Getting Started
Feb. 16th, 2011 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayfurrIt's February. There's THREE FEET OF SNOW on the ground at my house in Vermont.
And yet, I long since started my planning and ramping up for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure... the "3-Day", if you will, since that's what we all tend to call it. I'm not scheduled to be in a 3-Day until July when I'll be serving as crew for the Boston walk, and I'm not scheduled to walk until early September when I'll do the sixty miles of the San Francisco Bay Area 3-Day, followed in mid-October by the sixty miles of the Atlanta 3-Day.
What have I been doing?
Well, I've volunteered at four 3-Day Get Started meetings: one in Horsham, PA, one in Woodinville, WA, one in Issaquah, WA, and one in Gaithersburg, MD. Strictly speaking I don't need to go to these meetings because first, I'm a repeat walker and they're generally actually meant for new walkers to come and get their questions answered and get registered, and second, there are nearly always enough local volunteers on hand to help the 3-Day field coordinator for a 3-Day with answering questions and welcoming participants to the meeting. But, that being said, it's fun to help out, although I've had some weird reactions from the local field coordinators. I didn't let the Pennsylvania coordinator know I was coming until the day of the meeting and when I walked in wearing a business suit, not having had time to change, and introduced myself, she acted like I was someone quasi-legendary. I sincerely do not know why; I've walked a lot fewer walks and raised a lot less money than many people, but perhaps my general garrulousness and over-the-top gormless enthusiasm has gotten me noticed. When I contacted the field coordinator in the Seattle area to volunteer, she told me she'd already heard from the Pennsylvania coordinator that I'd been at one of her meetings the prior week -- causing me no end of "Wha...?" Seriously: I find it a teensy bit disconcerting to know that I can attend a Get Started meeting in rural Pennsylvania and have event staff on the West Coast chatting about it the next day. I'm not a breast cancer survivor and I'm not particularly inspirational, but again -- I am good at being noticed. Even if I don't want to be. I guess it's that.
I've also been on my first 3-Day training walk. I spent two weeks in Greenville, South Carolina last month and took time out over the weekend to go down and visit friends of mine from Team Twitter ATL (my Atlanta 3-Day team) for a 9-mile (or so) training walk in downtown Atlanta. It was fun -- but COLD. I was roundly blamed for bringing the winter weather from the north with me. :) It wasn't an official training walk in that it wasn't announced and registered on the 3-Day website for everyone to attend, but nonetheless, we were all decked out in our pink and we had five participants in the walk -- and two dogs. You can see phots from our walk here.
This week I became an official 3-Day training walk leader (again), becoming all official and stuff, and now have the right to stick training walks out on the 3-Day website for others to attend -- but at the same time, I am responsible for planning the route to go by public bathrooms, stick to sidewalks and roads with wide shoulders wherever possible, and make sure people are not walking with MP3 players blasting in their ears and/or talking on cell phones. We want all training walks to be safe and properly run ... and on good, safe, appropriate routes. In Vermont, that's not always easy; we don't have a lot of public bathrooms except in Burlington and South Burlington and Williston, and that's not really helpful because our small contingent of registered walkers is spread out all over the state. But we try. Heck, one time two years ago we actually got seven people to show up for a training walk!
I've also had my official interview with the 2011 Crew and Volunteer interviewer. In past years each of the 15 3-Day cities had its own Crew and Volunteer Coordinator, but this year the job of pairing crew members with crew teams has been reassigned to, I believe, four 3-Day staffers. Since each city might have 300-400 crew, they're allowing people who did a particular crew in the past to simply carry their assignment over to 2011 -- and hence they're just interviewing the people who indicate an interest in a new assignment or in being captain of a crew team. I'd be delighted to be a crew team captain, but not for the power and glory and ego of it or anything like that. I think it'd be fun -- I've coordinated volunteers for Vermont Symphony Orchestra concerts back in the day, and I was pretty good at it. But I'd also be happy to be a member of a crew team and just do my work and be happy helping out wherever I can. I was told that I may wind up being a crew captain, but that it can't be guaranteed because they also need to see which 2010 captains are coming back to crew again in 2011... and they need to see whether I'd be a good fit with a team. There are many, many crew assignments, from camp duties to duties out on the 3-Day route. You can see a list of crew teams here if you're curious.
I've been a Pit Stop crew member twice now and I'd like to do something different, whatever that might be. If I had my first choice, it'd be to be a member of the Route Marking crew, even though that's a particularly isolated crew assignment: it consists of several pairs of crew members, out driving around the day before the event even starts putting up all the directional arrows and route marking signs. When Day 1 is underway, the Route Marking crew is out putting up the Day 2 signs... and on Day 2 they're putting up Day 3 and taking down Day 1, and so on. On Day 3 they're taking down the Day 3 in stages and then leaving the end of the route to be taken down by one-day volunteers so the Route Marking crew can go attend closing ceremonies along with all the other crew and the walkers.
