Gimme Five! for Light the Night

This is my first Light the Night fundraising note.

Hi everyone,

If you donated to my 2009 Cancer Kickin’ Campaign for the Country Music Half-Marathon in Nashville, then this note is just informational – no action is requested. Thanks again for your generous donation.

If you are currently out of work, then this note is just informational – no action is requested. I sincerely hope that you are employed soon.

But if you are not in one of these two groups, then I am asking you to Gimme 5!

1. Gimme 5 minutes of your time! On October 29, I’ll be walking two miles to light the night! Go to my Light the Night web page at:

http://pages.lightthenight.org/va/Richmond09/ARitter

There, you will learn more about The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and its Light the Light Program. In the four or five minutes that it takes you to review my web page, someone new is diagnosed with a blood cancer – so money for research and patient support is desperately needed.

2. Gimme 5 bucks! I am trying to raise a very modest $200 by doing this event, and so I am requesting a very modest five dollar donation to this great cause. I have already raised $45, and so if only 31 of you getting this note make a five dollar donation, then I will reach that goal – and you will have helped in the battle against cancer. Of course, larger or smaller donations are much appreciated, too!

3. Gimme 5 friends! Send this e-mail to five of your friends or colleagues and help me spread the word about what I am doing! Maybe they will want to make a donation as well, or maybe they know someone who has cancer and who will get some encouragement that people are out there making a difference.

4. Gimme 5 months since I ran the half-marathon in Nashville! During the five months that I’ve been taking it easy since the race, approximately 21,600 Americans have died from blood cancers.

5. Gimme 5 years since volunteering for LLS! This coming January marks five years since I went to a informational meeting for TNT and signed up to do the Midnight Sun Marathon. I am alive and healthy seven years after getting Hodgkin lymphoma only because of cancer research. When I was ill, I pledged to give something back once I was healthy again, and raising money for LLS is what I have been called to do. But I can’t do it without you.

6. Gimme 5 hundred thousand Americans who have contracted blood cancers in those five years! I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be a survivor! Help me help others with cancer to win their battles.

So Gimme Five! You’ll be helping so many others, and you will feel good about yourself all day! Thanks for the support, and thanks again if you donated to my Team in Training campaign earlier.

With humble gratitude,
Art