Sporting A Cause

Monthly Archives: November 2020

A Thanksgiving Story

Patrick Quinn died Sunday at age 37 after a seven-year battle with ALS. He was a brave man- you have to be brave when you have ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease).

The degenerative neuromuscular disease eventually robs its host of nearly every bodily ability, even swallowing. But the disease leaves the mind intact.

And Patrick used his mind to the utmost. He is credited with co-creating along with two other ALS sufferers, the hugely popular Ice Bucket Challenge  which in 2014 raised $220 million for the ALS Association.  If you’ll remember, people, including many celebrities, took selfies being doused with buckets of ice water and challenged their friends to do the same.

That funding allowed the Association to make important advances for treatments for ALS, in eye movement communication technology and helping patients and their families cope with the disease. Many lives have been made better because of the efforts of Patrick and his friends.

These advances have allowed what Patrick called “a new sense of hope”.

So, what does this story have to do with Thanksgiving?

Well isn’t hope really the unheralded twin of gratitude?

When we give thanks for what we have today, is there not an implied hope for tomorrow?

However you choose to celebrate, we at sportingAcause wish you a safe and thankful day.

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Transparency

Entry Fee:  $40.

What you get:  running jacket, winter hat,  participation medallion.

Portion of entry fee to charity:  $ 0.

You may have noticed the explosion of  Virtual Runs on Facebook lately, but not all of them are what they seem. Some of them are local races supporting local causes that have turned virtual because of the pandemic. I have many of them here on sportingAcause.com.

But a huge wave of what I call manufactured events have washed ashore with names like Smashed Santa Races, Wine Run Turkey Trot, Run for the Dogs, Face Mask Run and the one described above- America’s Turkey Trot.

These “fundraiser” virtual races provide a lesson in Buyer Beware.

America’s Turkey Trot, for example, has partnered with Feeding America, a nation-wide hunger charity, but the word “partner” is open to interpretation.

Although America’s Turkey Trot boasts Feeding America as a partner, no money from your entry fee will go to the charity. Instead, when you register (and pay), you will be encouraged to write your own check to support the work of Feeding America. Not quite what you thought, right?

Is this illegal? – no.

Is it unethical? – um…

Is it transparent? Absolutely not!

To be fair, probably some  will write an additional check to Feeding America, and that’s a good thing.

But the takeaway here is that if a virtual “fundraiser” event does not tell you exactly how much of your money is benefiting whom,  then sign up for a local event instead, one that maybe supports a food bank in your town, one that tells you how much of your entry fee goes to help your neighbors.

Now that’s transparency!

 

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