Spring is arriving quickly in the Pacific Northwest. This past weekend we decided it would be a great time for a lot of the family (VanderHoeven side) to get together and take a walk at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and enjoy some of the nice weather outdoors. There is a great 5½ mile level loop trail there that we thought would be a lot of fun.
Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate, let me digress. Several members of our family decided it would be a great adventure and challenge to participate in this year’s Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. This is a benefit to raise money to fight breast cancer. You raise money via pledges and then walk 60 miles over a period of 3 days with other folks doing the same thing.
There were I believe about 5 family members that expressed a desire to participate in the event. The thinking was that cancer had very profoundly touched our family and it would be a great challenge to get into shape to participate in this event, an honor to dedicate our efforts to those we have lost to cancer and also an uplifting experience for those of us participating.
The ulterior motive of this past weekend’s walk was to kind of give us a baseline for what would be required out of us to get in shape to accomplish this. Also it doesn’t hurt to have a physical reminder the remainder of the week via leg pain to lay off the Cheetos.
The plan is/was to gradually do longer and longer walks throughout the summer until we were ready to tackle the big 60-miler in September. It was only after completing the walk on Saturday that we learned there may be some more difficult things to accomplish than just the physical training.
I’m quoting now from the rules for the event…
“All walkers must agree to raise a minimum of $2,200 for the Breast Cancer 3-Day benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, in order to walk. If you haven’t raised $2,200 by the time you check in for the event, you can make a donation to your own fundraising account, put up a credit card to insure the balance and allow yourself four weeks after the event to continue to fundraise, or you can choose not to participate in the event.”
Ouch.
Of course we always knew this was a fundraiser and figured on raising a couple/few hundred dollars a piece for the event but $2,200 seems like a big number especially considering that the people we would ordinarily go to seeking donations are the very people in the same boat with us trying to come up with the bucks.
I would like to at this point be very critical of that dollar figure but somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I find it difficult to criticize an organization as well-intentioned as this one. I’m sure they know what they are doing and have found this to be their most effective way to cover their own expenses and maximize their contribution to the cause.
That being said, I’m afraid that our good intentions have been killed in their infancy barring some Daddy Warbucks-esque philanthropist rescuing our idea with a $10,000 check. We may instead elect to assemble a team for a Relay for Life type event later in the summer. We will get to accomplish the same goal of raising money to fight cancer but will miss out on some of the challenges of the 3-day event. On the other hand more family members would be able to participate.
Yes, that news was kind of a bummer but that didn't take away from the fact that we had a great time on Saturday. I think all told counting children, there were 14 of us walking together having a very good time. Weather was perfect to start with, cloudy and a little cool.
Apparently the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is a Mecca of sorts for bird watchers. They flocked (pun intended) to the place by droves armed with binoculars and spotting scopes to peek at the innumerable species that frequent the place. It is very cool if you are into that I’m certain.
Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate, let me digress. Several members of our family decided it would be a great adventure and challenge to participate in this year’s Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. This is a benefit to raise money to fight breast cancer. You raise money via pledges and then walk 60 miles over a period of 3 days with other folks doing the same thing.
There were I believe about 5 family members that expressed a desire to participate in the event. The thinking was that cancer had very profoundly touched our family and it would be a great challenge to get into shape to participate in this event, an honor to dedicate our efforts to those we have lost to cancer and also an uplifting experience for those of us participating.
The ulterior motive of this past weekend’s walk was to kind of give us a baseline for what would be required out of us to get in shape to accomplish this. Also it doesn’t hurt to have a physical reminder the remainder of the week via leg pain to lay off the Cheetos.
The plan is/was to gradually do longer and longer walks throughout the summer until we were ready to tackle the big 60-miler in September. It was only after completing the walk on Saturday that we learned there may be some more difficult things to accomplish than just the physical training.
I’m quoting now from the rules for the event…
“All walkers must agree to raise a minimum of $2,200 for the Breast Cancer 3-Day benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, in order to walk. If you haven’t raised $2,200 by the time you check in for the event, you can make a donation to your own fundraising account, put up a credit card to insure the balance and allow yourself four weeks after the event to continue to fundraise, or you can choose not to participate in the event.”
Ouch.
Of course we always knew this was a fundraiser and figured on raising a couple/few hundred dollars a piece for the event but $2,200 seems like a big number especially considering that the people we would ordinarily go to seeking donations are the very people in the same boat with us trying to come up with the bucks.
I would like to at this point be very critical of that dollar figure but somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I find it difficult to criticize an organization as well-intentioned as this one. I’m sure they know what they are doing and have found this to be their most effective way to cover their own expenses and maximize their contribution to the cause.
That being said, I’m afraid that our good intentions have been killed in their infancy barring some Daddy Warbucks-esque philanthropist rescuing our idea with a $10,000 check. We may instead elect to assemble a team for a Relay for Life type event later in the summer. We will get to accomplish the same goal of raising money to fight cancer but will miss out on some of the challenges of the 3-day event. On the other hand more family members would be able to participate.
Yes, that news was kind of a bummer but that didn't take away from the fact that we had a great time on Saturday. I think all told counting children, there were 14 of us walking together having a very good time. Weather was perfect to start with, cloudy and a little cool.
Apparently the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is a Mecca of sorts for bird watchers. They flocked (pun intended) to the place by droves armed with binoculars and spotting scopes to peek at the innumerable species that frequent the place. It is very cool if you are into that I’m certain.
Along with the bird watchers, there was also no shortage of artists lined up at various places along the trail painting the scenery. I couldn’t help but think how much better things will look a month from now when the world is green again but many of the paintings were still quite beautiful. Some people are just so talented.
By the time we completed the loop a cold wind off of the Puget Sound was starting to pick up and mother nature was again reminding us that there are a couple of weeks of winter left to come. We were ready to head back out of the weather and plan out next adventure. I’m hoping we still stick with our original plans. I believe the 10-miler was next.
3 comments:
What beautiful pictures!! And good for you guys for walking so far. The furthest I walked on Saturday was from my computer to the kitchen for some cheetos. :)
You guys are adventurous! Sounds like fun. . Bummer about the insane amount of money.
I am all for the 10 miler! Lets do it. Although I'm all for fried chicken at aunt pams house too. As long as the family is together it doesnt really matter to me what we are doing.
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