Sponsor Me in AIDS Walk 2007!

Joelle said around mid-morning on September 11, 2007

(Every year since 2004 I’ve participated in San Diego’s AIDS Walk event.  The first year I did it, I personally raised over $3000, then joined forces with a friend of mine to throw a concert to raise an additional $1200, making me the #1 fundraiser in San Diego that year.  I was so proud.

The next year, my friend decided we should do it “full-time”, she wanted to make it a huge money-making “non-profit” event. She wanted to take salaries and really blow it out into a huge thing.  I just wanted to do something good for other people. I wasn’t interested in making it a major production or taking a salary or whatever.  I personally enjoyed raising that money, it made me feel good and I was really proud of the fact that I’d done most of the fundraising on my own.  This wasn’t what I wanted and I said so.  Next thing I know, we’re a 501(c)3 non-profit, I was designing a logo and we were promptly in over our head.  While our first concert in 2004 was such a success (mostly because I’d already raised quite a bit of money; the concert was just icing on the cake), the reliance on the concerts to raise the same kind of cash was a bit deluded.

Needless to say, I didn’t have time to work a non-profit full time. I didn’t feel right about taking a salary (though I don’t believe anyone ever did since we never had any money), so I relied on my friend to take care of it.

I really was so proud of what I had accomplished in 2004 and I knew in my gut when my friend wanted to “go big” with it that yet another thing I was proud of would be played with by her for about 10 minutes and then left for something shinier in a matter of months, and the Little Fundraiser That Could (that’s me!) would end up a joke. But, my friend is persuasive and I loved her very much, so I believed. I believed she wouldn’t let me down.

Unfortunately, we’re no longer friends, but I am still participating in AIDS Walk.  I’m a little late this year, so I don’t anticipate that I’ll rake in thousands, but I’d be really honored to offer them whatever I can raise.

AIDS Walk San Diego is on Sunday, September 30, 2007.  I’ve registered to walk and if you’d like to sponsor me, I’d welcome your donation.

Any donation, no matter how small, is appreciated. And don’t forget!  The Boobiethon is coming soon, so if you’re into breasts (and really, who isn’t?) get ready to get your give on.