Thought I would share this with all of you

[KatieB]

I received this e-mail today and after much consideration, thought I would post this on the message board.

Katie,

.....

I wanted to bring up one other thing. All these people are making plans for Walks for Lung Cancer in November which isn't a bad idea if alot of us do it. It seems that everyone is making arrangements to donate the money to different places. I know that LCSC is a non profit organization now...I think that you really need to drive that home to people, that their donations can go to LCSC, which is the reason we are all in one place to start with. Even if you don't know what you will do with the money..what you will use it for or donate it to..at least you need to let people know that it will be put in a fund. I hate to think of all these people raising money because of their connections on LCSC but giving their donations to other places, when LCSC is an entity. Am I thinking wrong?? Can't I have a fund raiser and donate the money to LCSC??? The fact that nobody has said it confuses me.

Sorry for the book...I cant seem to write anything short LOL.

Below is my reply.

I think that is a VERY good point and one that we have been asking ourselves about too. We are finally a legal non profit organization and have a strong board of directors that I know will soon get things off the ground. We are emersing ourselves in heavy fundraising this next year and writing proposals to see if we qualify for grant and federal monies.

Unlike ALCASE and other organizations like Lungevity- we do not focus 100% on research. What makes us different is that we are about SUPPORTing the patient and their families. A result we can see and touch and feel today. Which is why I think the website is so successful. Support, Advocacy, Awareness - in that order- is our goal. We will eventually have two large fundraisers during each calendar year to benefit soley 1-2 research centers that are making strides in the research and treatment of LC.

But without any money, we are tied. Baby steps, I guess. It does bother me that no one has brought this up and once we get more information about the organization on the website and where we are going, I hope people will get the idea and realize that we are a great place to donate funds to too. Other websites "delete" ideas for fundraisers that benefit anyone else but them, but we are not about that, and hope people will begin to see the importance of our organization instead of use it as a forum for their own agendas that don't include supporting us but other organizations.

We have been making a great difference in peoples lives on this message board and I know we will begin to make a difference in other areas of Support, Advocacy and Awareness as well.

Thank you for bringing this up. If you don't mind, I will be putting this up on the message board- (I won't put your name, in case you have privacy issues.)

Thank you so much and I look forward to working with you on the booth in April.

Katie

[Andrea]

I would be thrilled to do the walk to raise money for LCSC. One issue is that of insurance, below is a quote regarding choosing the charity. Does LCSC carry such insrance? Being a lawyer, I am so neurotic about insurance.

, our one request of the chosen charity was that they provide us with this insurance. Many 501c3 organizations with liability insurance will consider this request as they can often simply add your event to their policy. However, before finalizing your chosen charity, be sure to secure this promise for insurance should you need it

[TeeTaa]

Thanks muchly for the info, Katie. As a relative newcomer to the board, I have to admit that I haven't really done much to look into what LCSC exactly is , and your post certainly helped to inform me.

Should I plan to organize a walk or other type of fundraiser, it will most assuredly be to benefit LCSC, as THIS is the place that T-Bone found and THIS is where he, I, and other family members have found so much solace in the last couple of months.

So now I'm gonna go to the Main Page and find out more. (After I un-tuck my tail, that is!)

Thanks again.

TeeTaa

[ViVi]

Dear Don,

I, too, am sorry if I offended you. It certainly wasn't intentional, as I hope you realize. The problem seems to have come from the word CLOSE. I guess I expect everyone's primary definition of CLOSE to be the same as mine, which has absolutely nothing to do with proximity. My family can be scattered all over the U.S. but we are extremely CLOSE in mind, soul and spirit. And when one of us needs another (or ALL) of us CLOSE in proximity, we make a beeline for home or wherever we're needed, many times dropping that all-important project or making some other sacrifice to get there.

Such was the case last month when" Ms. Chairperson of Everything" Tee Taa took off with us to M D Anderson two days before the tremendous school fund-raising art extravaganza on which she had been working for over a year.

