CCFA Spirit Week

Be Heard and Spread the Word for CCFA Spirit Week

We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, how ‘bout YOU?

This week through March 12, our chapter will be celebrating “Be Heard and Spread the Word for CCFA Spirit Week”. During this Spirit Week, we hope to increase community support and awareness of IBD and ensure we have lots of people joining us on walk day!

As an individual, you can do just three things quite easily this week to spread the awareness to at least 100 people (even if you don't know all of them!).

1. Remind yourself why you are involved with Take Steps. Are you walking for yourself or someone you care about?
2. Give yourself about 10 minutes (maybe over a nice bowl of Cheerios) to add pictures and a personal message to your Take Steps webpage so that your donors and fellow walkers can see why CCFA's mission is so important to you! Check out my personal page as an example.
3. Send an e-mail to your personal and/or work address book including a link to your personal page. Ask each of your contacts to not only join or support your team, but to pass the message along to five of their contacts. They can do this by forwarding your e-mail, by posting it to their Facebook account, by tweeting or even blogging about it.

In fact, the person who sends out the most emails by this Friday, March 12, will be the star of next week's blog! So don't wait! Show your spirit today!

~2010 Take Steps Planning Committee

"Walk" in the Name of Love!

Ok, so I know it isn't Valentines Day anymore. But this post isn't about mushy, romantic stuff. This post is about two wives who quite literally, walk in the name of love.

Aja, Team Overcome

My husband's name is Cal and he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2001. After a few years of sickness and a colectomy, the doctors then correctly diagnosed him with Crohn's disease. This was before I married him, before I loved him, even before I knew him. So, when I came into the picture, inflammatory bowel disease and my husband already had a long relationship - one in which I did not know what role to play.

Cal never liked to make a big deal out of his Crohn's - he still doesn't. Cal knows this is something God will use to touch others. He realizes that God has bigger plans for his life and therefore lives each day knowing there is a greater purpose. We have been in and out of the ER multiple times, with me staying beside him, praying for him, sick inside from not knowing how to help him. My natural instincts to want to "make it all better" were going to have to change.


Cal and I - we don't have a cure for Crohn's. But we do have a strength together because of our faith.

Our team name is "Overcome" because Cal went from being a totally health person in college to given two weeks from death. Cal had a complete colectomy, got back on his feet, and today is a personal fitness trainer. Now every time he is given a tough circumstance in life, he has the attitude of overcoming it. And Cal has taught me that to help him get through the tough days, I need to be right next to him fighting Crohn's and not letting it beat us.

So, that is why I am walking this May. Cal and I have to "overcome" this disease so that others can look to us and know that life not only moves on, but can be wonderful!










Jen

My husband Brandon has Crohn's disease. When he has flare-ups or medication issues, it is really hard for me to be an outsider who worries and hopes that everything will get better. I love Brandon and I cannot sit and watch what twists and turns his disease will take.

Take Steps allows me the opportunity to actively participate in making Brandon's life better. I understand that research is vital to finding a cure and better medicines for him, and I am happy to be able to not only throw myself into the cause, but to draw in support from friends and family as well. Last year our friends and family helped me raise over $2,000. I did this in Brandon's name last year, and am very happy to be able to do it again this year!

Watching someone you love struggle with a disease is never easy. Brandon has battled Crohn's disease for twelve years. As his wife and someone who does not personally have to fight Crohn's, like Brandon, I am able to combat the disease from different angles, such as funding research, and raising awareness. Drawing on Brandon's courage helps me to provide complimentary strengths that ease the overall burden of his disease.

Last year was our second year walking in Take Steps and fourth year donating. I hope that all of you who have a loved one with Crohn's or Colitis will take an active role in trying to find a cure. What better way to do it than by gathering your friends and family and joining together to walk this May?

Loud and Proud!

Loud and Proud Club!



Every year, we encourage members of our Take Steps walk to be a part of our Loud and Proud Club. With all of the e-mails, phone calls, mailings, and events that we are all bombarded with every day, you might not even remember what this so called "club" even is. Let me introduce you to our Loud and Proud Club members from the 2009 walk, and I will explain what they did to get in, and what they got out of it!



2009 Loud and Proud Club Members


Cynthia Becker
Amanda Kanewischer
martin matsoff
Raphaela Cogan
Dayna Johnson
Madeline Matsoff
Olivia Matsoff
Jane Matsoff
Jeanette Lepore
Laura Loppnow
Marc Matsoff
Zoe Burton
Holly Brogaard
Marjorie Kostouros
Stephanie Campbell
Judy VanSlooten
Yan Kravchenko
Dawn Johnson
Mike Balint
Daniel Strumberger
Kasey Heimstead
PJ Ritters
Mary Dunnewold
Jessica Valentyn
Mindy Czycalla
Kara Nielsen
Jen Barkosky
Angela Sieber
Jennifer Schneider
Trudi Bellmore
Samuel Collette
Stacey Myhro
Tyler Jacobson
Nancy Sorjanen
Helen Matsoff



Loud and Proud Club members committed to raising a minimum of $1,000 for the walk last year. All by themselves! Several of these people fundraised on teams that raised a lot more than that!



Aside from a big pat on the back, being a Loud and Proud Club member has its advantages. The day of the walk, L & P members receive a nice drawstring bag to carry all of their goodies in. Also, L & P club members are also given a VIP pass to a chair massage station compliments of Advanced Chiropractic and Massage.



So... if you are thinking about fundraising, AND you love chair massages and free goodies - let's talk about you becoming the newest member of our L & P club.

~Maggie Mau, Loud and Proud Club Member