Carrie & Jason's Crusade

Saturday, May 10, 2008 - Training walk time! The day was overcast with
temperatures in the high 60's, so it was absolutely perfect weather for
walking. We set out from home around 11:30 in the morning, originally
heading on a 3-mile circuit loop around Gardner. We headed up Route 2A,
planning to take a left and walk up Pearson Blvd. However, when we got to
the left turn, we decided we'd keep going up 2A into Westminster. We set our
sights on eating lunch at Kay's Dairy Bar, a favorite local summer drive-in
restaurant. About 2/3 of the way up to Kay's, Jason's friend Chris called
wondering what we were up to. We invited him to join us for lunch. After a
nice lunch, Carrie and Jason headed home. A nice 4-mile training walk on a
Saturday afternoon!

Sunday, May 11, 2008 - Sneaker Drive Day! The Cup Crusaders set up in
Monument Square in Leominster and ran a voluntary toll from about 9:30 in
the morning until 1 in the afternoon. With over 40 members and volunteers in
attendance, it was a wonderfully successful fundraising event! Thanks so
much to all the good people of Leominster who were kind enough to donate
(and for their patience as traffic occasionally got a little backed up because of
it). We had an absolute blast (although there are times that it gets just a little
scary standing in the middle of the road holding a bucket and hoping the cars
obey the traffic cones!) This was the second year that Carrie & Jason have
participated in the "Sneaker Drive" (hey - if the firefighters can do boot drives,
then we 3-Day walkers can do Sneaker Drives, right?), and we can't wait for
next year's event. It really is a lot of fun. Check out some fantastic pictures of
the event in action!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - The morning started out kinda gloomy, but the clouds
broke and the sun came out before noontime. Carrie and Jason decided to try
to get some canning in at the Gardner WalMart. Three hours later, it had
become obvious that Tuesday is perhaps not the best day for canning. We
raised $83 - enough to have made the day worthwhile, but not as much as we
had hoped for from 3 hours in front of WalMart.

After our attempt at canning, we wandered the city seeking donations of gift
certificates for the Cup Crusaders upcoming raffles. Thanks to those
companies that donated! We had a rather unexpected surprise when we
visited the Gardner Ale House to ask for a gift certificate. While the bartender
was out back asking the manager for a donation, one of the customers at the
bar started chatting with us about the 3-Day and what we were doing. After a
few minutes of chatting, the customer pulled out his check book and made a
sizable donation! Thanks Dave! It's that kind of wonderful kindness we
encounter that makes the 3-Day such a wonderful event to participate in.

After dinner, we decided we wanted some ice cream. We invited Jason's
mother and step-father to go with us up to Kay's Dairy Bar in Westminster.
After having our ice cream, we decided we'd walk home - a short 2-mile
training walk, if you will, just to keep our legs in shape since we hadn't gotten
out walking in a few days. It was a nice short walk home to burn off the
calories from the ice cream. Good thing we didn't take our own car!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - With the Cup Crusaders annual fundraiser at the
Knights of Columbus coming up fast, Carrie & Jason hit the streets again to
solicit gift certificate donations that we could raffle off at the fundraiser. A
few hours later, we had a few more donations for the raffle and met a bunch
of nice people who were very interested in the 3-Day and what we were
doing to help raise money for Komen for the Cure.