Lessons from the Demolition Derby

My friend Guiness Girl from chickswhochat.blogspot.com and I along with my two daughters ages 8 and 5 worked the at the fair to raise money for our company team participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in October. I was really dreading standing around at the fair for 6 hours asking for money. Was I pleasantly surprised!

My daughters had a great time and felt like they were making a difference for other women who, like their mom, are or will be diagnosed with cancer. Most people we encountered were very generous and appreciative of the work we were doing on a beautiful holiday weekend.The theme of the fundraiser was "Demolish Breast Cancer". We had 4 generous individuals donate their old cars, which were then painted pink. The afternoon was spent asking folks to "make a donation and sign the car!" We had people of all ages, genders and backgrounds signing this car from top to bottom and anxiously awaiting the demolition derby at which time these cars would be demolished as a show of support for the fight against breast cancer.

A day that I was not looking forward to suddenly became a life lesson for my kids and I. At the very least, my eldest daughter learned how to make change and practiced her math for the upcoming school year. More importantly, my girls saw people at their best, donating their money toward a cause that personnally affected my girls two years ago. People congratulated them on their mom's survivorship, told stories of their own experience with cancer, donated proceeds from the food we bought from them to the cause (thank you to the lemonade slushy and apple cider donut booth across from us).

There were kind people who thanked us for spending our day at the fair by working for the American Cancer Society instead of going on rides and playing games. There were men and women, boys and girls and yes....even teenagers ralling around this important cause.

Working this fair gave me the opportunity to show my girls the good in people. There are so many times where you have to shield your kids from being exposed to what is not right in the world --thank you to all the people who visited our booth and gave me the chance to show my kids that kindness, caring and generousity does exist in people from all walks of life!

Cancer can take away so many things from us, our friends and loved ones, our confidence, our ability to live carelessly. In my case cancer has given me a different outlook, enabled me to live fearlessly, more in the moment and appreciate simple things. This disease has allowed me to see the good in people in ways that I hadn't before. Cancer gave my kids a clear reason to get behind a cause that they could personnally champion so that their focus could be on more than just themselves and instead, be on making the world a better place for all.

At the end of the night my kids could not wait to have an ice cream cone and get home and see how much was raised from their efforts at the fair. We counted the box of donations, and that day our Team raised $817 toward the fight against breast cancer. My 8 year old then said "Mom....sign me up for next year!"

If you would like to make a difference, please feel free to check out my fundraising site and remind the women in your lives to get their annual mammograms.