Season of Fundraising
Hey friends, it's been a while!
I've got a few blog post ideas, but I'd love to hear from readers/followers on what topics you'd love to see. Comment below!
Anyway, we are back in the season of fundraising. It's funny that it's a "season" for us, because really, we should be fundraising every day. I mean, it's our child's future that those dollars impact. But life is busy, and fundraising is exhausting, so we tackle it when we can. I'd love to hear from those that fund raise continually - what are your secrets to success and staying energized each year?
For me, fundraising for a cause so meaningful is like riding a roller coaster. At the beginning, we rode the incline as dollars came in as friends near and far heard our story and felt sorry for the diagnosis our newborn baby just got. During that first year of fundraising, our family raised roughly $15,000 for the CFF just through personal donations. But we peaked there.
The years ebb and flow from there, bringing the roller coaster of emotions with them. We feel energized some years and depleted others. We feel humbled when old friends or new friends choose to donate to our cause, and hurt when close friends don't. We feel honored, frustrated, elated, and broken all at once during the season of fundraising. But you should know, we will keep on asking you. We will ask because we have to. We will ask because our pockets aren't deep enough to fix this. (And if you are wondering, WE OURSELVES donate a lot every year).
I try to share on social media the full picture of our lives, which means weaving in CF awareness posts only a small percentage of the time. I feel this helps those families struggling through the initial diagnosis period. I also feel this doesn't depict the true havoc CF can have on a family.
So I get it. We ourselves downplay CF. We don't allow it to consume our thoughts or our time. We only let CF have a small part of our every day, and then we leave it behind. We tackle obstacles as they come, but we don't plan for them. Treatments are part of Sienna's normal routine, but outside of that time, we purposefully fill our children's day with experiences. We have fun and we live life. It is so incredibly important to me, that as Sienna grows, she does not resent her life, and so we stay positive. We do this for her.
But please remember, when I ask you to donate to the CFF, it's not just for Sienna. She may be doing well, but there are thousands who are not. There are children losing their battle before they go to prom. There are young adults awaiting lung transplants to grant them more years with their loved ones.
I know when you see my pictures, you see a happy, silly, smart almost five year old out running around with the rest of the kids. I know when you learned she had CF it shocked you. I truly think the outwards appearance of the disease downplays the severity of the situation. I mean, Cystic Fibrosis is called an "invisible illness" for a reason.
But CF is progressive. It's sneaky. It's terminal. And you know what, sometimes I need that reminder to kick my fundraising into high gear.
I truly believe that raising awareness is the key to her future. The more people aware of the disease, the more that help push drug development through the pipeline through fundraising dollars. As these drugs become available to patients, we see slower disease progression and less complications from the disease. We see more life being lived.
So please join us in our fight against CF, by donating. I can promise you that 60 year old future Sienna thanks you from the bottom of her heart.
I've got a few blog post ideas, but I'd love to hear from readers/followers on what topics you'd love to see. Comment below!
Anyway, we are back in the season of fundraising. It's funny that it's a "season" for us, because really, we should be fundraising every day. I mean, it's our child's future that those dollars impact. But life is busy, and fundraising is exhausting, so we tackle it when we can. I'd love to hear from those that fund raise continually - what are your secrets to success and staying energized each year?
For me, fundraising for a cause so meaningful is like riding a roller coaster. At the beginning, we rode the incline as dollars came in as friends near and far heard our story and felt sorry for the diagnosis our newborn baby just got. During that first year of fundraising, our family raised roughly $15,000 for the CFF just through personal donations. But we peaked there.
The years ebb and flow from there, bringing the roller coaster of emotions with them. We feel energized some years and depleted others. We feel humbled when old friends or new friends choose to donate to our cause, and hurt when close friends don't. We feel honored, frustrated, elated, and broken all at once during the season of fundraising. But you should know, we will keep on asking you. We will ask because we have to. We will ask because our pockets aren't deep enough to fix this. (And if you are wondering, WE OURSELVES donate a lot every year).
I try to share on social media the full picture of our lives, which means weaving in CF awareness posts only a small percentage of the time. I feel this helps those families struggling through the initial diagnosis period. I also feel this doesn't depict the true havoc CF can have on a family.
So I get it. We ourselves downplay CF. We don't allow it to consume our thoughts or our time. We only let CF have a small part of our every day, and then we leave it behind. We tackle obstacles as they come, but we don't plan for them. Treatments are part of Sienna's normal routine, but outside of that time, we purposefully fill our children's day with experiences. We have fun and we live life. It is so incredibly important to me, that as Sienna grows, she does not resent her life, and so we stay positive. We do this for her.
But please remember, when I ask you to donate to the CFF, it's not just for Sienna. She may be doing well, but there are thousands who are not. There are children losing their battle before they go to prom. There are young adults awaiting lung transplants to grant them more years with their loved ones.
I know when you see my pictures, you see a happy, silly, smart almost five year old out running around with the rest of the kids. I know when you learned she had CF it shocked you. I truly think the outwards appearance of the disease downplays the severity of the situation. I mean, Cystic Fibrosis is called an "invisible illness" for a reason.
But CF is progressive. It's sneaky. It's terminal. And you know what, sometimes I need that reminder to kick my fundraising into high gear.
So please join us in our fight against CF, by donating. I can promise you that 60 year old future Sienna thanks you from the bottom of her heart.
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