May 2014 - Special Heart's Ride

Our friends Sean and Beth lost their 18 year old son to a heart defect in January 2014.  On Saturday, May 31st, they hosted a ride in honor of him called the Joe Gillis Special Heart's Ride benefiting Camp Odayin, a camp for kids with heart disease. Joe went to the camp each year for many years and was looking forward to becoming a camp counselor in the year he passed but didn't get the chance.

The ride started at Bennett's in St. Paul which included a breakfast buffet.  M was one of the road captains for the day, which Sean graciously does for us each year on the Cherry Ride and we headed south through Hastings, getting a scheduled police escort through the city and reaching our first destination Dan's Bar and Grill in Hampton, where M one of one the raffles. We then rode to Steel Horse Saloon in Ellsworth, WI where I ended up winning the big pot of money in one of the raffles. We finished at Tavern on the Avenue where the fundraising continued with silent auctions, raffles and a band.  

The ride/benefit raised $7,500 for the Joe Gillis Memorial Fund at Camp Odayin and was an incredibly successful inaugural year.  Thank you Sean and Beth for including us for this special event.    

May 2014 - Walk for Animals

As I've done every year since 2004, I participated in the Animal Humane Society's Walk for Animals on May 3, 2014.  It was AHS's 40th annual walk!  I can't remember how much I raised but I know it was over $500 since I was able to check in in the special area but I know I did not break my 2013 record of $865.  I wish AHS allowed you to keep a personal history of what each year's donations raised were.

They changed the walk this year where instead of 5 miles, it was half the distance.  They wanted to encourage people to take their time and focus on the interaction with people and animals and other events rather than the actual walking time.  I walked with Michael, Tanya, Chris, Asher and their dog Cosmo as I've done for multiple years and the walk was completed very fast this year, obviously.  I'm not sure if we really interacted more than we normally do so I'm unsure if the reduction of the distance of the walk was successful.  I hear they're mixing things up again for 2015 so we'll see how that turns out.

Thank you all that donated to the cause in 2014.  I appreciated your support each year.

  

 

I think I really want a bunny.  M always tells me that I do not.  I think I do.

Charity Challenge- Catch Up

I haven't forgotten to donate monthly to charities so much as I have forgotten to write about it.  I skipped writing about this for June, July, August and September.

Here's where my monthly donations for my Charity Challenge went for the following months:

June:  My monthly donation went to the American Diabetes Association.  Diabetes runs in my family on my mom's side.  I don't have it but I have to be careful as I'm susceptible to getting it if I don't watch my diet and I should lose weight to reduce my chance even further.

July: July's donation went to Minnesota Network of Hospice and Palliative Care.  This network includes Optage Hospice, the provider that was used for my dad.


August:  My coworker Jennifer's sister, Cicely Novy, suffered a brain aneurysm in May 2013. She's had multiple surgeries and setbacks with seizures but she's making progress.  She still can't speak but with huge support from her family, she'll get there. If you're interested in her story or donating, check out the link.  http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/the-novy-fund/58052


September: My dad's birthday is in September so I decided to donate to the American Lung Association for the second year in a row.


All these charities mean something to me in some way as well as all of these charities have very low administrative costs.

I'll post about October's charity later this month.

Cherry Ride 2013

The 6th Annual Cherry Ride was held Saturday, July 20th.  We started at Woody's in Bayport, MN.  Each paying rider received a 2013 Cherry Ride pin and a breakfast buffet.  Check-in was supposed to start at 10 am but by 9:40 am, we already had over 50 bikes there.

The weather was perfect, considering we had just finished a hot streak of weather.  Not only we were celebrating Cherrie, we were also celebrating Ray, Cherrie's brother, since it was his birthday.

We had Dee and Holly, both representing the American Liver Foundation with us to talk and support our ride as this is the foundation where the money we raise goes to.

Johnny said The Lord's Prayer and we hopped on our bikes shortly after 11 am.

