Our Day with the MS Society

Our Panel Discussion, About to Begin
Originally uploaded by sunspotting.

Our fund-raising bike team, Patti's Paladins, raised over $50,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

This will help a lot of people: that's a lot of wheelchairs, retrofits on houses (to make them more accessible), programs for families of people with MS, financial assistance with meds, counselling, transportation, and lots of other programs and services provided by this agency. That is a remarkably good thing.

The Society felt the need to ackinowledge us! We, it turns out, were the top fund-raisers in our chapter. It's an extraordinary achievement, because we are not a corporate team, and we don't have any type of sponsorship. We are simply a "friends and family" team, the sort of team that typically gets its donations in $20-50 increments.

When you raise $50,000, of course there are a few donations that exceed the $50 range. But we also had the largest team, too. We had 64 team members. That's a whopping huge number to coordinate. (This is where email is so handy, and where group lists are a godsend. And that weekly Paladins Peloton would go out every week, too!)



So we were invited to share our experience on the panel called "Fund the Movement". There was another captain from another bike team (Belinda Grassi of Bee's Hive) and we got to meet two captains of MS Walk teams.

The things we all had in common were:
1. have lots of enthusiasm;
2., communicate quickly with teammates and donors;
3. ask, ask, ask, ask, and don't forget to ask;
4. use every ounce of technology available.

The forum was fun, we all learned something, but it was over all too quickly.

Then was lunch, which was delicious. If the conversation wasn't so sparkling, my mouth would have been doing a happy dance. It was really yummy. I mean, flavorful food at a conference center!!! Where did they find these people??!!?!?



Then there were the awards. I won't dwell on them, while they are wonderful and a great honor, and while we are deservedly proud of them, they have to do with last year's numbers. I cannot emphasize this enough: we're very proud of our team's accomplishment!! Everyone pulled together for a wonderful gift of effort, we formed a community that continues (and grows even now!), and there are so many who will benefit because of the care and time our Paladins took. For me however, I feel the need to start thinking about 2008.




In 2008 there will be thousands more diagnosed with MS. That means the world will need that much more help, that much more funding, that much more research...

That much more from me.