It is easy to lose sight of the successes amid the seemingly daily disappointments. Those who knew both Jane and me know that we were not happy with slow-paced developments even when every day brought progress. When things felt like three-steps-forward-two-steps-back, we both got frustrated.
The start-up of Walking with Jane has often seemed more like the latter than the former.
But in the wake of Wednesday’s highly successful Pasta Supper–we raised close to $2,000 that night to support our Relay for Life team–I’ve been thinking about what we have accomplished over the last year. While we have not accomplished all I would have liked, we have done more than a rational man could have expected.
A year ago, we were headed into our first Relay for Life in Taunton. We had designed a logo and put it on shirts and bags, of which we had sold more than a few. And we had plans for buttons, bracelets, and water bottles. We really had no idea what Relay for Life was beyond that it involved walking in circles for hours at a time.
Last year, over two Relays, we raised about $4,300.
At the Greater Fall River Relay, we won the Team Spirit Award.
Fast forward a year, and just in that one area, our accomplishments have been substantial. The items we had plans for have all made their appearance, as well as a new line of T-shirts. I was asked to chair the Greater Fall River Relay, which forced me to drop Greater Taunton simply because of the time commitment. With Wednesday’s event, Walking with Jane’s team has moved within spitting distance of $7,500 raised for this year–and a realistic shot at our team goal of $10,000.
But we have done more than craft a Relay team.
In September, I walked from Hopkinton to Boston along the route of the Boston Marathon for the Caring with Carcinoid team as part of the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk fundraiser. We raised over $4,400 for that event, all of which went to fund research at Dana-Farber.
While we were raising money for that last summer, we also launched the Walking with Jane Page on Facebook, recruited Carissa Broadbent and Mike Goeppner to design and build this website, and put together a team to create content for it. Another group helped put together a marketing plan.
Between September and the end of the year, we raised another $23,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, including the initial funding to establish the Walking with Jane Dybowski Fund for Neuroendocrine Cancer there. We also raised $5,000 for Caring for Carcinoid that resulted in another $10,000 for them in matching funds.
We also put together a team that created the materials for a national press kit for Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day.
We’ve also worked to establish positive relationships with the American Cancer Society–both at the local and national levels–the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute–especially with the new Program in Neuroendocrine and Carcinoid Tumors–the Caring For Carcinoid Foundation, and the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation.
Barely a week ago, we became a 501 (C)(3) charitable non-profit corporation chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Not a bad year’s work when you look at it.
