cheetahs

Results of G’s Save the Cheetahs fundraiser, and the true gold

Yesterday was G’s big day: his first fundraiser.

(And, as I write this, wishing I could somehow mainline caffeine directly into my veins, he is now full-out begging to start his next campaign which will evidently be for the almost-extinct tigers. But that’s a project and a topic for another day.)

We had a solid turnout yesterday, with 31 climbers and dozen or so other attendees. All in, between our share of the climbing fees (31 X $9 = $279), sales of special Stone Creek Coffee, and donations, we raised $478 for World Wildlife Fund, which combined with the $145 previously donated through G’s World Wildlife Fund fundraising page puts him at $623, solidly over his $500 goal.

Wooooo-hoooo! Go G!!! And thank you, everyone.

Equally important, it seemed like everyone who participated had a good time.

At the end of it all, in addition to doing our little part to help endangered species, the real prize is THIS:

A kid that, at the end of the event, said “I have a rule. I don’t stop until I meet my goal.”

That, my friends, is gold. Pure GOLD.

Many many thanks to all who participated, climbed, donated money, donated prizes, showed up, donated food, ate, laughed, and cared.

HUGE thanks to Adventure Rock for being a great partner with even greater staff. And to Steve Hawthorne and Stone Creek Coffee for the super special coffee that helped push us over goal.

Much love. (a very tired) Spaight

How to make someone’s day

ohmygawd…the G-man is on coffee!!! I am both ridiculously giddy about and deeply touched by this.

My amazing friend Steve Hawthorne from Stone Creek Coffee made this happen for G, for his wildlife fundraiser this Saturday, March 31 at Adventure Rock.

As cool and worth sharing as that is, I actually do have a point here. Steve’s kindness has brought to the forefront of mind how wonderful it is to make someone’s day. Within whatever resources we have at our disposal.

It doesn’t have to be STUFF, it can be as simple as a sincere compliment (my Dad is the master of this), a note in a lunchbox, any thoughtful thing that says:

“I see who you are and what you are doing, and care enough to acknowledge it.”

I try to do this from time to time. A yoga class for a friend in need of healing. Emergency gummy candy “meds” for a stressed-out friend. A good book for a friend who is missing her dogs, lost in a sudden divorce. But I need to do more.

It makes a LOT OF JOY. Imagine if we all did this every day.

What can you do to make someone’s day?

Peace. Spaight

A fun chance to show a bunch of kids the power of community

A few months ago, my six-year-old son Griffin and I were goofing around online together (as has a tendency to happen, oh, once in a while. ;] ) We ended up on the World Wildlife Fund site and he decided, completely of his own volition (seriously), that he wanted to start a fundraising page to help save the cheetahs. He pretty quickly raised $145 and immediately pronounced that he wanted to do more. He LOVES him some animals, this one, as so many kids do.

So, I told him we could do a fundraising event, and asked him to think about what he would like to do. Having had his birthday party at Adventure Rock, a great indoor rock climbing gym located near Milwaukee in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, he decided he would like to have his fundraiser there. Great idea, kid!

There are many different ways you can be of help.

One big way is to come to the event, Saturday, March 31, 4PM – 7PM. There is a Facebook event here and it’s helpful if you RSVP so we know how many people to plan for; right now, a week out, we’re guessing 30-ish people. We could use more. :]

For the event, Adventure Rock was awesome and didn’t hesitate to let us have their big party room for three hours and for half of the proceeds from party climbers to go to the cause. It costs $18 if you plan to climb and $9 goes to G’s cheetah fund which goes to World Wildlife Fund. Adventure Rock is open until 10PM and you can stay until then/after the party to keep climbing if you want. If you plan to climb, please fill out this waiver and bring it with you.

If you’ve never climbed rocks or faux rocks before, not to worry. 1. If you want to learn, there is a very safe clip-in system at Adventure Rock and instruction on how to use it. 2. Climbing is totally optional. 3. There’s plenty of party room for climbers and non-climbers alike.

If you don’t plan to climb, you don’t have to pay the $18; we just ask for a small, optional donation of whatever you can comfortably afford.

If you can’t make it to the event but would still like to help, you can make an online donation.

If you can’t afford to donate cash right now, we completely understand. Maybe you can get creative and think of something cool you can do within your resources, like my amazing friend Steve at Stone Creek Coffee, who is putting G’s picture on bags of top-notch African coffee beans and letting us sell them at the fundraiser. (How cool is that?! The kid is on coffee!)

Maybe you can bring a food or beverage item to share. We’re donating beverages (bottled water, Sprecher sodas and Gatorade) and a ginormous tray of taco dip. Several other kind souls have said they will bring treats ranging from a fruit tray to Cheetos (Chester the CHEETAH, yo!) to sweet treats and other assorted deliciousness. I’m pretty sure no one will go hungry at this point, though we could use some additional nutritious choices like a veggie tray, maybe a meat/cheese tray, that sort of thing.

Maybe you have a new or gently-used toy sitting around that you can donate for a door prize for the kids, like another generous six-year-old boy and his Mom did with a cool Lego Ninjago Mountain Shrine set. Chili’s in Franklin also donated some gift certificates and a TON of free kid’s meals, so that’s cool. And Adventure Rock even donated a couple of climbing certificates for us to give away, which rocks (pun totally intended)!!!

Maybe you have or know of a business that can donate some small animal toys for the kids or sell them to us at cost…we’ll be happy to set up a table to share/promote the business in return, as long as it is local/sustainable/cheetah-friendly. : ] (Talking with the Milwaukee County Zoo about this…fingers crossed!)

Anything you can do is equally appreciated. Most of all, we’d love to see your smiling face and have your positive energy in the house with us next Saturday.

While we hope G can meet his goal of raising $500 (so an additional $355) to help protect his beloved cheetahs and other critically-endangered wildlife, the biggest thing that I am hoping he will get out of this experience is a taste of the sheer power of community. I believe that if we want our kids to fix problems in this world, we have to show them how to do that: TOGETHER. It does, as they say, take a village to raise a child; so I’m asking for your help showing this one, and a bunch of other ones, that people care enough to show up, take action, and unite for a cause.

Questions? Comments? Always welcome.

Peace. Spaight

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