Charity Ideas

OK, I have this crazy idea that I can't get out of my head. Yeah, I know what those of you who know me are asking...to which of my crazy ideas am I refering. Well, I was thinking of using this blog in part to help raise donations for a charity. Part of my motivation is purely altrusitic and part of it is not. I got this idea from a coworker after I returned from the trail in August 2008. He told me that while I was on the trail, he read about someone who would hike two weeks a year on the AT to raise money of a charity.

Let's start with my selfish motivations. By doing this as some form of altruistic fund raising event, it will probably make it easier to get time off work or at least to have a job to which I could hopefully return. After all, I would simply tell my employers that I in no way want to do such a long and arduous kayak trip, it's just that I feel I need to do it for the greater good! How could anyone refuse such an altruistic request!?

As for my altruistic motivations...it would be very interesting and maybe even rewarding to see how many donations I could help raise for a worthy cause. The problem I am having now is on deciding which causes to promote. I've thought about something like cancer or diabetes because of the number of people these diseases affect. I've always believed that if the government wants to save lives, we should spend less on homeland security and more on cancer research. Nearly everyone will eventually be impacted by cancer either by getting it ourselves or having someone we know get it. My cousin's wife is currently suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Another potential cause I really believe in is wilderness preservation. There are many local scenic river preservation groups that raise money to buy land along rivers. I do not know of any national river preservation organizations, but one such organization might exist. I also thought about raising money for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail directly. I believe in all of the long distance trail organizations such as the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which I am also a member.

I suspect that if I put some effort into this, I might be able to get significant exposure to this blog. I've seen how many people follow the AT blogs, and this is a little different. I think there are probably fewer than about a dozen thru paddlers on the NFCT per year. Many of my friends told me that they really enjoyed following my AT blog so maybe there would be interest in this NFCT blog. However, being mostly a private person, I am not quite sure how I would feel about getting exposure to this blog.

The main reason for this post is to get ideas for causes worthy of fund raising, and ways to raise those funds. Please feel free to post your ideas below.