Friday, April 24, 2009

What Are You Doing?

Ok, so I am exhausted! Today I worked, munched, lunched, addressed, spoke, walked, tweeted, Etsy'd and blogged! Oh, and it was Stephanie's (my daughter's) birthday--Happy Birthday Baby! Can I sleep now--please?

My executive assistant held our annual Bags of Hope a charity event that we do for the American Cancer Society to kick start our Relay for Life fundraiser. Of course, there was food and "...you have to have a little something." The turn out was great, we had staff and community attendance that far exceed the last 2 year's attendance. Everyone had a great time and it looks like this may be the best year yet for our Relay for Life donations. Great job Ramona and Dawn! LOVED the little Coach purse even though I DID NOT GET IT. Ok, maybe next year.

Then it was on to our Annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. This is truly one of my favorite events of the year. These are the most amazing people that you could ever meet. Their pay for what they do is a smile and a thank you. They give so freely of their time and their selves. We would never be able to do what we do if it were not for these wonderful people. Special thanks to Linda, and Louise you are the wind in our sails.

Then it was on to Lake Eola. Where we walked to defeat ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease even though it was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis that claimed Lou Gehrig's life). It was an unbelievable turnout! When we first became involved with the ALS Association four years ago the attendance at the walk was about 200. Today we reached for 1,000 walkers. Some walked, some pushed their loved ones' wheelchairs, some rolled twice around Lake Eola to raise money to continue the fight against this killer disease.

ALS has no socio-economic boundaries. It is an equal opportunity disease. It strikes in the prime of life and robs its host of function while keeping a sharp mind in a body that doesn't respond until it robs that body of life itself. It is not the beautiful death that people see pictured in movies. It is a cruel and uncaring killer; their is nothing romantic about it.

For more information about ALS please visit: http://www.stealingpieces.org. To view the new Piece by Piece art installation please visit: http://webfl.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SP_2009tour. If you are a Floridian the second link will also tell you when the installation will be in a town near you. It is moving. In the weeks to come please visit us at http://www.sumpinelse.etsy.com as Ella gives back for this cause.

Last but not least today was the first Etsy Day. We hope that you saw bumper stickers, signs and other Etsy related material in your home town.

Until tomorrow (and the next installment of Your Momma Shops Etsy),

Carmen

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