The start of it all…
I got a call from a good friend of mine, Amanda Newsom, in November 2010 asking me if I wanted to be considered for a nomination to participate in the Man and Woman of the Year campaign in. My grandma lost her battle with Non-Hodkin Lymphoma in 2002 so I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by without having an opportunity to give back and make a difference in other people's lives. I didn’t commit right away because at the time I was traveling a lot for work and I wasn’t too sure of all the details of the campaign. If I committed to do this I wasn’t going to half-ass it, I wanted to do it 110%, so my travel schedule at the time was a little concerning. When my schedule was more set in January 2011 I decided it was time to commit. I accepted my nomination in January of 2011 and the planning began….
Amanda and I spent quite a bit of talking about different events that she did when she did the campaign in 2009. She was a huge help on telling me what worked well and what were bad ideas for raising money. I would run ideas by her and she would give me guidance. Ironically, after I officially accepted my nomination Amanda jets off to Newport Beach for 6 months!! During her campaign she raised just over $68K and I vowed that I would beat her number! :)
As I started planning I started reaching out to my contacts to see if friends would be willing to donate their skills, time and contacts. It was amazing to me how many of my friends were so willing to help out. Fortunately, or I should say unfortunately, the more of my contacts I talked to about this campaign the more people I found out were affected one way or another by these blood cancers, so they were all willing to help out for this great cause.
Without them and the support and help from my family there is no way I could do this campaign. At the end of the day it is not about me, its about the people in this world suffering from these awful blood cancers.
I am forever grateful to my family and my friends who have donated their time and effort to help out in this campaign. I know that I will never be able to thank them enough.
My campaign team:
Gene Kramer – Grandpa
Shirley- Great aunt
Bob Dobbs – Dad
Kim Dobbs- Mom
Stephanie Arango - Friend (Social Media Manager)
Jennifer Wolfe – Friend (Head Campaign Manager)
Amanda Newsom – Friend (My West Coast Manager)
Tom Carleton – Friend (Social gathering Manager)
Ashley Esterle (Photography Manager)
See my event link for upcoming events and if you can’t make any events please click the “Donate Now!” link to make your online donation. No matter how small the donation, every little bit helps!!
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