It's late at night and I am tiiiiirrrrreeeedd! I got up early and did a five-miler. Tomorrow I'll take a day off and then Friday morning I'm going to run 15 miles before work! I have found a pretty fun route for the long run that will take me to the lake and back, so at least I have that to look forward to!
It is so exciting how many people have contributed to the joint donation we will make on behalf of -- what would be -- my Dad's 60th birthday. When I decided to do this -- only seventeen days ago -- my hope was to raise 200 or 300 bucks. We are now at $1753! Each of our acts, while individually modest, is going to combine to provide Akili Academy -- in only its second year, already one of the highest performing schools in New Orleans -- with one of its biggest individual donations of the year! I know we can make it to $2000 and, after we get there, who knows where we'll end up!
I want to take a second to thank everyone that has donated so far. Thank you SO SO much to Dave Emond, Denise and Tom Serio, Danny Serio, Huy Tu, Ben Dransfield, Drea Groner, Wayne Everbeck, Joey Adams, Brian Forte, Chris Wooster, Sandy Sanchez, Emily Lancaster, Andy Toth, Adam Hickey, Stephen Curtis, Tammy Wright, Ariana Bernstein, Christina Cipriano, Annmarie Vilkins, Marisa Pizza, Ashley Goldsmith, Meka Buchman, Ashley Gordon, Catherine Lyons, Gretchen Wieland, Kevin Pflug, Colleen Corcoran, Liz Sluder, Tracy Shandor, Lauren Neupert, Maria Grupinski, Holly Mandell, Mark Metrinko, Kathleen Warner, Kevin Albrecht, Ian M. Hartshorn, Jeff and Amy Price, Sarah Baldwin, Nina and Steve Coniker, Jennifer Coleman, Jenna Haines, Audrey Haines, Debbie and Sandy Steiger, Rachele Armstrong, Ali Quirk, Robert Stefani, Timothy Bryant, Mariposa Stormer, Nora Gerstein, Chrissy Kiernan, Karen Hart, Jerry and Lilbby Haines, Lori and Chris Haskell, Jean Haines Homan, David Brown, Kathy and Billy Nazzaro, Amanda Kizer, Benny Canda, Amanda Catalani, Kate Schuman, Bridget Hatfield and Tyler Ogilvie!
Holy shit! That's 62 donations (if you count spouses as a combined one donation) and we still have 18 days to go!
Not only am I hoping we get to $2000 in the next few days, but I also hope we get to 100 contributors by race day!
Whether it's $4 or $150, it's such an incredible thing to see how many people care. Sixty-two people who care enough about kids most of you have never met, or my Dad -- a man a lot of you haven't met either. That makes me feel really great about the kind of people I surround myself. I don't believe that luck has TOO much to do with too many things...so I won't say I'm lucky to know you, but I do know that I am so happy to know you -- whether you're family, one of my best friends, a friend of a friend, or something in between.
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Considering what she went through, it's incredible to think that it was Anne Frank who wrote the following words:
"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death... I think... peace and tranquillity will return again.
Anne Frank hid for 25 months -- hunted like an animal -- and could still utter those words: "I still believe that people are really good at heart." And, yet, so many disagree with her...
They obviously don't know the same people I do. :-)
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