5X1K; Give 5/Get 1; Find 1,000 (*)

This will be my third event with Team In Training. Cancer is such a devastating and unbelievably prevalent disease that I’m always drawn back to supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I’m as excited and motivated as ever to help support LLS, to raise a lot of money for the society, and to have a lot of fun in the process.

So, this being my third time around, and recognizing that economically things are, shall we say, challenging for many of us, I felt like I needed a new way to fundraise. Something that could be fun, would be easy for people to participate in, could reach many people, and could raise a lot of money in the process.

Now, we’re all painfully aware of social media. Twitter this, Facebook that, text, pix, email, SMS, MMS, bloggy-blog, blah, blah, blah. BUT – it got me thinking. There are a lot of people out there that I’m connected to. And all of those people are connected to a lot of people. And so when you think about it, we all sort of become connected to each other by one or two other people. Sort of like that old bit about Six Degrees of Separation – or my personal favorite version Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

That’s a lot of people! What if I could reach 1,000 of them?! What if I could get $5 from 1,000 people?! How cool would that be?! Sort of like Ashton Kutcher getting 1,000,000 followers on Twitter – only on a slightly smaller scale.

So, I decided this time I would launch a campaign to raise $5,000 by finding 1,000 people to each donate $5. Pretty awesome right? I know!

Want to help?! You just need to do two things. First, donate $5 to my campaign. Second, find one other person and convince them to do the same thing. That means that person donates $5 and also finds another person…and so on and so on… Then use your own social media to spread the word. Tell the world that you’re fighting cancer in your Facebook status, your Twitter feed, or whatever forum you prefer.

And to keep track of all the awesome people who donate and all our sprawling connections, I’ve put together a special Facebook page. Throw a post on the page and let us know who got you connected, and who you’ve reached out to (and for you advanced FB users, be sure to tag people in the process). Hopefully we’ll see a never-ending string of posts showing all the great people who have joined our little movement.

So, get your spouse, your sibiling, your college roommate, that kid you know from High School but haven’t talked to in a while – and get them to join you.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that cancer is a really horrible disease. Together, we can all make a difference. It’s simple: give $5 and get 1 person. Who’s with me?

(*) Decoding

5X1K = 5 times 1,000

Give 5/Get 1 = Give $5 and Get 1 Person to repeat the process

Find 1,000 = Help find 1,000 people who will fight cancer