Running Post #7/Fundraising Letter

I just sent out the following email to all my friends and family in hopes of getting more money for my half-marathon for AIDS. This email is a little different though, I have created a fun incentive to get people excited about it... Check it out! : ) Oh and as a side note, on my training run tomorrow morning, I'll be running a whopping 11 MILES!! Aaaaahhh!!! Wish me luck because I am super nervous!!

Hey Everyone,

Ok guys, so in order to entice you to donate to my AIDS Half-Marathon, I've decided to copy a fellow Half-Marathon participant. He has raised a ton of money by creating deadlines for his friends and family.

This is what he did: He told them that he if he raised $X by DATE, he would wear a Brownie Costume on his 8 mile run and then he did it again and promised to wear an Athena costume on another long run!! And he really did!! He filmed it and took pictures and posted them all over the place.

So, here I go!!! If I raise $200 from you all by August 14th, I will dress up as a Pin Up girl for my 6-mile run! What do you think?! I'll take a million pictures and post them on Facebook, my blog, etc...

Just think, I could be dressed like this while running 6 miles!

Now back to the serious stuff, I've challenged myself to participate in a half marathon training program that is simultaneously motivating me to run hundreds of miles and helping to bring an end to the devastating effects that HIV/AIDS still has on our society.

Every dollar that someone gives helps improve the quality of life for someone less fortunate. APLA offers dental care, mental health care, bus passes, food banks, health referrals, job training, prevention courses and advocacy on a local, state and federal level. All donations are tax deductible.

It's not too late to donate! I know some of you were waiting for paydays; waiting for a more convenient moment; waiting for a reminder from me... so here it is! Please visit my AIDS Marathon home page and donate today! And remember that I might be dressing up like a Pin Up girl on next Saturday's run!

Thanks for being amazing!! And for all of your generous, generous support!!!

Love,

Leah

Click here to visit my personal page.

If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:

http://apla.convio.net/site/TR/Events/NationalAIDSMarathonTrainingProgram-MARATHONONLY?px=1490081&pg=personal&fr_id=1070&et=VVrx9Zu3iPhbRzlSbTaIKw..&s_tafId=7201

Running Post #5/Fundraising Letter

Today I sent the following email out to my friends in hopes of getting some more money for my Half Marathon for AIDS. And because I have such awesome people in my life, as soon as I sent this out, several people donated right away!! I seriously love my friends! Thank you so much guys!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Ok guys, it's crunch time for me and my fundraising for my Half Marathon for AIDS!!

So, here's the deal, I'm running the Disneyland Half Marathon over Labor Day weekend for AIDS. The deadline to donate is July 2nd!!! Aaahh- That's next Friday! I still need to raise $1370!! While this may sound like a ton of money, if each and every one of you donates just $10, I know that I'll be able to meet the $2000 goal and maybe even surpass it! So, please, please donate! Seriously, every little bit helps!

If I don't meet my goal, I have to personally fork over the rest of the money. While I will gladly do this because I want to do whatever I can to fight AIDS, I would much rather concentrate on the running part of this adventure.

And as if you needed another incentive to donate besides helping in the fight against AIDS, if I'm able to meet my goal by the end of next week, I'll write each and every one of your names on the shirt that I run the marathon in! Neat, huh?!

Please also ask your jobs if they would like to do matching gifts! That would be an incredible way to donate too. My amazing friend who works for Macys asked them and they are matching her gift! So, please ask all your companies to do the same thing!

You can send donation matching forms to:

ATTN: Andrea Lockhart
611 South Kingsley Drive
LA, CA 90005

Every dollar that someone gives helps improve the quality of life for someone less fortunate. APLA offers dental care, mental health care, bus passes, food banks, health referrals, job training, prevention courses and advocacy on a local, state and federal level. Remember, all donations are tax deductible.

MY HALF MARATHON WEBSITE

Thank you to each and everyone of you for supporting my journey! I cannot do this without you!

