All those cancer fundraisers

How many of those cancer fundraisers have you been to? This year? I mean the ones where someone is raising money to pay for someone's medical bills, or the ones where someone is raising money to participate in a cancer run/walk/ride. Many organizations have these events to raise money and require all participants to raise a substantial amount - often a few thousand dollars - which leads the participants to come up with creative ways to come up with the amount. The organizations often require participants to provide a credit card which they will charge 30 days after the event for any amount not raised.

People do these for a variety of reasons - maybe they have had cancer or maybe they know someone who has had cancer. I have been to fundraising dinners, lobster/clam bakes, where I work we have a costumed bowling night each year and many more. I send checks, I donate on line, I help how I can.

This weekend I went to a different one - a women's hockey tournament. There are two local women who started this to raise money to participate in a breast cancer walk. They started out with a few teams on a Saturday afternoon. This year, their fifth, they had a Friday night family fun tournament where eight co-ed teams of family members competed in four games. On Saturday they had eight more games with 16 teams of women hockey players.

In addition to having hockey games, they have raffles to raise additional funds. And they don't keep all the money for their walk donation, they donate a substantial amount to several other community organizations - a cancer support group organization (where I work), a center for bereaved children, scholarships for local high school students who lost parents to cancer, and the Jimmy Fund. I have no idea what they raised this year, but last year they raised $17,000.

This is an event which is all about altruistic efforts to help others. The people who run this should be lauded for their efforts. There is too much in this world where people do things for themselves but making an effort not only to help a cause but to help other organizations as well. The world would be a nicer place with more people making this kind of effort to help others.