You know, they say one of the best ways to get out of your head or pull yourself out of a funk is to help someone else. Or as Gretta Brooker Palmer says, “Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy.”
I was the lucky recipient of these words (that seemed to appear from thin air) when I was recovering from brain surgery after a Stage IV cancer diagnosis. I was scared and worried about what the future held for me.
Knowing that the best way forward for me was to help someone else, I sent an email to our local cancer non-profit Kitsap Cancer Services. I asked how I could volunteer but as we all know, the structure of non-profits and fundraising had changed thanks to the pandemic. There weren’t any events or committees to volunteer for. What they needed was donations to keep the non-profit alive – to sustain the financial grants they offer to those in need in the cancer community.
Time went by and I kept in touch with the Executive Director of KCS. A cancer survivor herself she was a true source of light and inspiration to me in my early diagnosis days (and still today). As I approached the one year date of my diagnosis, the anxiety started creeping back in and on a whim I reached out to my dear friend and sister-in-law with an idea: let’s put together a team to run/walk the Poulsbo 10k and raise money for Kitsap Cancer Services. We created a FB fundraising page and set ourselves a goal of $2,500.
Imagine our SHOCK when we had 30+ people show up to run and walk with us and we raised $34,000.
Fast forward to October 2023: My sis-in-law and I decided we’d give the 10k fundraiser another shot. Feeling encouraged by our previous year we nervously raised our fundraising goal to $10,000.00.
And here I sit absolutely stunned and simultaneously excited to tell you we raised $74,000.00
And we had 40+ people running and walking with us.
I can’t even.
This community showed up in big ways, we are ever so grateful.
This gives Kitsap Cancer Services a bit of breathing room, each year we are receiving more and more grant applications but funding had not increased. This helps us continue to make an impact in the lives of our local cancer community, to offer them breathing room also – to focus on healing and fighting and not whether or not they have enough to by groceries.
If you’d like to learn more about Kitsap Cancer Services – what we do or how you can help – please click this link or shoot me an email at marnie@marnierae.com.
We are so honored to have your support.
THANK YOU.