Love,
Leah

P.S Enjoy the attached picture of me decked out in my running gear! Yep, I am officially one of those runners with the water belt thingy! : ) Hey, I gotta stay hydrated! Think of me Saturday morning as I'll be running my longest distance ever-8 miles!!

Running Post #3

This past weekend, I sent out an email to all my wonderful friends and family, in hopes of encouraging them to donate money to Project AIDS Los Angeles. Like I''ve already mentioned several times before, on September 5th, I'll be running a half marathon for AIDS and I have to raise $2,000 by July 2nd. It's proving to be very difficult to fundraise so I hope that by putting the link here on my blog and having these running updates will create the buzz needed to get more funds. So, please, please donate if you can! If everyone just donated $10, I would be absolutely thrilled!

So, here's this week's letter:

Dear Friends and Family,

So, in case you totally ignored my first email about my decision to run a half marathon, here's what's going on:
I've decided to take on an amazing challenge to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Over the next several months, I'll be training to complete the Disneyland Half Marathon, and I'll be raising money to support AIDS Project Los Angeles. I've never done anything like this before, running 13.1 miles. But the work of APLA is so compelling, I feel I need to do my part. Plus, completing a half marathon is on my bucket list! : )

AIDS continues to be a devastating health problem in the United States. At last count, 1.2 million Americans are now living with HIV, and 56,000 more become infected each year. Fortunately, here in Los Angeles, we have an incredible organization that is working hard to stop the spread of HIV. They also provide food and home health care so that people affected by HIV/AIDS can continue to live full and productive lives.

Now that I've gotten all of that info out of the way, I can let you know how my training is going.. Well, running has never been my forté at all but I am starting to really enjoy it. Wow, I never thought that I would say that! The training is going pretty well and I am proud to say that today I ran 5 miles on the training run!! Whew! Just a month ago, I wasn't even able to run 2 miles and today's 5 miles wasn't actually too bad. We now are running with other people in our pace group so it's a lot more fun. We help support each other and make sure that we are all drinking plenty of water.

So, I hope you will support my efforts by making a tax deductible donation. To find out more, please visit my AIDS Marathon Home Page by clicking on the link below. If you have donated already, then, thanks so much! This means the world to me! You are getting lots and lots of good karma coming your way!

Please don't wait to donate, my deadline to raise all the money is coming up soon on July 2nd! I greatly appreciate your support and will continue to keep you posted on my training progress. Next week, I'll be running 6 miles! Whew!

Love,
Leah

Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://apla.convio.net/site/TR/Events/NationalAIDSMarathonTrainingProgram-MARATHONONLY?px=1490081&pg=personal&fr_id=1070&et=6T_sLd0xqS8EkL8Pr4DY4g..&s_tafId=7201

Easy Money

This and last week, I've had the pleasure of making some very easy money! This is highly welcome since I am still looking for the right job. I have an interview tomorrow which is very promising so stay tuned for the details!

Last Thursday, I babysat for my friend Jason's brother and sister in-law. They have a 13 month old daughter named Anna. She was already asleep when I got there and remained asleep the whole 3 hours that I babysat so it was totally easy. I was actually kind of sad that I didn't get to meet and play with her. I laid on their couch pretty much the entire time and read my book and would glance over at the baby monitor from time to time to check out how she was doing. I can't get over how calming it is to watch babies sleep. They look completely peaceful. Do you think babies dream? Probably about big juicy bottles of milk, huh? : )

Then tonight, I participated in a focus study group for an hour and a half and was paid a whopping $75! All I had to do was sit in a conference room with 7 strangers and talk about our experiences with museums and what we would like to see in an exhibit about the history of Los Angeles. It was super easy and honestly, I didn't really feel like I could contribute a whole lot to the discussion since I am so new to here. Nonetheless, I was paid at the end of the session and I gladly accepted.

"Money is like a sixth sense, and you can't make use of the other five without it". -W. Somerset Maugham