Immediate Impact Breast Cancer Walk

Dear Friends and Family,

As many of you may know, I participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure event for the past two years. Each year, I walked 60-miles in 3Days. The first year, with the help of my generous sponsors, I raised $6,240.00. Last year, we raised $7,605.00 towards the fight against Breast Cancer.

Most of you also know that I withdrew from my participation with the Susan G. Komen 3Day after some controversial decisions were made by the Komen Foundation in early February of this year. I was looking forward to participating and raising money in my 3rd event, but I so strongly disagreed with the foundation’s decisions that I decided that I could no longer support them. I sent out an email to my previous supporters in early February which announced my decision to withdrawal. If you are interested in seeing that letter, which had more detailed information, please let me know, and I will gladly forward along a copy to you.

I am very excited to announce that I have found a new organization and event to support and raise money for!

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of my team, the Warming Hut Hotties. Over the past 9 years, the members of this team have raised a combined total of $2,893,028.00. Yes, you read that right – this amazing team has raised nearly 3 MILLION dollars!

After the Komen announcement in early February, I learned that many people from my team had the same feelings that I did, and no longer felt comfortable supporting the organization. In response to the confusion of what to do, and where to go next, three of the original members of our team decided to take matters into their own hands and created a new event for anyone from our team who wanted to participate.

First, I should mentioned that these same people had the foresight to set up a non-profit organization called “In Our Lifetime” ( http://inourlifetime.org ). They formed it a few years ago, but this new event will be the first project under the “In Our Lifetime” name.

The mission of In Our Lifetime is to maintain awareness about the breast cancer cause; to solicit and receive contributions to support a cure for breast cancer; to distribute contributions to individuals and community organizations; and to assist and support individuals affected by breast cancer.

The name of this new event is called “Immediate Impact Breast Cancer Walk” ( http://immediateimpactwalk.org ). It is a small, grass-roots effort run by volunteers who have been involved in multi-day breast cancer walks since 2000. Currently, we have about 30 dedicated walkers signed up for the event, which will be held in San Francisco from Friday, September 28th through Sunday September 30th, 2012. We plan to walk 55-miles over the course of those three days. Our team goal is to raise $100,000.

A huge effort is being made to keep costs as low as possible, and to have as much of the donated money as possible go towards the beneficiaries of our event. The organizers of the event are all donating their time, and we, the participants, are responsible for paying for various costs of the event including our food, lodging, registration, t-shirt. etc. We have generous friends and former teammates volunteering their time and expertise to crew and provide medical assistance.

The Immediate Impact Walk will benefit three beneficiaries who were selected by our event participants in an open nomination and voting process. The three beneficiaries are all Bay Area non-profits who provide services to men and women who are living with breast cancer. Our goal is to grant 80% of the funds raised by this year’s event to these organizations. (Our goal is to also keep the administrative/event costs under 20%.)

The three Beneficiaries for the 2012 Immediate Impact Breast Cancer Walk are: The Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, and Friend to Friend Fund at UCSF Mt. Zion. You can read more about each of our beneficiaries here: http://www.immediateimpactwalk.org/impact/beneficiaries2012.asp

I hope you can understand my excitement for this new event. I find it rewarding to know that we are able to channel our disappointment in the decisions of one organization, and turn it into a powerful, exciting new venture. I feel very strongly about the dedication of my team, the people who run it, and our ability to raise money for people who are battling breast cancer.

I participated in my first team training walk this past Saturday. We walked 8.5 miles around the Presidio in San Francisco. We are 17 weeks out from the event, and will train almost every weekend (Saturday and Sunday) until the event at the end of September. This weekend, I plan to walk 10 miles on Saturday and 10 miles on Sunday with my team. (Dick may even come out to join me!) I generally train 6-10 miles during the weekdays on my own. Last year, I trained more than 250 miles before the event with my team, in addition to the miles I trained on my own. I expect the numbers will be similar this year.

My personal fundraising goal this year is to raise $10,000. It’s a lofty goal, I know, but with a few planned fundraising events, and the generous support of my friends and family, I think we can do it together!

With that in mind, I am writing to ask you for your support. Please help me to raise my goal of $10,000. Any amount is appreciated, and no amount is too big or too small - $5 is as good as $50, and if you can do more, that would be terrific. I realize times are tough, and if you are unable to donate, that’s okay, too. I appreciate your support in any way that you are able to give it.

Walking 55 miles in 3 days is still a daunting task, and it will take a lot of time and work to train my body to be ready for the challenge. I am once again positive that with your support and encouragement, I will make it through!

I promise to do my very best in raising money, training, and completing this new journey.

Please follow the link below to visit my personal fundraising Web page and make a donation. If you don't want to donate online, you can download and print a donation form from this page ( http://www.immediateimpactwalk.org/impact/participants.asp ) and mail it to the address on the form.

http://www.immediateimpactwalk.org/impact/participantpage.asp?fundid=1724&uid=3080&fkroledescid=5

Thank you for your support and consideration.

With Gratitude,
Trina Chow