Oddjob0226
4th Level Indigo Feather
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2001
- Messages
- 6,852
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Well, I looked through the 'house rules' of the TMF, and I didn't see anything saying I can't do this.... and, frankly, I've never seen it done before, outside of one of our own TMF'ers promoting the Jerry Lewis telethon, which hopefully we're all cool with. This is about breast cancer donations.
The Long Story that you can scroll through:
I have a friend from high school named Aimee... We hung out together and more or less kept in touch through the years. We both had a mutual friend named Melanie. Well, Melanie kind of just disappeared about 1984 from our school. Aimee and I both completely lost track of her.
Life rolls on, just like Old man River (he don't DO nothing....!)
Well, last year, Aimee got married. Again (hee!) . So I went to her wedding. Her big, long, feel-out-of-place-if-you-don't-know-all-the-secret-codes-Catholic wedding. Who is sitting on the same pew next to me but Melanie! That was very bizarre. Turns out, Mel had left school and ended up going into law enforcement, as did Aimee. Aimee ends up working with Melanie's sister, and through her, Mel and Aimee got back in touch with one another after no word for 15 years. Then - Aimee invites me and Mel to the wedding where I end up next to Melanie after not seeing her for about 21 years. All these years Aimee never knew that I was also friends with Melanie!
Scene change: Last year I got in contact with several old friend from school, including Debbie, whom I've know since first grade. Again, no communication for about 20 years, we ran with different crowds, but we're enjoying getting to know one another all over again. Come to find out, her mom had just had surgery for breast cancer.
Scene changes again: I gave my first blood donation on July 3. Something I always "meant" to do... well, I went ahead and did it, finally. And while I was in the blood donation center, I signed up to join the national bone marrow registry.
And time passes. January of this year I get a call that some tests came back and I am a 6 for 6 match for a sucka with multiple myeloma and my bone marrow is needed. They are going to take it out over a 2 day period as a prolonged blood transfusion (and for dramatic real life irony, I had just finished reading the book "Dracula" in January!)
So the score so far - Debbie, after an absence of 20 years, has a mom with breast cancer. I'm about to help out a stranger with his cancer as long as my March 4th exam comes back clean.
Then, early February, I get a blind copy e-mail from Aimee to all her friends. She's asking for an online donation to Melanie, because Mel's mom had breast cancer twice, recovered, and is now going to do that 3 day "life walk" to raise money for research and treatment. I hate unsolicited mass e-mails, but these are friends, it's a good cause, and it is just so odd that in less than 12 months I learn 2 friends I value but have not seen in 20 years have both been touched by breast cancer. So I make a modest donation on Mel's website to support her on her 3-day walk with her mom & daughter.
THEN, I find out to days ago, the woman I work with, my immediate supervisor, has to have a biopsy because they found something mighty mysterious that morning during her mammogram, and she's all freaked. So, final score-
*2 friends I haven't seen in SO long come (very welcome) back into my life, but carrying with them personal tales of breast cancer.
*Someone I don't know is going to be able to fight HIS cancer because of something I did to snag a free t-shirt. And it was too small, anyway...
*The woman I have worked with for 7 years appears to have been hit by the breast cancer bug now, too; they don't yet know.
What a very odd circle-of-life series of coincidences to happen in 1 year! That made me think about this (and I have never done this on any forum before, on any site)...... if I am giving my time, money AND blood for both friends and strangers - and believe me, I'm really not that nice a guy - I thought I might use my given-inch and see how close to a mile I can come by posting this. It is as if fate has decreed I make this post happen. This is the link to my friend Melanie's web site for donating to her breast cancer research life walk:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorRe...2B96A513494FF9A27C06728DDBA478&supId=61928925
This is not a scam. Shoot, if it will alleviate your fears enough to give, I'll e-mail you the photos I have of Melanie from my h.s. yearbook and Aimee's wedding. Besides, with my 1918....or... however many posts I've had in this forum, you can pretty much rest assured I'm a real guy and not a bot. Some of you have even met me!
Mel's looking to raise $2,100 by the end of the month; I know, short notice, but this idea just now dawned on me, and even if she doesn't make the goal, she (and everyone else involved) will have still made a dent in the "good deed" fender. Seriously, a buck from enough people will make a difference. The well being of women's breasts is something I'm very interested in....
