Music and a Mile for Mark

When I was in the Stake YW presidency I worked with 3 awesome ladies. When we were called we didn't know each other at all, but it was a very inspired call for all of us. We grew close quickly and after we were all released we still have tried to keep in touch, getting together every few months. Sherry Tanner was the first counselor. Her husband had a brain tumor removed while we were serving together. This year another tumor had to be removed. Karen, who was the president, went to visit Sherry one day, then came home and gave me a call with an idea to help the Tanners. Charissa, who was our secretary also jumped in. We got together and recruited a few other helpers, too and put together a fundraiser to benefit the Tanner family as Mark (Sherry's husband) battles brain cancer. 

As Sherry's family has gone through this trial I've tried to think of ways to help besides just praying. I know prayer is important, but it feels good to do something tangible to help, too. So Karen's idea was very welcome. Her original idea was a 5K run. It morphed into Music and a Mile for Mark. There was a one mile run/walk, several bands, a silent auction, a bake sale, lunch, and a kid's game area. 

Karen brought up the idea at the end of September. It happened this past Saturday, November 2nd. So in just over a month we pulled this thing together. It was a busy month, to say the least. Lots of driving around and talking to businesses trying to drum up donations for the silent auction, then more driving around to deliver fliers to get the word out, then more driving around to put up signs around the area. My kids (especially Annie and Ryan) got a lot of practice at being in the car a lot and they actually got a lot better about driving. Where they couldn't last a half hour without complaining before, they're way better now and more patient about sitting in their car seats. :)

Three days before the event we got word that we had to change locations. That was a fun day. :/ Thankfully, our school district was very accommodating and super helpful and we were able to use one of their middle schools, which probably turned out a lot better than our other venue would have been. 

The day of the event started out a little windy, but got better as the day went on. We had about 80 people show up for the mile run/walk in honor of Mark.

 

Mark and his family walked the mile together, then finished strong, jogging it in to the the finish line.

 

Jacob has been a trooper this month as I've been overly occupied and our housekeeping (which generally isn't all that great anyway) has gone way down hill, dinners were often last minute, throw together the easiest thing, etc. He took care of the kids all day Saturday, and brought them for a while to have some fun, too. Naturally the jumping castle was their favorite part of the whole thing.

 

By the end of the day we were all pretty dead, but happy. There was a good turnout at the event and the silent auction and bake sale both did very well. One guy bought a pan of brownies for $1000. One thing I have really appreciated in being involved with this is seeing how many good people there are in the world. There are so many people that want to help, and when an opportunity to help presents itself they seize it. Many of the silent auction items went for more than they were worth. Particularly the gift cards. People came out of the woodwork to offer donations for the silent auction. 

In all the advertising ahead of time (most of which happened on Facebook) we also wanted to give the Tanner's friends who live far away a way to help, so we set up an online donation site on youcaring.com. Between the online donations and the event and other donations we raised over $17,000. I call that a success. I'm glad I got to be a part of it. Now I have some bathrooms to clean and a house to try to restore some order to.