Tuesday, October 07, 2008
The Avon Walk 2008 in New York City was wonderful, despite a monsoon-like downpour before the Route opened on Sunday that delayed Walkers getting on the road ... and created lakes, puddles and tons of mud ... and made a lot of them leave their tents up (rather than striking them before they started Walking ... which is usually a BIG no-no, but there wasn't a lot of enforcement of the "take your tent down before you turn in your gear" policy because the rain was so heavy. Fortunately, it cleared up by the afternoon ... and by Closing, it was sunny and pretty warm.)
There were a couple of issues with Route Marking on Saturday ... in addition to Crew's maps being a little funky and hard to read, so at one stop they'd apparently mis-directed Walkers (and had them bypassing a big segment of the Route) ... the Command Center was on speed-dial all day. And our Quick Stop, which was originally scheduled to close at 3pm, remained open until about 6pm. This is OK.
Sunday, I dismantled and packed so many tents that I can now do it in my sleep. (Not that I couldn't already, because my brother Gerald had a tent EXACTLY like these when we were kids.)
Anyway, the NYC event continued its long-standing "tradition" of breaking participation and fundraising records. Over 5,000 participants raised 11.5 MILLION dollars ... and counting! Grants were distributed to area hospitals' outreach, treatment and research programs, as well as to Avon Foundation "Safety Net" services which help breast cancer diagnosees find access to care regardless of their insurance status or their ability to pay. One of the new programs we gave a Closing Ceremony grant to was one that provides a kind of "guidance counselor" to help patients navigate the maze of treatments ... and make sense of the information overload to ensure that they choose the best course of treatment for their cancer. It's really cool.
Oh, and my favorite local beneficiary, God's Love We Deliver (which is kind of like a "Meals on Wheels" for patients undergoing cancer treatments) provided our lunches on Day 2. They are awesome ... they've got the BEST brownies in the tri-state area.
I also made a friend ... who I plan on training with and fundraising with for next year. We're going to team up to do some "big" events so we're not struggling like we were this year. And I may actually Walk next year ... we'll see.
There were a couple of issues with Route Marking on Saturday ... in addition to Crew's maps being a little funky and hard to read, so at one stop they'd apparently mis-directed Walkers (and had them bypassing a big segment of the Route) ... the Command Center was on speed-dial all day. And our Quick Stop, which was originally scheduled to close at 3pm, remained open until about 6pm. This is OK.
Sunday, I dismantled and packed so many tents that I can now do it in my sleep. (Not that I couldn't already, because my brother Gerald had a tent EXACTLY like these when we were kids.)
Anyway, the NYC event continued its long-standing "tradition" of breaking participation and fundraising records. Over 5,000 participants raised 11.5 MILLION dollars ... and counting! Grants were distributed to area hospitals' outreach, treatment and research programs, as well as to Avon Foundation "Safety Net" services which help breast cancer diagnosees find access to care regardless of their insurance status or their ability to pay. One of the new programs we gave a Closing Ceremony grant to was one that provides a kind of "guidance counselor" to help patients navigate the maze of treatments ... and make sense of the information overload to ensure that they choose the best course of treatment for their cancer. It's really cool.
Oh, and my favorite local beneficiary, God's Love We Deliver (which is kind of like a "Meals on Wheels" for patients undergoing cancer treatments) provided our lunches on Day 2. They are awesome ... they've got the BEST brownies in the tri-state area.
I also made a friend ... who I plan on training with and fundraising with for next year. We're going to team up to do some "big" events so we're not struggling like we were this year. And I may actually Walk next year ... we'll see.