AND there's no politics or religion involved, so ha!
Now, aside from all of that above, I'm thinking of putting this into the Suggestions section of the TMF (what do you think?): having a sub-forum where members of the TMF can put in web links to worthy charitable causes. To avoid any issues, not only would these threads be in a separate place, but I'd suggest they would also have to meet some requirements:
A.) The thread starter not only has to be a TMF member, but should have a minimum of, let's say, 100 posts, so we know that in some way this person is a contributor to the forum, not someone who joined just trying to get some ink (or, bits) for a cause.
B.) The charity should benefit humanity as a whole, so there won't be any posts trying to free one guy in Brazil, asking donations to be made for memorials or statues, or asking for donations to the Aryan Nations or Hamas (or ANY political party). It would just be for diseases, hunger relief, disaster relief, veterans, etc. Myriads would have the final say if there are any disputes, and posts, as normal, could be flagged.
***The exception could be if the thread starter was asking for people to write letters to congressmen, leaders, etc. for the benefit of one person (NOT asking for funds). Yes, it could start some fights: someone might ask you to write your congressman to support Jennifer Tsai (http://www.pleasehelpjen.com/) which seems pretty warm & cozy, while someone else would come along and ask for support for Mumia Abu-Jama (http://www.mumia.org/index3.html) which might get some people cranky. Well.... what DOESN'T cause dissent on this forum??? ***
C.) Within the text of the thread, the thread starter should some way remark or relate how this charity affected this person, or how he/she decided to become affiliated with it and promote it. It has to be personal, in other words; no blind, random charity posts listing a link and nothing else, even though it may be a very good cause. What does this charity that you started the thread for mean to YOU, or how do you relate to it?
D.) Replies would only be positive in nature, like "Great cause! My grandmother had carsoma, so I can relate...." That kind of thing. Anything saying "I don't support Catholic Charities because worldwide the Catholics are responsible for.... " or simple "Great post!" - types would be removed. I mean, why would you come in to a thread promoting a cause you DON'T believe in? Wanna lecture us, start a thread about whatever the topic would be, like always. This sub-forum would be a different animal (or would these removals be too much work for the mods?? I don't know computers or websites)
Hey - it's just a suggestion!
The Long Story that you can scroll through:
I have a friend from high school named Aimee... We hung out together and more or less kept in touch through the years. We both had a mutual friend named Melanie. Well, Melanie kind of just disappeared about 1984 from our school. Aimee and I both completely lost track of her.
Life rolls on, just like Old man River (he don't DO nothing....!)
Well, last year, Aimee got married. Again (hee!) . So I went to her wedding. Her big, long, feel-out-of-place-if-you-don't-know-all-the-secret-codes-Catholic wedding. Who is sitting on the same pew next to me but Melanie! That was very bizarre. Turns out, Mel had left school and ended up going into law enforcement, as did Aimee. Aimee ends up working with Melanie's sister, and through her, Mel and Aimee got back in touch with one another after no word for 15 years. Then - Aimee invites me and Mel to the wedding where I end up next to Melanie after not seeing her for about 21 years. All these years Aimee never knew that I was also friends with Melanie!
Scene change: Last year I got in contact with several old friend from school, including Debbie, whom I've know since first grade. Again, no communication for about 20 years, we ran with different crowds, but we're enjoying getting to know one another all over again. Come to find out, her mom had just had surgery for breast cancer.
Scene changes again: I gave my first blood donation on July 3. Something I always "meant" to do... well, I went ahead and did it, finally. And while I was in the blood donation center, I signed up to join the national bone marrow registry.
And time passes. January of this year I get a call that some tests came back and I am a 6 for 6 match for a sucka with multiple myeloma and my bone marrow is needed. They are going to take it out over a 2 day period as a prolonged blood transfusion (and for dramatic real life irony, I had just finished reading the book "Dracula" in January!)
So the score so far - Debbie, after an absence of 20 years, has a mom with breast cancer. I'm about to help out a stranger with his cancer as long as my March 4th exam comes back clean.
