I didn't plan on writing this diary today. In fact, I have half of a diary already written about my experience at the Maine Democratic Convention on Saturday. But today I'm going to ask you to sponsor me.
I'm part of a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society called the Relay for Life. We raise money for the organization and we have a walkathon. I had no interest in joining this wonderful group, until I really thought about my connections to cancer.
Ted Kennedy's recent diagnosis shocked me, as it did many others. In many ways this was a big factor in my decision to walk for the ACS. I've written previously of my own cancer scare. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how many people I know have cancer.
As many people here are aware, I'm 19 years old and I'm still a college student. I was lucky to live with five amazing roommates this past year. When we came back from spring break, one of my roommates had bad news: his grandmother had died of cancer the day before and his dad was diagnosed with cancer a few days before and was about to start chemotherapy. Another one of my roommates found out that his mom had cancer a little later in the semester.
I don't know one person who has absolutely no connection to cancer. I hope to wake up one morning in the near future to find that a cure has been found, but without the support of donors and lobbying the government for funds, it would be difficult to reach that goal.
I ask you to donate at my fundraising page.
I have one request. Because I live in a small, somewhat conservative (but still Democratic) town, I want to show that a progressive community like DailyKos isn't just a "liberal fringe group." We care deeply about the same issues that affect everyone (that's why we fight for universal health care!). There's a line in the donation form where you can write who you're donating the money for. If you want to put the name of a relative or friend then that's great. If you don't want to put the name of a relative or friend then I ask you to write in Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, DailyKos user (or just DailyKos in general), or any other inspirational political figure that you wish to. This will help me recognize which donations came from Kossacks. Either that or add .08 to the end of the donation.
I realize that this is a political season where we've donated a lot of money to our political candidates/causes. But our team goal is a small one: $1000. We have currently raised $130. I would like to go over that goal with your help. Please consider donating to this great cause. I can't thank you enough.
UPDATE: Wow! $50 given in one donation! Thank you! How much more can we raise?
UPDATE 2: We're up to $70.08 now! We're slowly getting there and I'm extremely grateful to those of you who have donated (you know who you are!).
UPDATE 3: We've raised $95.16 so far! That's a terrific amount of money for only three donations. I could thank you guys all night (but I'm sure you want to sleep eventually). Let's see how much we can raise by midnight.
UPDATE 4: I just wanted to add that our team name (which I had no part in choosing) is called Team Hope and Faith. I can't think of a better team name for an Obama supporter like me.
"There's never been anything false about hope." -Barack Obama