Day 22: "Who I was is in who you are."

January 31: Thirteen days left!

Less than two weeks. Holy cow. This may have been the most rewarding day of it all so far.

The day has been a bit of a roller coaster (nothing too low...but it went from "I think fundraising is slowing down a bit," to, "Oh my gosh, woo woo WOO!") More on that in a second, but there has been one constant:

I have been thinking about my Dad all day long. And those are the best days.

Life is crazy and, while 24 hours never goes by that I don't think of him, he's not on my mind as frequently as he was the weeks after he died. That's why running at night is one of my favorite things to do. "Running," because I have time to let my mind relax and go where it wants to. "At night," because the world looks so much bigger than during the day, and it's nice to think that his energy is somwhere in the big openess I am looking out into.

Today has also been a great one because, at about 4pm, I stopped by my mailbox at work and their were nine new donations! Combined with what you've donated online, we're now up to $2300 -- exactly -- from 79 different contributors!! (Because I'm not at the office and know that I'll forgot someone if I try to thank everyone off the top of my head, I'm going to save that for tomorrow -- though a general thanks is coming right up.)

When I'm saying "thanks" the obvious thank yous are for your belief in the students I'm fundraising for, your belief in my judgement as someone who can pick a worthy cause, and your belief in my ability to run a marathon (good luck with that last one :-) ).

There is also a less obvious (though always present) reason I want to thank you. The reason is on my dad's tombstone. On it, there is a line I paraphrased from a quote we found which reads, "Who I was is in who you are."

Here is the full quote, by Frederick Buechner:

“When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.

For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I'm feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I'm feeling sad, it's my consolation. When I'm feeling happy, it's part of why I feel that way."

Every single time I do something related to this marathon/donation -- whether it's writing a blog entry, going on a run, or receiving a new contribution -- I get to remember him.

Thank you.

Day 18: "Individually, we are one drop. Together we are an ocean."

January 27: Seventeen days left!

Hey y'all! This one's going to be super short. Did a five mile run this morning, the pushups/situps and -- of course -- 16 miles of bike riding (work commute).

The new total is now up to $1898 from 66 donors! Closing in on that new $2000 goal! Thanks SO much to Mandana Namdar, Jami Haines, Kelly Stillufsen, Molly Ruben-Long and Pamela Cox for their contributions today to our joint donation!!

I was talking to a friend today who has been following the training/fundraising and said, at first, she was surprised by how many people have contributed. Next, she said she started trying to figure out why. Her best guess was that the biggest motivator has been the idea that -- when someone can only give $10 -- that person might not give it to a cause they care about because a) It feels unsubstantial, or b) It takes some time to make the donation. She said that in the case of this joint donation, it's easy to feel like they're $10 is being contributed as a piece of something more substantial.

I don't know if that's the case or not, but whatever the reason, I'm happy it's happening!

Her description did remind me of the quote I used in my title line, by Ryunosuke Satoro: "Individually, we are one drop. Together we are an ocean." :-)

Day 17: "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."

January 26: Eighteen days left!

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. :-)

Day 16: "After the final no there comes a yes, and on that yes the fate of the world depends."

January 25: Nineteen days left!

The above countdown feels a little more angst-inducing now that it's in the teens. :-)

I'm going to have to keep this one short again. I've been blogging in the mornings before work as I'm having a tough time finding time to blog at night. I'll try to flip-flop it tonight!

The first thing I owe is a thank you list of recent contributors to the donation! We're over $1300 now so it looks like we're going to up the goal to $1750 pretty soon. Maybe we can hit $2000 -- that would be pretty unbelievable. I'll have that list in tonight's entry!

I ran a great five miles tonight. My left ankle felt a little weak at first, but after a mile and a half or so it felt fine. I have a feeling what bothered the ankle is that I was doing the run right after a flag football game -- which tends to be a lot of starting, stopping and changing direction (all tough on the ankles).

For those of you that have become Mariah Carey Dreamlover (our team name -- don't ask) fans, we won our third game in a row. That's three wins...and three shut outs! This one was a 38-0 win. Go Dreamlovers!

The quote I used in today's heading -- "After the final no there comes a yes, and on that yes the fate of the world depends," is one of my favorites. I think Wallace Stevens was trying to demonstrate the importance of persistence. I think that's what this fundraising effort has required.

Sometimes I worry that I'm taking up all of this on people's facebook walls. I'm sure it gets annoying! But -- there are a few things in life that worth being annoying for. :-)



I was recently courting a girl and, when she finally agreed to go on a date with me she said, "You have the persistence of a mosquito!" Maybe that should have been the title of this blog. :-)

Day 15: "Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve."

January 24: Twenty days left!

I will keep this one super short. First -- I sent a follow-up facebook note out today about the marathon fundraiser and the response was amazing! I will have time to acknowledge those who contributed to our donations, as well as give you a total of where we're at (over $1200!!) tomorrow!

