Carrie & Jason's Crusade

Monday, June 9, 2008 - This weekend, Carrie and Jason had the opportunity to
participate in a wonderful event held in South Hadley, Massachusetts. We
were asked by one of Carrie's college professors to volunteer for the
American Cancer Society's "We Can Weekend," a 3-day retreat for cancer
patients and their families. The retreat was held on the grounds of Mount
Holyoke College. There were about two dozen families in attendance. Carrie
was assigned to be a "buddy" to one of the families, checking in with them
regularly and assisting them however she could. Jason worked as a general
volunteer, helping set things up, move things, carry boxes, etc. In addition,
Carrie and Jason both worked with the childrens staff, helping to keep about
25 kids aged 4 to 13 busy and occupied so their families could attend
workshops and activities. We hope to go back and volunteer again next year!
For more information about the We Can Weekend, please visit the American
Cancer Society web site. Also, Springfield's Channel 22 News came out and
covered the closing ceremonies. The video is online, so check it out!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - In crazy 90% heat with 100% humidity, Carrie and
Jason did a 7 mile training walk at noontime today on the bike path in
Winchendon. Last year's 3-Day was held in similar weather, so we took the
unpleasant opportunity to try to build our body's stamina up just in case. It
was miserable, but we got through it ok.

Saturday, June 21, 2008 - Carrie and Jason were at the Stop & Shop
supermarket in Greenfield today, soliciting donations for the 3-Day. It was a
GREAT experience. The people in Greenfield are just beyond friendly and
incredibly generous. One thing we noticed right away is that at least 60% of
the people coming in to shop were using reusable shopping bags. That's
fantastic. You just don't see that high a percentage around here. The other
thing we noticed was that in Greenfield, when someone said "catch you on
the way out" it wasn't used to avoid making a donation - about 90% of the
people who said they'd catch us on the way out actually did so! That's the
best reception we've had at any of the places we've fundraised.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Carrie and Jason brough niece Maggie and cousin
Jillian up to Vermont to spend the day at Bromley Mountain's summer thrill
zone. What a disaster! One ride down the alpine slide and a huge
thunderstorm comes sweeping in. The mountain closed early. What a
bummer. See... when we were leaving on the way up there, and I suggested
to the girls we should just skip the thrill zone and go for a 12-mile training
walk instead, I knew what I was talking about, didn't I? Unfortunately, nobody
listened!

Saturday, June 28, 2008 - Jason's dad came over this morning to help put
together the treadmill we bought to train for the 3-Day. We hadn't assembled
it yet because we'd been able to do a lot of our training outside. But with this
week's constant afternoon thunderstorms, we decided we needed to be able
to walk indoors because it doesn't look like things are going to get better
weather-wise any time soon.