Mentoring E-Mail # 12

Hello Everyone,

It is the time of the week, when you hunch over your computer, gripped with anticipation, palms all sweaty, wondering “Will I get a note tonight from my Artful Mentor? Or will he forget us this week?” Well, it can now be answered, yes to question # 1, and no to question #2. How could I forget my amazing mentees, as you press onward to raise money to cure blood cancers, all while training for half-marathons and marathons? Pretty astounding, I would say.

Everyone is doing great. All of you have money coming in, and Lexi and Leslie have already passed their minimums for Shamrock, Lexi by enough to be a Virginia Rock Star. Who will be the next Rock Star? By the way, if you want to see a photo of Lexi with her star, it is out on my blog:

http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/2008/12/jingling-in-monumental-fashion.html

Thanks to those of you who participated in the Silent Auction last week, or who told friends about it. It was a rousing success, with nearly $4,000 raised for the team! Great job! And especially a huge THANK YOU to Nicki!

The next big date is February 23rd, about 4 weeks away. That is recommitment date for Country Music, so keep in mind that you will want to have raised $900 or more by then. Obviously, the more you can raise by that date, the more comfortable recommitment is – don’t stop at $900 if you can do more. So, what will you each do this week, if you need to, to get a little closer? Well, is it time for another email update? If it has been more than three weeks, the answer is yes. In fact, if you still have money to raise to hit recommitment, I would advocate for an email update this week, one more in two weeks, and a third a day or so before recommitment. Then after that, slack off to one every three weeks or so.

What else can you do? Well, Nicki has provided me with a list of 25 fund-raising ideas, which I have attached for you. No, you don’t have to do them all. You don’t have to do any of them. But I bet there will be 2 or 3 of these that will appeal to you, and will work for you. Look the list over, and think what might work. Another idea – put up a poster at work advertising your TNT endeavor. If you are interested in this and want ideas, let me know.

We are also discussing having a group “brain-storming” session some evening if there is interest. If any of you would find this useful, please let me know so that I can inform Nicki.

This being the 253rd birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I wanted to use a quote from him. But it turns out that he was too busy composing incredible music – he wrote his first symphony at the age of 8 – to train for marathons. Plus in the 1700’s, the concept of curing cancer was pretty foreign. But giving it some thought, if Mozart was alive today, I think he would say something like this:

“I am immortal through my music. Those of you who make a difference in the world, perhaps by assisting in finding a cure for cancer, will also be immortal through your works.”

Let’s go make some beautiful fund-raising music, Team!

Your Artful Mentor