Combining Exercise with Fundraising

I am tired tonight! My day started about 5AM when I went out and ran and walked 2 miles. Why only two miles? Because I had a hint that I would be doing some more miles later in the day.

We are doing a team silent auction next month, and I have been too busy to try to collect items. Today, I decided it was time to get my sorry butt in gear and collect some items. After all, a silent auction with nothing to bid on is a pretty poor excuse for an auction, wouldn’t you say?

So I took a little time off from work this afternoon, and walked all over downtown Richmond. I wore my trusty pedometer, and ended up walking nearly five miles to solicit things. I got some nice donations: several great restaurant gift certificates, two tickets for up to four each at the Richmond Symphony, and a night at a nice downtown hotel, the Omni. Plus I left letters with at least 10 places for their consideration. I have a few more places to try as well, so will be walking about tomorrow also, but maybe not quite as far.

One business owner, after hearing me tell him what I was doing, said “Why not? At least you came in here in person – most people asking for things just call on the phone.” He was impressed when I told him that I had walked 4.5 miles by that point trying to roust up some nice items for people to bid on.

So, all in all, it was a good Team in Training day. I got some nice items from generous businesses that I can hopefully turn into cash in the battle against blood cancers. And I got some fresh air and exercise. All in all, for the entire day, I walked over 18,000 steps, which is about 10 miles. So I am going to go have a piece of apple pie – I think I have earned it today!