Taking it to the Streets for the Jimmy Fund Take 2

You wouldn’t know it by some of the commentary on noodad.com this week, but when they aren’t stirring up hornets’ nests on dance studio owners’ Web site message boards or fondling their iPhones, our faithful leaders Noodad and Foodad actually look for ways to make the world a better place.  Case in point, The Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk 2006.  When I approached Greg and Mike about sponsoring a team and participating in the walk, they couldn’t have been more supportive.  Greg met us bright and early in Hopkinton ready to take on the course, and raised a bunch of cash.  Mike donated to The Jimmy Fund and sought out Team Noodad.com on the route to snap the official team photo. (I’m not sure why Mike didn’t walk, but I thing Greg said something about him taking shrapnel during the Invasion of Grenada.)  This year, the consummate do-gooders are jumping into the fray once more.

On September 16, 2007, a bigger, bolder Team Noodad.com is going to help out with the fight against cancer by participating in the Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk. That’s right, Team Noodad.com is going to lace ‘em up again and drag our atrophied bodies over every last inch of the famed 26.2 mile Boston Marathon route to raise money for the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Here’s how you can help:
Walk

If you can make it to the Boston area on September 16th, bring your sneakers and walk with Team Noodad.com. All you need to do is raise $200—about how much you’d spend on booze during a night out with the boys, or how much you routinely lose in your weekly Texas Hold ‘Em game. The Jimmy Fund Walk Web site provides a wealth of tools and information to help you with your fundraising. If you work in an office, it’s a cinch. Just hit up all those people who slid Girl Scout cookie order forms into the pile of TPS reports on your desk or sold you 50/50 raffle tickets to benefit their kid’s youth soccer team. Also, find out if your company will match what you raise or offer a corporate donation.

The more people who join, the more money Team Noodad.com can raise for the fight against cancer; so feel free to encourage friends to join us in the walk. Remember the buddy you helped move into a fourth floor apartment with no elevator in the middle of August? Bring him. Got compromising pictures from the bachelor party of a newlywed groom friend of yours? Encourage him to join us. 

Scared by the prospect of hoofing it 26.2 miles? No problem. There are starting points at the halfway mark and 5 miles from the finish. If you try the full route and decide to bow out, just Rosie Ruiz it to the finish line. There are plenty of refueling stations along the way, and you’ll find portable toilets at each of them—so don’t go thinking you can drop your shorts and poodad in the middle of the street like some of the runners do during the marathon!

Not convinced yet? You get to meet Noodad and Foodad, the founders of noodad.com; as well as other members of the site. Walking a marathon also gives you a reasonable excuse to smear Vaseline all over your “high friction areas”. All kidding aside, when you cross that finish line as smiling young cancer patients cheer for YOU and thank YOU, well, that’s all the convincing you’ll ever need and an experience you’ll never forget.

Dig Deep

Sure, you’d love to join Team Noodad.com but you: a. Live in Seattle, or Dallas, or Australia and can’t make the trip; or b. have athlete’s foot on the blisters on the corns on top of your ingrown toenails. You can still help by making a fully tax-deductible donation! Whatever you can spare towards Team Noodad.com’s goal would be greatly appreciated. Short on cash? Sell your Ab Roller, Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Grill, or Ding King on craigslist. Auction off your collection of nude Ernest Borgnine photographs on ebay. Cash in that beer can pyramid in your basement. Just find some way to help Team Noodad.com in this worthy cause.

Donating couldn’t be easier. Just go to www.jimmyfundwalk.org/teamnoodad to make a general team donation with a credit card, or mail a check made out to the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, PO Box 3595, Boston, MA 02241-3595 and write TEAM NOODAD.COM in the memo line. If you’re going to help us beat last year’s team total of $2,400, stop what you’re doing right now, grab your credit card, and click that link to donate so you don’t forget.

We’ll be keeping you updated on our team recruiting and fundraising goals as the big day approaches. If you’ve got any questions, e-mail wahoodad@noodad.com. Thanks for your help!