Carole had her interview tonight and she was promised the Route Marking crew. If I don't wind up as a captain, I'll probably be her partner on that crew. If I do wind up as a team captain I could be pretty much anywhere. Again, I'll be happy doing whatever the event needs.
Let's see -- what else have I been doing? I've been trying to coordinate the members of my Atlanta 3-Day team -- made up of walkers and crew alike. Our common thread is that most of us are active on Twitter and have been cheering one another on in the past as we've all been off doing our 3-Day walks in 2010. This year 23 of us (and counting) are going to come together from all over the country to do Atlanta together. We're called "Team Twitter ATL" -- third largest team in Atlanta at present and (it appears) still growing. You can see our team page here: http://www.the3day.org/goto/teamtwitteratl
And, finally, I've been fund-raising. With 247 days to go before the Atlanta walk, I'm doing well on fund-raising, helped in part by several donations from co-workers who then got our mutual employer to match their donations. I've promised to match any donation made on my behalf, then get my employer to match that, so I have hopes of making my Atlanta $2,300 goal well in advance of the walk so I can then turn my attention to the raising of the $2,300 needed for the San Francisco walk, which actually chronologically comes first. Still, with my promise to match and my employer's willingness to match me, I really only have to raise 1/3 of the $4,600 ($2,300 per city) in order to walk both. I'd like to raise much, much more than $1,533.33, but like many walkers, I start by setting my goal at the minimum $2,300 and then increase it to a higher level once I reach the minimum.
If you'd like to support me in my 3-Day fundraising and help pay for treatment and detection and research, I'd be honored and grateful to have your support. You can donate toward my Atlanta 3-Day fundraising total at http://www.the3day.org/goto/jayfurr and you can donate toward my San Francisco fundraising total at http://www.the3day.org/goto/jay_sf -- either is fine. :) And, as above, I'll match any and all donations made on my behalf, and my employer will match me. Your donation will, therefore, count triple in the end! Every dollar counts, but so does every $10, $50, and $100. It's all tax deductible and, as always, it keeps me out there and walking... but more importantly, it helps save lives. Thank you in advance for any help you can give!
And yet, I long since started my planning and ramping up for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure... the "3-Day", if you will, since that's what we all tend to call it. I'm not scheduled to be in a 3-Day until July when I'll be serving as crew for the Boston walk, and I'm not scheduled to walk until early September when I'll do the sixty miles of the San Francisco Bay Area 3-Day, followed in mid-October by the sixty miles of the Atlanta 3-Day.
What have I been doing?
Well, I've volunteered at four 3-Day Get Started meetings: one in Horsham, PA, one in Woodinville, WA, one in Issaquah, WA, and one in Gaithersburg, MD. Strictly speaking I don't need to go to these meetings because first, I'm a repeat walker and they're generally actually meant for new walkers to come and get their questions answered and get registered, and second, there are nearly always enough local volunteers on hand to help the 3-Day field coordinator for a 3-Day with answering questions and welcoming participants to the meeting. But, that being said, it's fun to help out, although I've had some weird reactions from the local field coordinators. I didn't let the Pennsylvania coordinator know I was coming until the day of the meeting and when I walked in wearing a business suit, not having had time to change, and introduced myself, she acted like I was someone quasi-legendary. I sincerely do not know why; I've walked a lot fewer walks and raised a lot less money than many people, but perhaps my general garrulousness and over-the-top gormless enthusiasm has gotten me noticed. When I contacted the field coordinator in the Seattle area to volunteer, she told me she'd already heard from the Pennsylvania coordinator that I'd been at one of her meetings the prior week -- causing me no end of "Wha...?" Seriously: I find it a teensy bit disconcerting to know that I can attend a Get Started meeting in rural Pennsylvania and have event staff on the West Coast chatting about it the next day. I'm not a breast cancer survivor and I'm not particularly inspirational, but again -- I am good at being noticed. Even if I don't want to be. I guess it's that.
I've also been on my first 3-Day training walk. I spent two weeks in Greenville, South Carolina last month and took time out over the weekend to go down and visit friends of mine from Team Twitter ATL (my Atlanta 3-Day team) for a 9-mile (or so) training walk in downtown Atlanta. It was fun -- but COLD. I was roundly blamed for bringing the winter weather from the north with me. :) It wasn't an official training walk in that it wasn't announced and registered on the 3-Day website for everyone to attend, but nonetheless, we were all decked out in our pink and we had five participants in the walk -- and two dogs. You can see phots from our walk here.
