2005

There is NO WAY I could have survived the walks without the amazing support of my family, friends and co-workers. And when I say "We raised more than $28,000," I really mean *we*... because I couldn't have done it without each and every person who has lent their support.... whether it was by making a donation, forwarding an email, driving me to walks, giving me a place to stay, walking with me, calming me down when I was freaking out, attending fundraising events, launching fundraising projects, bidding on auctions, donating goods, spreading the word about my fundraising, etc. Extra-special thanks to Mom and Dick, Dad, and Brett for giving their money, time and support and putting up with all my craziness. :)

I'll start with businesses:

• Fred's Restaurant/Bar (83rd & Amsterdam, NYC) has gone above and beyond... we'd had a great fundraiser there last year and when I approached them this year and said I was doing all 8 walks, they stepped up and committed to doing much more on their end, too.... with the goal of helping me raise $1800 to fully sponsor me for the NYC walk. After each walk, we had a dinner there and Fred's donated a percentage of the bill according to how many people showed up. We also had a fundraiser that raised $921 and they let me guest bartend... with all the tips ($270!) going to the walk. They even said that any time someone came in, from April to October, and mentioned the walk or my name or anything to indicate they were there to support me, they would donate 5% of their bill to the walk. Extra special thanks to Kimberly, David, Mike and Kevin.
• Converse donated 8 pairs of great pink shoes to help get me through the training and walking!
• Michelle at Creativewares.com has been a close friend for a long time and graciously designed many of the shirts (the good ones!) found in my Cafepress store. She's helped me develop logos, websites, banners, stickers and every shirt I wore for the walks. :)
• I first met Kristy at My Little Pretty when I wrote to her asking her to donate some jewelry to my fundraising efforts last year. She sent some beautiful pieces... and, as a bonus, became a great friend! This year, when I told her I was doing all 8 walks, she quickly offered to donate 8 bracelets... one for each walk! Not only that, she created a special "Hope" bracelet that she sells on her site with 20% of the proceeds going to the walk... and has included me in much of her press that she's doing for her own company! (Of course, I won't mention how much she cost me once I explored her site... her jewelry is irresistible.)
• For the second year, I've been lucky enough to have an original painting from Keith Rash to auction off as well as a generous gift certificate from Mona at Dyanna Spa... Guylian donated several boxes of chocolate.... Eddie at Warner Brothers sent me all sorts of swag... Arcadia donated great goody bags to the fundraising effort... and the folks at Cafepress helped me optimize and publicize my fundraising store!

One thing I hadn't fully realized when I committed to doing all the walks this year was the cost... I knew I'd be flying all over the country, but, I hadn't realistically added it all up... if I had, I may never have made the plunge! Some of my friends and family have really helped to offset those costs... whether it was by donating frequent flyer miles, renting cars, arranging accommodations, letting me stay with them, or chipping in some cash. Special thanks here to Dad, Jane, Kara, Jennie, the Shipleys and the Ringnesses. And to WorldNow for making it possible for me to take the time I needed to make this happen. :)

I also had friends and family incurring their *own* costs to travel to some of the walks! It wasn't always *just* to see me, but, STILL! Mom came to Charlotte, LA and NYC... Victoria flew to Charlotte, Chicago and NYC (where she walked 32 miles!)... Tracey came to Charlotte... Kim and Shawn came to Chicago.... Kara came to Boston... Christian and Chad came to LA. It was so amazing to have you guys around, along with the local and semi-local folks, on those weekends. :)

There's another group of really special people to acknowledge... who actually officially walked and fundraised for a variety of the walks... Laura, Keely, Liv and Allison in DC.... Jennie and Raven in SF... Annie in NYC. You guys rock. :) And while I'm on the subject of walkers... I met so many amazing people in the course of 314.4 miles... one of the great things about the Avon walks is even when you're walking alone, you never walk alone. Special thanks to Barbara Jo, Sandy and Mike.. the other 8 city-ers... you guys were a great source of companionship, knowledge, experience and inspiration. And to everyone at the Avon Foundation... it was so wonderful seeing you guys at each event and back here in NYC... it's been a special bonus getting to know you. :)

Everywhere I went, I had friends who came out to dinner before the walk... who cheered us on... made signs... walked a bit... clapped at the finish line... thank you to everyone who was able participate in any way on one of the weekends. :)

This year, since I had a pretty aggressive fundraising goal, I had a *lot* of work to do on the financial side. One of the first things I decided was that I had to try to get people to actually fundraise in addition to getting people to make donations. A few people really embraced that and made great contributions... and I love that they each found a project that fit their own interests. Suzette knitted pink scarves, Danie created custom plastic pendants, and Shell came up with made-to-order booklaces. I always knew I had talented and creative friends!

2005 was the year that Project Teddy Bear really came into its own! And that would never have happened without the help of a great many people. Abby, Danny and Adam spent many a night (or early morning!) waiting with me for various celebrities to come out of shows or other appearances (we managed to drag some other NYers along as well :))... Jaimee worked her work connections... Jess snagged Elvis Costello... Sharon's *still* working on a family connection... Marlo, Jaime and Heather hit conventions with great results... and Kelly was a west coast juggernaut (we finally got to hit a red carpet *together* when I was in LA for the walk there and it was awesome)! We got some *amazing* bears this year that I just never would have had access to on my own. :)

Of course, as my brother is always pointing out, getting the bears is only the first step. There's also almighty promotion. This is where I'm not even going to *try* to name names... but, thank you to everyone who sent emails, posted in their blogs, and got the word out on mailing lists, message boards and websites. I've sent bears across the country and to Japan, Australia, Spain, and the UK this year... I *know* that's thanks to all of you.

Thanks also to everyone who participated in an auction (watching the bidding is truly exhilirating!) and, even though none of them will probably see this, thanks to everyone who signed a bear. None of this would be possible without you. :)

I'm going to stop here... at least for now... I really could go on and on and on, but, then I'd never actually post this thing! I'm deathly afraid there will be glaring ommissions, but, if there are... I hope people will let me fix and update with no hurt feelings. I've been truly overwhelmed by all the support I've gotten this year from every quarter and I hope that not acknowledging everybody by name doesn't detract from that. :)