SVSU Relay for Life

Three days until the 2011 SVSU Relay for Life and at $2,100 in donations. Our team has slipped from 3rd place in terms of fundraising and we won't reach the goal I set when we started fundraising. That's okay. I'm fairly certain that our donations per capita are the best of any team. ;) Still, I'm spending the evening taking one last shot at picking up more donations.

As one of the event organizers pointed out to me, EVERYONE is impacted by cancer. EVERYONE knows someone who has been impacted by cancer. In some ways it would seem that this makes asking for donations easier. For me, it just makes it more intimidating. The issue of cancer feels so ubiquitous that I feel we are inundated with messages to donate. Perhaps we even become numb to it at times. I'm sympathetic to that.

But I'm also grateful that my mom's surgery and chemotherapy were, by all indications, successful. I'm grateful that Mike's surgery a couple years ago was successful. I'm happy that my good friend's mother survived her breast cancer. I'm glad that my grandmother's skin cancer many years ago was successfully treated. I'm saddened that my other grandmother's cancer was not. I'm sure that I am missing other friends and family. I wish it had been harder to generate this list.

So, I urge you to go to www.teamsinglestep.com and click on the "I'm a proud supporter of Relay for Life" button on the right. Please donate. I don't really care how much. Heck, donate to someone else's team or at another Relay for Life event. Don't donate because it will cure cancer--it won't hurt, but unfortunately our individual actions rarely carry such power. Donate for the people you know who are impacted by cancer. Even if your donation does not cure cancer, it can demonstrate your gratitude for and appreciation of these people.