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Family and
Friends,
The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer was this past weekend 2-3 May 2009. With
your help, I raised money and was able to have the privilege to walk this
weekend with over 3000 other participants from 40 states, including 271
breast cancer survivors. We all joined together to raise lifesaving funds
and awareness for breast cancer in a walk for the cure. This year, there
was a team ten of us, who called ourselves the Legion Ladies, that
participated and we raised over $21,000 - you all ROCK! The $18,000 goal
seemed insurmountable, but with all of your help we exceeded it - YOU ARE
WONDERFUL! The Washington DC walk raised over $6.8 million. Most of which
is used in the local area to help those with breast cancer. It can be used
to help the under privileged, to help with new ways to try and beat it, to
help with education.....so many ways to help. More about that later in my
email.
From a personal perspective, I said this year that I would try and walk
every step in memory of my good friend, Brenda Joyce Williams, who passed
away 10 months ago. Well, I was able to walk 22 1/2 miles on Saturday, the
weather did hold out for us! Then I walked the half marathon, 13.1 miles
in the rain on Sunday. It rained every step of the way....but
determination or stubbornness won out. As I crossed the finish line with
Betty and Cindy, tears streamed down my face, once again for my friend
Brenda. She was my inspiration and my driving force for the weekend. I
love her dearly.
Since I crossed the finish line, I have been trying to think of the best
way to thank each one of you for such a wonderful weekend...that support
could have been by sending money, attending the fundraiser, baking,
cooking, making baskets, calling or just by showing your general support.
It was all important to me. A generic thank you simply doesn't seem
sufficient. Rather, I thought it fitting to reflect on some special
moments of the race and perhaps, in sharing those, you will understand how
extraordinary this walk is and how thankful I am to you all for your
generosity in helping me meet my goals and showing such outstanding
support.
So here goes:
* It was awesome to see hundreds of volunteers working tirelessly
throughout the weekend at packet pickup, handing out water, Gatorade, and
food/snacks, helping us cross the busy intersections, cheering us on,
passing out candy and fruit as we walked by their houses and places of
business, driving the buses and sweep vans for when we were sure that we
could not take another step, picking up the trash and the doctors and
nurses that gave up their weekend as well to burst and treat our blisters,
our sprains, and our bodies.
* Moments of inspiration were abundant, like at opening ceremonies, when
we listened to the stories of survival. You looked around the crowd and
saw many a tear flowing. When you looked around the ceremonies and saw
another 3000 people just like me that were there for the support for a
cure for breast cancer, it was just amazing.
* Jen (a teammate) received a sash, that was passed out every three
minutes for the weekend, which represented another person being diagnosed
with breast cancer, their lives forever altered, even as a survivor.
Clearly, these are just a few reflections but they are important to me. To
me the weekend represented camaraderie, family, community, friendship,
love, strength, determination, and faith and I want to thank each of you
for making it possible for me to participate in this walk for the cure for
breast cancer for the third year! You are an awesome part of my world and
I love you all very much!! And as our saying went for the weekend....WE
ALL ROCK!!!!!
Many Thanks and love to you all, Brenda
Dear
Friend:
I'm writing to tell you that for the third straight year I am part of a
team of people getting ready to take extraordinary steps (many, many
steps!) to help fight breast cancer here at home and throughout the
country. This year I am dedicating my walk to a very dear friend, Brenda
Joyce Williams, who lost her life to this dreadful disease. Please read my
webpage (just click on the link below) to see all of the reasons why I
walk. You are all important to me and I walk for each of you and your
families, both present and future.
On May 2-3, the Legion Ladies of Post 162 will be among thousands of
people dedicating their weekend to walking as part of the Avon Walk for
Breast Cancer. We'll walk the distance of a marathon and a half (39.3
miles) in those two days. You and the American Legion Post 162 have been
instrumental to me in raising donations for our walks. We have two big
fundraisers planned this year. The first one will be at Kate's Irish Pub
in Springfield on Saturday, February 28. We will have lots of fun,
raffles, prizes, and a bake sale. Please come out, have a little fun, and
support us. The second one will be on Saturday, March 21, 2009, our team
will be hosting a fundraiser for our 3rd Annual Avon Walk for Breast
Cancer at the American Legion, Post 162, in Lorton, Va. There will a lot
of food, fun, prizes, raffles, music, bake sale, dancing, singing and
FUN!! Save the date & join us. . . . please invite all of your friends!!
Together, we'll spend the next few months training, fundraising, and
preparing for the event. It's the biggest challenge I've ever taken on,
but I'm very excited about doing it because I know it will make a real
difference to the millions of people affected by breast cancer.
EACH team member commits to raising at least $1,800 to participate; our
cumulative goal is $16,200, although we hope to raise more! Please help to
support our efforts and the breast cancer cause by making a generous
contribution. You can make your donation online by simply clicking on the
link at the bottom of this message, which will bring you to our team page
where you can learn more about our team members and reasons for walking.
If you go to my webpage and find that I have met my goal, please go to our
team page and donate to another member of the team...so that we all may
walk.
Please remember as you're making your donation that in less than the time
it took to read this e-mail, another woman in the U.S. was diagnosed with
breast cancer one every three minutes.
The money raised goes to the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, whose
mission is to fund access to care and finding a cure. They provide funding
to organizations all over the country in five areas: medical research,
clinical care, support services, educational and advocacy seminars, and
community-based, non-profit early detection breast health programs. Much
of the money raised will stay right here to help people in our city.
Thank you for your support.
Love you all! Brenda
P.S. You can find
out more about the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer by visiting
www.avonwalk.org
Click here to visit my personal page.
Click here to view the team page for Legion Ladies-Post 162
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