Such was the case when I faced a health crisis (which I tried to keep secret) three weeks before I was to host Tee Taa's wedding at my home. One of my 'secret' trips to the doctor was interrupted by a 'sibling conference call'. The first words spoken were, "Okay, where do you want us and when?" Before it was over, I had been offered 8 kidneys (5 siblings, Mama, Bobby, and even 4-yr-old GiGi). Thank goodness I didn't have to take them up on the offer but I realized later that if I had, he/she would have been left with only one kidney while I had two. What a sacrifice! What a definition of CLOSE!

And speaking of CLOSE, I wish you all could feel the CLOSEness of this community in which we were all raised. It's a small town (pop. approx. 2500) in a rural county (pop. approx. 7,000) and there is no BIG money here - just lots of hard workers and loving folks. Besides all the food, gift certificates, cards, prayers, errands, and countless and varied other things that have been given TBone's family in the past 2 months, the community has also given in excess of $20,000 cash to help defray the cost of his medical treatment and incidental family expenses. Now, I know that money is certainly not everything but it has been a tremendous help and it has been given so lovingly. And the thing is, the community did the same thing for someone else last month, and for someone else the month before that, and the month before that........ It never seems to give out of love.

TBone's bunch (all of us) is truly, truly blessed and we know it. And speaking for myself, no matter what trials and suffering I have faced or I face in the future, I know that I have already lived my heaven (at least a part of it!) here on earth.

ViVi

[ViVi]

Sorry the above message got posted in the wrong place. It was intended as a response to DBerry under the subject "No close family! No way!" but I goofed up some way. Will try to do better next time!

ViVi

[KatieB]

Andrea,

LCSC does not have at this time any insurance protection.

This is needed for any LCSC "Sponsored" event. But this is not needed for an event you have as a private individual and this does not hinder in anyway LCSC's abillity to accept donations from anyone.

I am sure that after fundraisers in April, there will be enough for necessities like insurance, among other things.

[Andrea]

Katie,

Thanks for the info How does this sound? I will try and see where I can have the walk and if insurance is not an issue, all proceeds go to LCSC. If I do need to go with a charity that has insurance, then maybe I can arrange for merchandising to go to LCSC.

To be honest, I have not thought this all through except to know I want to do it. Nov 6 hit a chord, my mom's diagnosis date. I am so grateful that she is getting surgery on Thurs and really want to help.

Since I have no idea yet what I am doing, I am not sure if I need insurance, except to know that someone else did. I plan on getting started and digging and picking venue and researching how to do all of this, and contacting Renee and Hebbie next week I figure I can do this, I am supposedly a bright person and really look forward to putting energies to a good cause. I never did anything like this before.

I know all of this is a lot of work, and Southern California is a fairly large area. I want to help make this as great as possible. I do work full time as an attorney, so as I posted before, if anyone in California wants to help me, the more help, the greater it will be

[reneek]

I posted this, but it got lost, so here is my short version:

For everyone that has inquired about a walk in a serious matter, I have and do recommend LCSC as a source to raise funds for. I love this board, and would love it if people donated the money to this board. As soon as I discovered LCSC was a 501c3, I recommended it to others!

I have no agenda, other than to get lung cancer walks going and raise attention to lung cancer. None! I recommended ALCASE, Lungevity, and LCSC as possible avenues because I know the $ goes to lung cancer. But I personally just want walks going, because it is my vision to have nationwide walks where people gather to honor those stricken with lung cancer.

Also, someone said ALCASE raises $ for research not support - ALCASE does do a lot to support those with lung cancer. That said, LCSC also does a TON, as evidenced here. For that, I am most thankful!

Anyway, it would be GREAT if people would raise $ for LCSC, and I would do EVERYTHING I could to support them. EVERYTHING! This is a great great organization, and I applaud the work being done here.