We had multiple stops in both Wisconsin and Minnesota throughout the day and at the best count, we had 92 bikes, but depending on who you asked, it was anywhere from 92-98 bikes. Wow.  We really broke last year's record of 55 bikes and compared to the first year, we had 17 bikes.  We're really growing!

We raised over $2,200 to go towards liver cancer research and awareness. We didn't have any accidents during the ride despite our biggest group yet and the fact that we were spread out over a mile in length.  

The day was incredibly successful thanks to so many people and this couldn't have been done without all of you.  This was my favorite Cherry Ride yet.  

Here are some photos of the day but please look at the slideshow of all the pictures I took throughout the day as well as the video that our friend Joe made of the ride so you can get the full day experience.  The link to the photo album is also below in case you don't want to view the slideshow further below.

Cherry Ride 2013 Photos

Charity Challenge- May

This month there were two different charities I gave to this month.  First was for the American Heart Association for the Heart Walk that was scheduled for May 4th.  I would have participated in the walk had it not been on the same day as the Animal Walk.  

The second donation went to Minds Matter.  Minds Matter opened a Twin Cities chapter last fall.  One of my co-workers and his wife opened up the chapter here but both were a part of the New York City chapter when they lived there.  

Here is the mission of Minds Matter:

Our Mission is to transform the lives of accomplished high school students from low-income families by broadening their dreams and preparing them for college success.

They're doing a great job at it too. 100% of Minds Matter students have been accepted into a four-year college.

On Thursday, May 16th, M and I went to the Spring for the Students Rooftop Bash for Minds Matter.  The party was held on the rooftop of the Else Warehouse in Minneapolis.  The restaurant on the ground floor, Borough, catered the event.  DJ Joe entertained us with music and silent auctions were lined along the wall.  One of the students from the Portland chapter came and told her story of success with Minds Matter and is attending college here in Minnesota.

M and I had a great date being fancy for a night while supporting a great cause.    

Upon leaving the party on the roof, M and I walked around the ground floor of the building. The majority of the building is apartments and wow, they're not cheap.  They have an apartment that is larger than our house.  Check out some of these amenities.  

Successful Walk

This time of year in Minnesota, you never know what type of weather you are going to get, especially this year.  The day before the Walk for Animals, May 3rd, this is what it looked like outside:

As I write this post, this is what it looks like today, just 11 days later.  It actually got to 98 degrees today. 

Weather was a slight concern for the walk on Saturday, May 4th.  Ultimately it didn't really matter though what the weather was like because I was going to be walking my five miles regardless.  We woke up to chilly temps and a windy morning.  The temperature was just above freezing but with the wind chill, it felt like 27 degrees.  Oh, and it was raining too.  It didn't matter though as I put on my long johns and bundled up for the cold.  

We took a shuttle bus over to the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley. We got to the starting area around 8:40 am and the walk doesn't start officially until 10 am.  We never start on time though.  We also start early as it gets too crowded and busy and there are many people that start earlier so you don't miss seeing all the animals.

Before we started walking, I checked into the fancy area where people who raise over $500 can check in.  I turned in the money, picked up my prizes and headed into the adjoining room.  In there, they had all sorts of refreshments for us including water, coffee, bagels, apples, chips, donuts, etc.  We ate some energy and was on our way.

So what kind of animals did we see this year?  Obviously lots of dogs, a handful of cats, some bunnies, hamsters, ferrets, a duck (of the AFLAC variety), a small horse and a dog that looked like a teddy bear.  The weather kept away a lot of the pets and owners but still thousands turned out. 

The softest rabbit ever

I want to thank all of you who kindly donated to the animals.  Last year I raised $540 and that blew my prior record out of the water.  This year, for my 10th year, I raised $865!!!!!  My goal was $750 and I thought that was quite lofty.  I'm so proud of all of you who have supported me this year or every year.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  

Fuzzer and Powder told me to thank you as well. 

Big brother with his arm around little brother