fundraising on CafePress

I'm not a caregiver. I'm not a nurturer. I am not good at hugs, or finding the right thing to say to someone who has lost a loved one or who is watching them battle cancer for possibly the last time. I'm simply horrible at that stuff.

So what I do instead, is try to raise money with online fundraising. One thing I don't have a problem with, is spamming my friends and family with my cancer fundraiser store links.

Making money to fight cancer

It's working. I have been successful beyond my expectations. When I raised my first $100, donated to the 2006 Relay, I was cautiously hopeful I could raise $500 to donate in 2007. Then, Google found my shop. Fellow shopkeepers linked to me. Other fundraising sites sent customers my way. October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month promotion was a huge boon to sales.

Funds raised (cumulative):
$392.55 (as of 10/1/06, payable 10/15/06; sales thru 8/31/06)
$538.51 (as of 11/1/06, payable 11/15/06; sales thru 9/30/06)
$716.32 (as of 12/1/06, payable 12/15/06; sales thru 10/31/06)
$1,274.93 (as of 1/1/07, payable 1/15/07; sales thru 11/30/06)
$1,479.97 (as of 2/1/07, payable 2/15/07; sales thru 12/31/06)

To allow for customer refunds/exchanges covered by their satisfaction guarantee, it takes at least 45 days after a sale before your markup 'clears' and is payable to you, and then checks are mailed the 15th of the month for whatever you'd cleared on the 1st of that month. That's why there is a 60 day gap in the dates above.

So, I need to raise an additional $527 by the end of March to meet my goal of $2,007 by 1-May, to get a check sent on 15-May. Will it happen? Please help spread the word, share the shop link, and I know it will.

Yeah, right, like I could do it too

There was no cash investment. Just time, some simple designs, a little effort, a bit of a learning curve in figuring CafePress out, but nothing significant for someone pretty familiar with the Internet.

Open a store. Basic shops are free. Premium shops start at around $6 a month. (CafePress might upgrade your Basic shop to Premium if you are raising funds for charity. They're still making money.) Check out the community forums at CafePress ... the answers you're looking for are right there, with input from actual shopkeepers using the software along with you. User tips are the best, and easiest to follow. Don't skip this step; I could have saved hours of effort by learning the shortcuts from the veterans first.

fighting cancer

Our family participates every year in Relay For Life to raise funds to fight cancer. Basically, it is a 24 hour event where teams of people keep a walker on the track the entire time. Sometimes exhausting, but always fun.

We do it for the ones we love. Those who lost the battle with cancer, those who are still fighting, and those we hope will never have to.

Ever since I was young, I knew I would not die of old age. Grandma Evelyn died of skin cancer before I was born. Grandpa Forrest died of colon cancer when I was 8. Grandma Lucile died of lung cancer when I was 12. Grandpa Ralph died of prostate cancer when I was 15. Aunt Carol died of breast cancer when I was 18.

It is not all doom and gloom. Uncle Stan battled cancer and won. My brother-in-law Kevin went through experimental skin cancer treatment made possible by Relay For Life funding, and has been in remission since. My sister Shawn and niece Jessica invited me to my first Relay in 2001, and since that time I have been a team member, a team captain and on the committee for our local event.

The Wild Bunch was our team name in 2002, and it was our first year as really active team members and fundraisers. As part of a large team, it was a great chance to really figure out what Relay was all about and how many opportunities there are to volunteer before and during the event.

Late in 2002, we got the news that my sister Charlotte had a tumor. Almost miraculously, she seemed to make a full cancer-free recovery after surgery in early 2003. It was a year of celebration at Relay, and Kevin was a crowd favorite, walking 400 laps (that's 100 miles!) during the 24 hour event. (He had walked 300 laps in 2002, and 200 laps in 2001). Another crowd favorite was my nephew Logan, who won the Ms. Relay beauty pageant, where men dress up in lovely gowns and wigs and the crowd "votes" for their favorite with cash donations to ACS. It was a great event, with a lot of good memories.

But Charlotte's cancer returned that fall with a vengance, and we lost her December 1, 2003. I can no longer hear or even read the "c-word" without physical pain and tears. The hardest part to face: my children experienced their first loss of someone dear to them, and cancer became very real and very horrible to them, just like it did to me when my "Poopa" died in 1981. It was no longer something that happens to other people. It was personal.

Relay 2004 was very hard. I don't think I could have made it through without my kids. They were on the committee with me, and as very active members of the "Family Tree Frogs" team, they really kept us all going with their determination and enthusiasm to raise funds and keep spirits high.

Our team's theme was "Cancer Demolition" in 2005. My children were co-captains together, along with Charlotte's youngest son. They are truly amazing kids, with huge hearts and a new compassion for all who have lost someone close. That sweet little girl could sell sand to a desert camel; to have her in charge of a donation table isn't hardly fair to passersby.

My only son betrayed his family and joined his school's Relay For Life team in 2006, walking 200 laps for them and instigating a mostly-friendly rivalry with his sister to raise the most money. Not to be outdone, our team member Uncle Stan walked 200 laps as well; not too shabby for a __-year old cancer survivor. My mother and her sister, Stan's wife Shirley, were co-captains. I can not imagine what it must be like to lose both parents, your baby sister, and then your daughter to cancer. She doesn't think so, but Mom did a great job with the family team and kept us on the winning side with awards for our team camp and theme, the "Beach Bums."

We are now getting ready for 2007. Last year, I was able to raise over $1,200 through the iHope cancer fundraiser shop on CafePress and can't wait to donate the money toward each of my kids' fundraising goals. They know they are making a difference. God knows it is hard, when there is a cancer-related death every single day in the news, but we keep on looking to the future with hope.