Our first quarter NET cancer efforts

From the perspective of anyone not named Harry Proudfoot it would appear we are off to a really great first quarter in our 2013 NET cancer fundraising efforts. Through March 31 our various efforts raised nearly $7200 for the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk and Relay For Life of Greater Fall River. Three days into April, 70 individuals and seven local businesses have made contributions ranging from $10 to $250.

 …help create a world in which no one deals with grief because of NET cancer.

And we have put into motion solid plans for three fundraisers in April, May, and June we can honestly hope will swell those numbers significantly, starting with the Zebra Comedy Night April 13 at the New Bedford Elks Lodge, proceeding to the Second Annual Pasta Supper at Westport High School on May 2, and finishing with the Second Annual Yard and Craft Sale at the Westport Grange Hall June 2. We have had a very successful direct mail campaign and begun a solid business sponsorship campaign for the Jimmy Fund Walk that takes place September 8.

NET cancer celebrations and failures

That we are significantly ahead of where we were a year ago at this point should be a cause for celebration–as should the fact April has gotten off with such a bang as to have pushed us to about $8500 for the year. But I had hoped for much more at this point.

…I had hoped we would reach $200,000 this year…

While sponsorships for our Walking with Jane Marathon Walk team are off to a great start, I have been very disappointed by the returns on our efforts to get businesses more involved with Relay for Life locally. In January and February I visited over 80 businesses, including banks, credit unions and all the manufacturing plants in the Fall River Industrial Park. The results were disappointing. To date, one business decided to form a team–and the silence from the rest has been deafening. I’ll be going out on the road again shortly to make further attempts, but my original goal of raising at least $20,000 for the Relay and the American Cancer Society seems increasingly unlikely.

Falling behind on NET cancer financial goals

My financial goal for the year is equally in jeopardy at this point. After generating just over $100,000 last year, I had hoped we would reach $200,000 this year, although my original five-year plan only called for $150,000 this year. But even that lower figure looks like an enormous stretch with a first quarter that did not reach its $20,000 goal.

I had hoped for much more at this point.

That we missed our team recruiting goals for both our Relay team and our Walk team also causes me great concern. By April 1 I wanted both teams to have 20 members on board. The Relay team is in better shape, with 10 members signed up and about another 10 ready to do so. But the Walk team has but two members–and facing a $40,000 team goal that is a thing to worry about.

NET cancer website languishes

This NET cancer website has languished somewhat in the last three months as well. Part of that is the amount of energy a direct mail campaign takes. Part of it is the fact I spent much of the month of March fighting my way through a particularly nasty chest cold. And part of it was four months of fighting through a particularly blue period in my ongoing struggle with grief. It is sometimes that struggle that keeps me working on all of this: I would truly like to help create a world in which no one deals with grief because of NET cancer.

…70 individuals and seven local businesses have made contributions…

Unfortunately, that world is still a distant dream as I write this. But it will remain a distant dream without all of us working to change that situation. We are ahead of where we were a year ago: This time last year we had raised less than $3000, I was the only person on our Walk team and our Relay team had but eight people signed up. And the Relay for Life of Greater Fall River in general was far behind where it is now as well.

Reducing NET cancer to a myth

Some day cancer will be a story we scare unruly children with–a tale no more real than Hansel and Gretal. And NET cancer–though it may be among the last to die–will be just as mythical. But that will only happen if we all keep doing all we can to bring those events to pass.