This week I became an official 3-Day training walk leader (again), becoming all official and stuff, and now have the right to stick training walks out on the 3-Day website for others to attend -- but at the same time, I am responsible for planning the route to go by public bathrooms, stick to sidewalks and roads with wide shoulders wherever possible, and make sure people are not walking with MP3 players blasting in their ears and/or talking on cell phones. We want all training walks to be safe and properly run ... and on good, safe, appropriate routes. In Vermont, that's not always easy; we don't have a lot of public bathrooms except in Burlington and South Burlington and Williston, and that's not really helpful because our small contingent of registered walkers is spread out all over the state. But we try. Heck, one time two years ago we actually got seven people to show up for a training walk!
I've also had my official interview with the 2011 Crew and Volunteer interviewer. In past years each of the 15 3-Day cities had its own Crew and Volunteer Coordinator, but this year the job of pairing crew members with crew teams has been reassigned to, I believe, four 3-Day staffers. Since each city might have 300-400 crew, they're allowing people who did a particular crew in the past to simply carry their assignment over to 2011 -- and hence they're just interviewing the people who indicate an interest in a new assignment or in being captain of a crew team. I'd be delighted to be a crew team captain, but not for the power and glory and ego of it or anything like that. I think it'd be fun -- I've coordinated volunteers for Vermont Symphony Orchestra concerts back in the day, and I was pretty good at it. But I'd also be happy to be a member of a crew team and just do my work and be happy helping out wherever I can. I was told that I may wind up being a crew captain, but that it can't be guaranteed because they also need to see which 2010 captains are coming back to crew again in 2011... and they need to see whether I'd be a good fit with a team. There are many, many crew assignments, from camp duties to duties out on the 3-Day route. You can see a list of crew teams here if you're curious.
I've been a Pit Stop crew member twice now and I'd like to do something different, whatever that might be. If I had my first choice, it'd be to be a member of the Route Marking crew, even though that's a particularly isolated crew assignment: it consists of several pairs of crew members, out driving around the day before the event even starts putting up all the directional arrows and route marking signs. When Day 1 is underway, the Route Marking crew is out putting up the Day 2 signs... and on Day 2 they're putting up Day 3 and taking down Day 1, and so on. On Day 3 they're taking down the Day 3 in stages and then leaving the end of the route to be taken down by one-day volunteers so the Route Marking crew can go attend closing ceremonies along with all the other crew and the walkers.
Carole had her interview tonight and she was promised the Route Marking crew. If I don't wind up as a captain, I'll probably be her partner on that crew. If I do wind up as a team captain I could be pretty much anywhere. Again, I'll be happy doing whatever the event needs.
Let's see -- what else have I been doing? I've been trying to coordinate the members of my Atlanta 3-Day team -- made up of walkers and crew alike. Our common thread is that most of us are active on Twitter and have been cheering one another on in the past as we've all been off doing our 3-Day walks in 2010. This year 23 of us (and counting) are going to come together from all over the country to do Atlanta together. We're called "Team Twitter ATL" -- third largest team in Atlanta at present and (it appears) still growing. You can see our team page here: http://www.the3day.org/goto/teamtwitteratl
And, finally, I've been fund-raising. With 247 days to go before the Atlanta walk, I'm doing well on fund-raising, helped in part by several donations from co-workers who then got our mutual employer to match their donations. I've promised to match any donation made on my behalf, then get my employer to match that, so I have hopes of making my Atlanta $2,300 goal well in advance of the walk so I can then turn my attention to the raising of the $2,300 needed for the San Francisco walk, which actually chronologically comes first. Still, with my promise to match and my employer's willingness to match me, I really only have to raise 1/3 of the $4,600 ($2,300 per city) in order to walk both. I'd like to raise much, much more than $1,533.33, but like many walkers, I start by setting my goal at the minimum $2,300 and then increase it to a higher level once I reach the minimum.
If you'd like to support me in my 3-Day fundraising and help pay for treatment and detection and research, I'd be honored and grateful to have your support. You can donate toward my Atlanta 3-Day fundraising total at http://www.the3day.org/goto/jayfurr and you can donate toward my San Francisco fundraising total at http://www.the3day.org/goto/jay_sf -- either is fine. :) And, as above, I'll match any and all donations made on my behalf, and my employer will match me. Your donation will, therefore, count triple in the end! Every dollar counts, but so does every $10, $50, and $100. It's all tax deductible and, as always, it keeps me out there and walking... but more importantly, it helps save lives. Thank you in advance for any help you can give!
