The Soft Pitch

Blogging from the cell block today … locked up for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

 I’m doing my best to raise money for MDA   and looking for a little help from my friends. 

The jailbird raising funds for MDA!

Believe me, there have been moments when I wondered why I agreed to this.  But now that I’m here talking to these kids, there’s no doubt.  Kids just want to be kids – even if they’re in wheel chairs or wearing braces.  I like knowing we’re helping them.  At camp, they can do what all kids do at camp – go horseback riding, crafts, roast marshmallows – they just need a little extra help in case they have medical emergencies.  That’s where MDA comes in.  In between calls, e-mails and tweets to raise money, I’m talking to staffers and listening to kids talk – they all say the same thing: Camp is the best week of their life!  Imagine that, helping someone to have the best week of their life. 

These are the times I’m proud to work for Avnet.  First for getting me involved (through Al – thanks), second for supporting me with taking the time to do this (thanks again) and for giving me wonderful connections to colleagues and friends willing to support me (thanks a third time).

No surprises here, though.  Avnet has long had a commitment to the communities we serve. It’s part of our culture and how we do business.  One of the things I learned a long time ago is that people don’t care how much you know or how much you do, until they know how much you care.  Care about their business.  Care about them as people.  Care about those around them.  Sure we make good, sound business decisions based on long-term strategy and the drive for results.  BUT, deep down we’re all human and we like to do business with people we like.  And at the end of the day, we’re all in this together, so if we can do a little something good to help the community along the way, GREAT!

 So, time for me to go back to fund raising for MDA and see if I can’t raise enough to send another kid to camp.  For every $800 I raise, another kid gets to roast marshmallows under the stars and make a sand candle.  Want to help?  Here’s the website to donate.

 And let me take a moment here to thank a lot of folks who have already donated: Gail, Al, Steve, Roy, Joal, CarolAnn, Chris, Jun, Michele, Charlie, Ed, Steve, Bret, Grant, Teri, MaryAnn, Sean, Kathy, Jan, Mark, Jim, Linda, Erin, Philip, Rick, Stephanie, Steve, Julie, Joal, Cheryl, Michaelle, Ed, Sonia, Jane.  Thanks to all!  I started off wondering how I was going to do this – and now together we’ve raised more than $5,000 so far.  Now I know how I’m going to do this.  With a little help from my friends.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS