Submitting Your Photo and Quote for Challenge Walk MS

Photos and quotes describing why you've joined Challenge Walk MS 2015 in Door County were due Friday. 

If you missed the deadline and want to be included in the weekend displays and special event keepsake, please submit a photo of yourself along with one or two short sentences describing why you’ve joined Challenge Walk MS to Nichole Shaffer at nichole.shaffer@nmss.org this week. (Photo must be 1 MB or larger, headshot preferred.)

If you already sent in your photo and quote but didn’t hear back from the Wisconsin Chapter, please resubmit your photo and quote to Nichole at nichole.shaffer@nmss.org.

Is it a Yard Sale or a Really Inexpensive Department Store? Come See For Yourself.

by Jackie Piper

There are so many ways to raise money for the fight against MS. If you need ideas to help you toward your fundraising goal, checkout this link. 

My team, the MS WARRIORS, has used a yard sale to help us raise money for Challenge Walk every year.  I'd like to share some "Hot Tips" for a successful and easy yard sale that we've learned over the years. Here are some things that work for us:

 #1  Have an awesome sign.  The title of this post is one idea for a sign I saw on Pinterest. However, we like customers to know the WHY of our yard sale, so make sure people know you are raising money for a great cause.

#2  Have an awesome organizer in charge.  This is my daughter, Annie.  Trust me, "Organized" is her middle name.

#3  Try to collect some larger items from family and friends. Furniture sells! BIG ITEMS = BIG BUCKS.

#4  Organize (there's that word again!) and price stuff by table, not by item. Whew!! This saves you a ton of work and customers really like it. Also, don't haggle. We gently remind the cheapskates...er bargainers...that the money is for charity!

#5  Highlight your really awesome junk items.  I mean who can resist a "Gone With The Wind" ornament??? (It sold, by the way!)

 

#6  Have a "Fill the Bag" deal at the end of your sale. Our community has a Garage Sale Facebook page that lets us communicate in the moment with customers. We used the fill-the-bag-for-a-dollar approach for the last hour of our yard sale. You really don't want that stuff back, right?! And guess what? Because it's for a great cause, people will sometimes give you more than a buck!

#7 Pray for no rain. Okay, it's out of your hands, but have a contingency plan. Like an adorable child with a bright orange umbrella to show people that rain won't close you down!

Have a great sale!!

Color My World

by Jackie Piper

Only 45 days until we step off for the 2015 Challenge Walk MS in Door County. 

I’m thinking that there are not enough training days left. I’m thinking it’s time to immerse myself in the fundraising. I’m thinking I need to go get a new pair of walking shoes. I’m thinking lots of Challenge Walk-related thoughts.

But, mostly I’m thinking about orange.

As I train for the Challenge Walk and trek all over my smallish city, I try to always wear an orange shirt. I am participating in my 6th Challenge Walk, so I have many options when it comes to orange shirts. But, does color really matter? Ask the people involved in the breast cancer movement, who took the color pink and raised awareness around the world and rallied people to their cause. That sort of awareness translated into funding for research that has been instrumental in changing the outcomes for people with breast cancer.

I’d love to make “orange” the new “pink”.

I’d love to have the world identify the color orange with the movement to end MS forever. It can happen.  It starts with a t-shirt, a hat, a backpack, or ....an umbrella.

Last fall, while vacationing in Europe for my 40th anniversary, I pulled out my orange Challenge Walk MS umbrella to walk the rainy streets of a small Austrian town. The next day, I offered my arm to another woman from America as we walked down the steps of our tour boat. She asked, “Are you the lady with the orange umbrella?”  I said, “Yes, I am.”  She replied very simply, “You walk for me.” 

So let’s color our world.

Get your “orange” on.

“I feel this is something I should be doing for myself…”

Jay Saunders is taking the term milestone literally in marking the five year anniversary of his MS diagnosis by taking on the 50-mile Challenge Walk MS.

Jay Saunders took this selfie at Walk MS: Milwaukee.
He has decided to commit to Challenge Walk MS this 
year, in honor of the five-year anniversary of his MS 
diagnosis. 

A Walk MS participant since his diagnosis in 2010, he decided to make 2015 his year for Challenge Walk after talking to his colleague Fran Mclaughlin, who had done it before.

“She told me how great of an event it was and she eased any fears I had about taking this on,” he said.

“One of the big reasons I’m doing this walk is because I can. I feel blessed by the fact that, since my diagnosis, I have been relatively symptom-free. There are days I can tell I’m not my old self, but I feel this is something I should be doing for myself and for the many others impacted by this mystery disease.”

Jay was 32 when he was diagnosed. The Omaha native thought maybe it was carpal tunnel he was experiencing, but when the tingling sensation spread from his wrist up his arm and then down the side of his right leg, he knew it was time to have it checked out. He and his wife were expecting their first child at the time.

Now that baby is a “wonderful, healthy and rambunctious four-year-old girl” who will be cheering her daddy across the Challenge Walk MS finish line come September.

Asked what he’s most anxious about  … whether it’s the 50 miles of walking, the minimum $1,500 commitment, or something else … Jay said “no question, it’s the 50 miles in three days,” but that he’s doing his best to get himself in shape for it. He’s also willing to forego the big Husker game taking place that weekend – something of a major sacrifice given that he’s the founder of a University of Nebraska football/alumni group in Milwaukee.

Visit Jay’s Challenge Walk MS participant page to learn more about Challenge Walk MS, Jay’s motivation or to make a donation.

Thanks, Gus!

Did you know Alpine Resort, home to Challenge Walk MS again in 2015, is featuring Challenge Walk MS in its spring newsletter? Comments from a few of last year's participants are included! Read it here. 

Sister's Struggle Inspires Fundraiser to Fight MS

Challenge Walk MS veterans know the team name "K.O.'s Trio" well, and now so do readers of the Coulee News! Click here to read more about the trio, "K.O.", and the fundraiser the team is holding this month.

(Want to raise similar awareness of an event you're hosting? Check out the Challenge Walk MS publicity kit here.)

Train in Style

The design for the 2015 Training T-shirt has been revealed! This year’s look is all about what participants have said they love best about Wisconsin’s annual three-day, 50-mile, destination fundraiser for MS. 

Want yours? It’s easy. Sign up today. The shirt is free to everyone who registers for Challenge Walk MS as a walker or Super Crew member, 

Already registered? Your shirt will be delivered this month, just in time for all your outdoor spring training activities.