Then, early February, I get a blind copy e-mail from Aimee to all her friends. She's asking for an online donation to Melanie, because Mel's mom had breast cancer twice, recovered, and is now going to do that 3 day "life walk" to raise money for research and treatment. I hate unsolicited mass e-mails, but these are friends, it's a good cause, and it is just so odd that in less than 12 months I learn 2 friends I value but have not seen in 20 years have both been touched by breast cancer. So I make a modest donation on Mel's website to support her on her 3-day walk with her mom & daughter.
THEN, I find out to days ago, the woman I work with, my immediate supervisor, has to have a biopsy because they found something mighty mysterious that morning during her mammogram, and she's all freaked. So, final score-
*2 friends I haven't seen in SO long come (very welcome) back into my life, but carrying with them personal tales of breast cancer.
*Someone I don't know is going to be able to fight HIS cancer because of something I did to snag a free t-shirt. And it was too small, anyway...
*The woman I have worked with for 7 years appears to have been hit by the breast cancer bug now, too; they don't yet know.
What a very odd circle-of-life series of coincidences to happen in 1 year! That made me think about this (and I have never done this on any forum before, on any site)...... if I am giving my time, money AND blood for both friends and strangers - and believe me, I'm really not that nice a guy - I thought I might use my given-inch and see how close to a mile I can come by posting this. It is as if fate has decreed I make this post happen. This is the link to my friend Melanie's web site for donating to her breast cancer research life walk:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorRe...2B96A513494FF9A27C06728DDBA478&supId=61928925
This is not a scam. Shoot, if it will alleviate your fears enough to give, I'll e-mail you the photos I have of Melanie from my h.s. yearbook and Aimee's wedding. Besides, with my 1918....or... however many posts I've had in this forum, you can pretty much rest assured I'm a real guy and not a bot. Some of you have even met me!
Mel's looking to raise $2,100 by the end of the month; I know, short notice, but this idea just now dawned on me, and even if she doesn't make the goal, she (and everyone else involved) will have still made a dent in the "good deed" fender. Seriously, a buck from enough people will make a difference. The well being of women's breasts is something I'm very interested in....
AND there's no politics or religion involved, so ha!
Now, aside from all of that above, I'm thinking of putting this into the Suggestions section of the TMF (what do you think?): having a sub-forum where members of the TMF can put in web links to worthy charitable causes. To avoid any issues, not only would these threads be in a separate place, but I'd suggest they would also have to meet some requirements:
A.) The thread starter not only has to be a TMF member, but should have a minimum of, let's say, 100 posts, so we know that in some way this person is a contributor to the forum, not someone who joined just trying to get some ink (or, bits) for a cause.
B.) The charity should benefit humanity as a whole, so there won't be any posts trying to free one guy in Brazil, asking donations to be made for memorials or statues, or asking for donations to the Aryan Nations or Hamas (or ANY political party). It would just be for diseases, hunger relief, disaster relief, veterans, etc. Myriads would have the final say if there are any disputes, and posts, as normal, could be flagged.
***The exception could be if the thread starter was asking for people to write letters to congressmen, leaders, etc. for the benefit of one person (NOT asking for funds). Yes, it could start some fights: someone might ask you to write your congressman to support Jennifer Tsai (http://www.pleasehelpjen.com/) which seems pretty warm & cozy, while someone else would come along and ask for support for Mumia Abu-Jama (http://www.mumia.org/index3.html) which might get some people cranky. Well.... what DOESN'T cause dissent on this forum??? ***
C.) Within the text of the thread, the thread starter should some way remark or relate how this charity affected this person, or how he/she decided to become affiliated with it and promote it. It has to be personal, in other words; no blind, random charity posts listing a link and nothing else, even though it may be a very good cause. What does this charity that you started the thread for mean to YOU, or how do you relate to it?
D.) Replies would only be positive in nature, like "Great cause! My grandmother had carsoma, so I can relate...." That kind of thing. Anything saying "I don't support Catholic Charities because worldwide the Catholics are responsible for.... " or simple "Great post!" - types would be removed. I mean, why would you come in to a thread promoting a cause you DON'T believe in? Wanna lecture us, start a thread about whatever the topic would be, like always. This sub-forum would be a different animal (or would these removals be too much work for the mods?? I don't know computers or websites)
Hey - it's just a suggestion!
Last edited:
That whole "awareness" thing going on..... It appears that another post he had up about Kristy Hemme got deleted. Well, as Ben Franklin wrote the the graduating class of Harvard - fart proudly...
