NET cancer funding mountain is high

Killing NET cancer is not going to be easy. Nor is it going to be cheap. The lowest estimate on the cost of finding a cure for NET cancer is $100 million. That is an estimate I find laughably low. We have spent billions on breast cancer and– while far more people are cured than once were–there is still no certainty that even with early discovery and treatment a patient will live for five years beyond that diagnosis.

…we will have blockbusters of our own.

But even if that $100 million figure proves true, at our current rate of spending we are looking at 20 years before we reach even that figure. I’ll be 80 years old at that point–and I am not sure how much of a Marathon Walk I will be up to then. Nor can I guess how many fundraisers–even with the amount of help I get now–I’ll be able to handle in my 80s.

NET cancer fundraising step-by-step

So we have to squeeze every available fundraiser for every nickel we can over the next few years to try to accelerate the amount of money available not only to fight NET cancer, but to fight all the other cancers out there. As I have been reminded too often this year, there are many other deadly cancers out there preying on people I care about.

We will also sell a range of NET cancer merchandise…

Last year, Walking with Jane sponsored four major fundraisers: a Pasta Supper, a Yard and Craft Sale, a smaller, neighborhood yard sale, and a direct mail campaign. This year, we hope to have between seven and ten–one of which is already winding down–and another of which is less than three weeks away.

Direct mail NET cancer success

Our direct mail campaign this winter has already generated over $6400 for the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk Campaign. We will do a second direct mail campaign this summer aimed at boosting us to my personal $20,000 goal for that walk. And last week we began gearing up the business sponsorship effort I hope will help push our current total there over $10,000 by the end of April.

Advance orders help us…

But we still need more team members if we are to meet the team goal of $40,000 this year. Ashley Borges joined the team this week, but we still need 38 more people to reach our team size goal.

Of pasta and comedy

The “When is a Zebra NOT a Zebra Comedy Night” April 13 starring John Perrotta–the Italian Don Rickles–and featuring Rockin’ Joe Hebert, will also help raise money for the Marathon Walk Campaign. The event is at the New Bedford Elks Lodge, 23 Sixth Street in New Bedford. This will mark our first effort outside of Westport and Fall River since our attempt at the Greater Taunton Relay for Life seven months after Jane’s death. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. You can reserve your tickets through this link. If you are thinking to pay at the door because we will raise more money that way, pay the $20 in advance so I can stop worrying about the size of the audience.

…we still need more team members…

Before the dust settles from the comedy night and the business sponsorship mailing we will be waist deep in the Second Annual Pasta Supper at Westport High School we will co-sponsor with the WHS Key Club on May 2. That event raised nearly $2000 last year–but we are hoping to top $3000 with it this year. It is a major fundraiser for our Greater Fall River Relay for Life Campaign–an effort I’ve had to leave on the back burner while I ramped up the Marathon Walk stuff. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. You can order tickets in advance through this link. Advance orders help us save money by not over-purchasing food for the event.

Join us for Yard and Craft Sale

Exactly one month later, on June 2, we will hold our Second Annual Yard and Craft Sale at the Westport Grange Hall on Main Road in Westport. Tables–indoors or outdoors are $25. Admission to the event is free for customers and browsers. This event also benefits our Relay for Life Campaign.

So we have to squeeze every available fundraiser for every nickel…

We will also sell a range of NET cancer merchandise at all of these events: shirts, buttons, pins, hats, decals, magnets, bags bracelets and satchels–and anything else we can think of. Some items you can see in our online store, but we have also added a number of new items that will not debut until the comedy night April 13. Prices will be steeply discounted from the store prices since we will not have to ship things.

One step at a time

We have also begun discussions about a bowl-a-thon and a music event for this summer and/or fall. We’ll post more about those as our plans firm up. I’d also like to figure out a silent or live auction at some point. We have a couple of items that might suit that format well in the pipeline. And someone said something recently about a mini-golf tournament–or a real one. We’ll see.

Killing NET cancer is not going to be easy.

All these events are small by comparison to the blockbuster fundraisers of the Jimmy Fund, the Komen Fund, and the American Cancer Society, but while I have some ideas in that direction we are simply neither big enough nor experienced enough to pull those off yet. But “yet” is the operative word.

Sometimes it seems we are funding an aircraft carrier through bake sales. It seems a never-ending task. Yet each of these events builds knowledge and skill as well as raising money to fight cancer. The day will come we will have blockbusters of our own.