Changing the World in Just One Day

There is an amazing new trend and it's absolutely awesome! Various communities are holding giving days. These are 24-hour fundraising blitzes encouraging people to give where they live. The state where I live (Utah) is having it's Love Utah Give Utah campaign on Friday, March 22, and I'm thrilled to be involved.

One of the wonderful things about this campaign is that many smaller nonfprofit organizations are getting exposure because of the campaign as a whole. In Utah, the hosting organization is also giving extra donations of $1,000 - $2,500 to the causes/organizations that bring in the highest number of unique donations. That's the number of donations, not the dollars given in the donations! This is a great opportunity for those of us working for organizations that have lots of regular people donating instead of major donors.

Another cool thing is the potential for doubling your donation. I heard this morning that there are companies like Maverik and IntegraCore willing to match employees' donations. Some of the charities have also lined up matching donors.





My mom - walking with only
20% feeling in her legs
after 13 years with MS.



My heart is with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and not just because I work for the Utah-Southern Idaho Chapter. I was only nine years-old when my mom was diagnosed with multiple Sclerosis (MS). There weren't any treatments back then and I felt so helpless. She taught me to do "the twist" and we had our "shop til you drop" tradition every Black Friday. Over the years, I watched her struggle with her eyesight and lose feeling in her legs to the point that she eventutally couldn't walk. MS is unpredictable and affects each person differently, making this a very frustrating disease. Mom died in 1999 after 25 years of living with MS. I thought my fight against MS was done until I found friends being diagnosed with MS and I just couldn't sit back and do nothing. Nobody else should lose their mom (or dad, friend, son, daughter, etc.) to this crazy disease! Even kids are being diagnosed with it now.

There are now nine disease-modifying treatments and amazing progress is being made. In case you aren't familiar with scientific and medical research, it's important to know that researchers go where the dollars are. If we can't fund their research, they will move on to other projects. That's just the harsh reality. Please join me in supporting the National MS Society or another great charity during Love Utah Give Utah or find the giving day for your area (Arizona's was March 20). I challenge you to give $14 for the 14 years since I lost my mom to MS. There is a matching grant that will double at least the first $1,000 of donations to the Society, so your money will be extra powerful. If we get the most people donating, we could also earn some extra funds.  YOU will be helping to change the world!