A promise.......

So as many of you remember, my last post had to do with a promise I made to my husband.  I promised him I would bring awareness to Leukemia, as well as the importance to becoming a bone marrow donor.  I am trying my hardest to make good on those promises.

In the first few months after Pat passed away, I thought regularly about how I was going to fulfill the promise I made to my husband.  Originally, my plan was to bring awareness primarily through my blog.  I knew I had many people who read my blog on a regular basis, along with people out there who found it without looking.  While I am still bringing some awareness through this blog, my passion has taken on a life of it's own.  I have started planning an event that has taken the level of awareness to places I never would have imagined possible.  

I have been super busy the past couple of weeks.  I am trying to organize an "unofficial" Light the Night Walk.  A few weeks ago, I came across a link on Facebook for a Light the Night Walk.  I clicked on it, and read more about it.  I had never heard of this walk, so I scoured their website, looking for a the location of a walk near me.  After searching, I realized there were no organized walks anywhere in Montana.  The nearest walk site is in Boise, ID.  I want to change that.  I contacted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), and asked how I would go about organizing a walk in Billings.  I was told that LLS doesn't really allow people to start their own walks, that it was something that needed to be organized through the society.  She also told me that LLS needed a good reason to bring a walk to my area, telling me that they needed to know they would raise enough money, for it to be worth their efforts.  She asked me if I would like to register a team, under the Boise walk site, and raise money.  She told me I could just pick a park, gather friends and family, and walk in Pat's honor.  Without a doubt in my mind, I said, "Yes."  Immediately after I got off the phone, I called a few family members, and told them what I was planning.  I was, and still am, super excited about getting this all going.  From that very first day, I knew I wanted to make this big.  I knew I wanted to make this about more than just our friends and family walking for my husband.  I wanted to get our entire community involved, and make this a community event.  My hope is, that if I can raise enough money, and get our entire community involved, that LLS will consider Billings as a prime location to host an annual Light the Night walk.  I would love nothing more than to be able to attend this walk, every year, and raise money for them, all in Pat's honor.

I started posting on Facebook, asking friends and family to donate, and asking them to share the link.  I noticed it was only getting me so far.  I was never going to get the word out to the community, when only a handful of people were sharing with their friends.  I decided to call the media.  I contacted our local paper, they interviewed me, and the article printed in today's paper.  You can read the article here.  I also contacted a local news station, and did an interview on Friday.  That is scheduled to air early next week.  I hope by this getting out through the media, our community will come together and support this cause.

I am doing several fundraisers to try and raise money.  With the help of an excellent friend, Dani Buhmann, we are having a garage sale with items donated by the community.  Our garage sale fundraiser is scheduled for September 17.  We are also organizing a raffle.  If you live near the Billings area, and would like to help out with either of these fundraisers, please contact me (If you don't live near me, but are willing to ship your donations, that would be great as well!)  We are still in need of your unused items for our garage sale.  I know some people may not be able to donate money to this cause, but most people have a few things taking up space, that could be donated to our sale.  Even if it's only a box full of items, we sure would appreciate it!  We are also looking for items to add to our raffle.  These items would need to be new.  Items we think would be good for this raffle "basket" include: gift certificates, handmade items, candles, health and beauty, electronics, or anything else you can think of that would be a good prize for a raffle.  No item is too big or small!  I am also going to be selling orange bracelets, in honor of Leukemia awareness.  I will let everyone know when I get these in.

The walk is scheduled for October 14, 2011 at 7:00 pm, at North Park in Billings, MT.  I am very excited to announce that during the walk, we will also be hosting a bone marrow recruitment drive.  The National Marrow Donor Program will have a team set up to answer questions, and get people signed up to be on the national registry.  I really hope we get a good turn out, and get a lot of people signed up!

Even if you are not from Billings, please consider making a donation to this cause.  I need everybody's support to make this dream a reality.  If you are interested in making a donation, you can go to my fundraising page.  Donations in any denomination will be greatly appreciated!  No amount is too little!  Even if it's only $1, it will help us reach our goals!  Thank you in advance to any that donate!

I am supposed to have a meeting with LLS sometime early next year.  We will talk again about the possibilities of bringing a walk to our area.  I want to be able to bring the numbers to them, when we have this meeting.  They will see how much money we raised, and I hope to be able to tell them how many people support this.  I created a Facebook page for this cause.  If you are in support of what I am trying to accomplish, please like this page.

I am really excited for this whole event.  I feel like it's an excellent way to honor my husband.  I want to make him proud, and honor his wishes.  I made that promise to him, and I have every intention of keeping it.  I hope that we not only raise a lot of money, but I hope I am bringing awareness to Leukemia, and becoming a bone marrow donor, through all of this.