My New Club….And I need Your Money!

    I am fortunate at work because in my city the police dept and the fire dept share an unusually close bond.  Unfortunately, this bond is the exception rather than the rule in the area as I know many police and fire departments do not share closeness with the other badge wearing Brothers in their municipalities.  Through this tight friendship we have formed quite a team with a special focus on fundraising for charities.  While the police have their separate non-profit charity and the fire department does as well it’s a proven fact when we put our heads together we are a force that cannot be rivaled.  We combine several times a year and have in the works many more joint ventures to support and raise money for our prospective charities.  A few examples are our charity Guns-vs-Hoses basketball games, our recent Guns-vs-Hoses charity hockey game and our yearly Police and Firefighter Black Tie Charity Ball.  All of which raise an incredible amount of money for our charities.  What makes these ventures so successful you ask?  Dedication, willingness to give up our free time to work together for something bigger than all of us, and a genuine desire to be around each other and to help each other get to a goal.  I say all of that to tell you this. 

       The other day one of our officers found his way to my office and inquired if I would be interested in joining the “Brothers-N-Blue” cycling club?  After a few questions gave an ecstatic “Oh Yeah!”  This club is made up of Officers from the police department and they have been meeting together and riding for a few months now.  One of the goals (beyond having fun) is to help raise money for charities like The Thin Blue Line and American Diabetes Association.  To put our cycling ability to good use and help raise some funds for worthy causes.  It’s a bona fide club complete with by-laws and officers and regularly scheduled rides and meetings.  I was recruited and I joined up right away.  Part of the reason I joined is, well, they are the police from my city and proven “Stand Up Guys” the second reason is the first event I will be taking part in on the new club is the Tour De Cure.   You may or may not recall I beat Type 2 Diabetes by cycling my butt off and losing weight, reversing what would have been a life long debilitating disease.  The third reason is Bob and Patricia…who the holy hell cakes are Bob and Patricia you ask?  Bob is my dad who passed away in October who had Type 2 Diabetes and died because of complication of Diabetes and Patricia is my Grandmother who has also passed away and had Type 1 Diabetes.

     The first event is June 5, 2010 for the American Diabetes Association Tour De Cure in Brighton, Michigan.  I am joining the event late so I need to raise some cabbage fast and that is where you come in by donating money directly to the American Diabetes Association via my personal page HERE.  To add a cherry to the top of this I will be holding a drawing (idea blatantly stolen from another blogger) for all who donate for a seriously sweet swag grab bag .Money is due on May 20, 2010 all entries received by midnight EST on May 19, 2010 will be eligible for the drawing.

1. Prize is a huge grab-bag of uber sweet swag but will absolutely include an I-Pod shuffle and other items of varying awesomeness.
2. Each 5$ donation will earn you one virtual raffle ticket, 10$ gets you two etc etc. 
3. Friends and family bonus….if you refer someone to this page and they donate money have them drop the dime on you via email genebutcher@comcast.net and you both just earned a bonus ticket for the drawing. 

 GO HERE AND DONATE…pretty please?!?!?!?

Thanks,

Gene