As for a workout -- it has been pouring for hours and hours and hours. I don't mind running in the rain, but I wasn't even able to bike home to get my running clothes (didn't want to get my work clothes soaked). Fortunately, my buddy Kevin Albrecht picked me up from the office so I didn't have to sleep here tonight, and let me crash on his couch. I did do the pushups/situps and, of course, the bike ride to work. I'll make up for the run tomorrow (on top of the flag football game).

In honor of it being one week after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (and me not using a quote of his last week), I wanted to throw this one out there today.

"Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

Some of us have a lot and some of us have less. Of the 6.7 billion people on this planet, all but one of us has more than someone else we're sharing the earth with. There are so many ways to give to those who have less -- whether it's $5, $10, $20 or $200. Here's one way:

You can donate online here: http://www.active.com/donate/daythirtyfive (This is a great way to give and, ultimately, not a bad deal, but so that you don't feel like I'm witholding information from you -- the website charges 6.5% per donation plus $1 per transaction for every donation made. It's still a great way to give!)

But, if you don't want to donate online, you can also send me a check (made out to "Matthew Haines" or "Akili Academy of New Orleans") to the following address:

Attn: Matt Haines
LPTP
200 Broadway Street, Suite #108
New Orleans, LA 70118

Thanks so much and I'll talk to you tomorrow after my run (if the rain ever stops!). :-)

Day 14: “If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.”

Day 23: Twenty-one days left!

I have not been a strong blogger these last handful of days. I'm sorry and I won't let it happen again!

Do you forgive me?

Thank you.

Last time we spoke, my workout consisted of a flag football blowout that catupulted the Mariah Carey Dreamlovers to a 2-0 start! Since then I've had one day off, two five-mile runs and, today, a 15+ mile bike ride across the Mississippi River, through the West Bank and to a Chinese New Year celebration (which was a lot of fun, by the way).

The big 15-miler will be on Wednesday morning.

As far as our collective donation goes, you guys are amazing. Thanks to Dave Emond, Denise and 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 and Ashley Gordon. I currently have more than $850 in hand, with another $300 on its way in the next day or so! Because of this I am upping our goal to $1500. If things go well for another day or so, I'm going to suggest we go for a $1750 donation!!

If you remember, we were originally talking about $200 or $300. I can't tell you how excited I am about the gift we're going to be able to make for the students of Akili in my Dad's name.

Of course I'm thankful for the $50 donations and the $100 donations! But the $5 and $10 ones are big too! I know so many of my friends are paying off student loans or volunteering in AmeriCorps and, so -- when you show your support for something I care about -- it means a lot. I thought this Mother Theresa quote was particularly fitting: "If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one."

This hasn't been exciting becuase one person decided to donate $1000 (Though, if you're out there, you will make this quite exciting :-) ). This has been exciting because, in the sum of our parts, we are creating a gift that can make a difference in the lives of children we will likely never have the pleasure to meet, but who will help shape the world in which we exist.

Day 9: "It's not what you get out of life that counts. It's what you give."

January 18: Twenty-seven days left!

I wanted to keep Day 8 up at the front a little longer, because I anticipated some new folks checking out the blog and I liked that entry. Because of this, I've fallen a little bit behind with my writing. I plan on being caught up by tomorrow morning and, in the meantime, I'll keep these short!

First and foremost -- thanks so much to everyone that has donated! We're on our way to the $1000 goal and it looks like I'll have to up to a more ambitious goal for the third time! I know most of you didn't make that donation FOR me, but, on behalf of whoever you did make it for -- thank you, thank you, thank you!!

As far as workout goes, I'm a little sore after the 10-miler, but still happy with yesterday's results! Today I didn't run, but I did bike 45 minutes to work, I did the pushups/situps, and I played a game of flag football (tiring!). I'm proud to report that the Mariah Carey Dreamlovers (the team name is a story for another day) won our second game, 44-0. That's two shut-outs and that brings our record to a staggering 2-0. :-)

I was sad to find out that Sargent Shriver, the man who was the driving force behind the founded of the Peace Corps at 95 years old. I've always been inspired reading about Mr. Shriver, and I think this excerpt from a speech he gave at Yale University in 1994 does a great job of summarizing what we're trying to do here:

"All of history's great changes--nonviolent changes--came from below, not from above. It comes from us... It's not what you get out of life that counts. It's what you give and what is given to you from the heart . . . And I have one small word of advice because it is going to be tough: Break your mirrors!!! Yes indeed -- shatter the glass. In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. Learn more about the face of your neighbor and less about your own."

LOOK at them:


LOOK at her:


By Wednesday of next week, I believe we will have raised $1,000 that can help these kids overcome the odds and change the course of their lives. Donate here: http://www.active.com/donate/daythirtyfive

Or send a check (made out to "Matthew Haines" or "Akili Academy of New Orleans") to the following address:

Attn: Matt Haines
LPTP
200 Broadway Street, Suite #108
New Orleans, LA 70118

Thanks for helping!