe outs!). After about 20 minutes and 40 bruises on the packed dirt, I got the hang of clip in/clip out enough to pedal off into the mountains. Things were going great, I was cruising along, bonking up yet another hill, and then BAM! Next thing I know I’m sprawled out on my back, still clipped to the bike of course, road rash up and down my left side, and a pick-up full of construction workers drives by, honking and hollering.
They later asked if I needed any help (it is the friendly Southwest, after all), but I mumbled an I’m fine, unclipped myself as gracefully as possible, got back on and pedaled off into the sunset (of course it was getting dark and I had no light). Summer adventure – off to a phenomenal start!
Tune in for the next post about planning fundraising events.
This is a great example of a way to use athletics to give back. There are many organizations that now have their own “teams”. The most popular/well known team is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training“.
The Ulman Cancer Fund was started by a good friend of mine and 3 time cancer survivor, Doug Ulman. Doug is also the President of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The UCF’s mission is to enhance lives by supporting, educating and connecting young adults, and their loved ones, affected by cancer. One of the ways people can support their mission is by joining TEAM FIGHT. By doing so, you are committing to race for the Ulman Cancer Fund and proudly wear their uniform.
Two such athletes include the incredible Wassner twins. These young triathletes have made a mark in the sporting world by placing in some of the country’s more prestigious events. On top of all this, Laurel is a YA Survivor of Hodgkins Lymphoma. The twins will be competing for Team FIGHT at the Columbia Triathlon, Iron Girl Columbia and Eagleman Triathlon. Please watch them, cheer them on or better yet, JOIN THEM!
I would love to end this with a quote from Laurel on their website that provides a perspective on life and sport that we could all learn from. “Each time I get to a starting line, I realize that I am different. I am stronger and tougher for what I have gone through, and I am extremely lucky. If you have seen me race, and as you can see in the photos, I always have a smile on my face and raise my arms in victory at the finish line–even if I don’t come in first. Every finish is a victory to me!”
