StopLeukemia Supporters,
As we wrap up 2010, we'd like to recap some of the achievements of StopLeukemia in its first full year. StopLeukemia has continued to make great strides since the kick-off event at The Vault almost a year and a half ago. Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of the StopLeukemia community.
Our primary fundraising event in 2010 was in conjunction with Rachael Devono-Sarkisian's participation in the 2010 Music City Marathon in Nashville, TN. Rachael, Andy Sarkisian's widow and one of StopLeukemia's inspirations, set a goal of raising $5,000 of behalf of StopLeukemia. Due to Rachael's courage and everyone's tremendous support, she was able to raise over $6,000 of which $5,000 was donated to Dana Farber's Office of Patient and Family Assistance and $1,000 was donated to the Andy Sarkisian Memorial Scholarship Fund. The total donations to these two organizations are now $15,000 and $1,500, respectively, totals that we are very proud of, and you should be as well! We are truly inspired by Rachael's drive and determination and she is very appreciative of everyone's contributions. Rachael commented on StopLeukemia's Facebook site, "Thanks again for helping me keep Andrew's memory alive!" Pictures from Rachael's inspirational run in Nashville can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/stopleukemia/RachaelSRun#
We'd also like to share a story recently published on boston.com (link to story). Unfortunately, many organizations contribute a limited percentage of total donations to their respective causes. In 2009 approximately 43 cents out of every dollar donated was received by charitable organizations. We at StopLeukemia, however, are thrilled to that since our start in 2009, approximately 80 cents out of every dollar has been donated to one of the two organizations mentioned above, and this percentage is even greater when excluding the sale of StopLeukemia t-shirts. StopLeukemia is devoted to assisting the families that are dealing with leukemia. Your donations are meant to help families with the financial burden of this disease, not to fund the operations of the organization.
Some additional highlights for StopLeukemia in 2010 include the following:
· The StopLeukemia founders were featured in a recently published book called "Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back" authored by Kimberly Palmer. A short adaptation from the book can be found here.
· StopLeukemia is currently discussing a long-term partnership with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Through this partnership, all future events would be co-sponsored by the two organizations and future donations would continue to be directed to Dana Farber's Office of Patient and Family Assistance.
· Sandy Richton, one of StopLeukemia's inspirations, celebrated 12 years as a cancer survivor and eight years since her stem cell transplant. Congrats Sandy! We are all inspired by your courage!
StopLeukemia is looking forward to an even more successful 2011. We plan to host another charity event at a local bar/restaurant in Boston during the late Winter/early Spring and are initiating plans for our biggest event yet, a charity golf outing, likely to be held in the Fall. Please continue to check our website (www.stopleukemia.org) for updates. We'll be sure to keep you posted as well.
In closing, with the year end and tax time upon us, there is no better time to make a donation to StopLeukemia. If you're interested, tax deductible donations for 2010 can be made online through Friday (click here).
Thanks again for your continued support!
- Judd, Mike and Tony
As we wrap up 2010, we'd like to recap some of the achievements of StopLeukemia in its first full year. StopLeukemia has continued to make great strides since the kick-off event at The Vault almost a year and a half ago. Of course, none of this would be possible without the help of the StopLeukemia community.
Our primary fundraising event in 2010 was in conjunction with Rachael Devono-Sarkisian's participation in the 2010 Music City Marathon in Nashville, TN. Rachael, Andy Sarkisian's widow and one of StopLeukemia's inspirations, set a goal of raising $5,000 of behalf of StopLeukemia. Due to Rachael's courage and everyone's tremendous support, she was able to raise over $6,000 of which $5,000 was donated to Dana Farber's Office of Patient and Family Assistance and $1,000 was donated to the Andy Sarkisian Memorial Scholarship Fund. The total donations to these two organizations are now $15,000 and $1,500, respectively, totals that we are very proud of, and you should be as well! We are truly inspired by Rachael's drive and determination and she is very appreciative of everyone's contributions. Rachael commented on StopLeukemia's Facebook site, "Thanks again for helping me keep Andrew's memory alive!" Pictures from Rachael's inspirational run in Nashville can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/stopleukemia/RachaelSRun#
We'd also like to share a story recently published on boston.com (link to story). Unfortunately, many organizations contribute a limited percentage of total donations to their respective causes. In 2009 approximately 43 cents out of every dollar donated was received by charitable organizations. We at StopLeukemia, however, are thrilled to that since our start in 2009, approximately 80 cents out of every dollar has been donated to one of the two organizations mentioned above, and this percentage is even greater when excluding the sale of StopLeukemia t-shirts. StopLeukemia is devoted to assisting the families that are dealing with leukemia. Your donations are meant to help families with the financial burden of this disease, not to fund the operations of the organization.
Some additional highlights for StopLeukemia in 2010 include the following:
· The StopLeukemia founders were featured in a recently published book called "Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back" authored by Kimberly Palmer. A short adaptation from the book can be found here.
· StopLeukemia is currently discussing a long-term partnership with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Through this partnership, all future events would be co-sponsored by the two organizations and future donations would continue to be directed to Dana Farber's Office of Patient and Family Assistance.
· Sandy Richton, one of StopLeukemia's inspirations, celebrated 12 years as a cancer survivor and eight years since her stem cell transplant. Congrats Sandy! We are all inspired by your courage!
StopLeukemia is looking forward to an even more successful 2011. We plan to host another charity event at a local bar/restaurant in Boston during the late Winter/early Spring and are initiating plans for our biggest event yet, a charity golf outing, likely to be held in the Fall. Please continue to check our website (www.stopleukemia.org) for updates. We'll be sure to keep you posted as well.
In closing, with the year end and tax time upon us, there is no better time to make a donation to StopLeukemia. If you're interested, tax deductible donations for 2010 can be made online through Friday (click here).
Thanks again for your continued support!
- Judd, Mike and Tony
