I've told y'all about the Santa Speedo Run that I'm planning on doing tomorrow. I've already bought the Christmas-colored swimwear: the first 2-piece I've bought since high school, and maybe the first time I've worn a bikini in public in my life. The day's high is supposed to be 29ยบ. I was ready to run 1.5 miles through downtown Boston in a bathing suit. I was really going to do it.
Anne and I were planning on just signing up the day of the event and running it. But then Wednesday one of us was inspired to look at the web site a little closer. It turned out to be a charity event asking each runner to raise $250 for Cradles to Crayons, an organization that gives kids age 0-12 the bare necessities that they need to live and be healthy enough to go to school and get an education. We're talking blankets, jackets, school supplies, cradles, crayons, etc.
I was ready to scrap the idea (part of my huge funk over the last few weeks, but not the only contributing factor).
Anne was ready to run it as a bandit. I agreed that would be acceptable to me.
But then Anne started poking around the web site a little bit more and started feeling bad. These people were really excited about raising money, and it was for a really good cause. If we ran as bandits, karma would probably catch up with us and make sure we looked worse in a speedo than this guy:
So Anne sent out an email to her friends saying that she would do it if she could get $250 in pledges by the end of the day. In 8 hours, she'd raised $280. Anne's like that. She also wrote to the race organizers to see if it would be alright to participate with a more "modest" donation than $250. She's like that. They said yes.
Now I know that times are tough for EVERYONE right now with the economy going to hell, people's 401K's dissolving before their eyes, and the unemployment rate up around 100%. So let's call this an Abe Lincoln drive. I'm collecting as many $5, $10, $15... $3 donations as I can in the next 24 hours.
Please empty out your penny drawer, and then go to firstgiving.com/clairelunardoni and help those who are REALLY going to have a shitty Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Kwanza, or Ramadan, or Festivus) this year. Check out what Cradles to Crayons is doing at cradlestocrayons.org.
If you've come by to leave a comment just so that I'll come by your place and you can't even afford $2, don't worry! I've thought of you too. There's a new post below that you can comment on.
