The End of the Year and Your Donations are Urgently Needed

It’s been a great year at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. 80 kids and 100 plus volunteers have made the Cabrini Connections program an award-winning success. Both the November Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference and the May Conference saw well over 100 people attend. It would be nice to say that the year is ending with a bang and if financial issues weren’t a part of the picture, we indeed are.

Unfortunately, just as we’re ending a stellar year with both programs, we’re seeing funding dry up to pay payroll, rent, insurance, electricity and much more. I will be leaving Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection in two weeks, and the fact that this is the current situation deeply saddens me. Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection has been the best thing to happen to me and I am so deeply grateful to have worked here. Please help continue this award-winning program and send a check payable to “Cabrini Connections” to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, 800 W. Huron, First Floor, Chicago, IL 60614 or you can donate on PayPal: http://www.cabriniconnections.net/donate-online1

Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is this week!

Hello Everyone! I just wanted to remind everybody that the May Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking conference is THIS Thursday and Friday, May 27th and 28th. Registration, Breakfast, and the morning keynote will be held in the Simpson Hall Multi-Purpose Room, 6333 N. Winthrop Ave., however the entrance is on Sheridan Rd.

One of the many exciting things about the conference is how many new programs are participating. I will highlight these programs in a future blog post. However, I would like to give a shout-out to the Children's Home + Aid Society, the Abraham Lincoln Center, Jeanette's Joy Community Services, the Black Angel Network, and others that are recent additions to the conference network as well as the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator.

While we're so thrilled and excited about the conference, I must close on a more serious note. Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection is currently in another funding crisis right now. We don't have enough money to cover rent and payroll this week. Meanwhile, we have a conference this week as you all know, as well as our Year-End dinner next month, and our annual Jimmy Biggs Memorial Golf Tournament next month. If you would like to help out, you could sponsor a scholarship for someone to attend the conference, donate to the Year-End Dinner fund, or be golf tournament sponsor. Or, you could just mail a check payable to "Cabrini Connections" to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, 800 W. Huron, First Floor, Chicago, IL 60642 or just pay using PayPal. It's been too wonderful and successful of a year for us to be short of funds now. Help us stay afloat and donate today.

Exciting happenings at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection

Cabrini Madness is truly in full-swing now! If you haven't been watching the videos that our PIP fellow, Bradley Troast has been making, please check them out here! Yesterday we had Tim Doyle, former Northwestern University basketball star and current Big 10 Network analyst be our bracketologist for Cabrini Madness.

Also, Cabrini Madness is featured in this week's Skyline newspaper in a wonderful article by Felicia Dechter. Check it out!

Finally, my team, Passion's Team, is hosting a bar night tonight, Friday March 12th, from 7-10pm at the Galway Arms, 2442 N. Clark St., just north of Clark and Fullerton. $40 for all you can drink beer, wine, and call drinks (and appetizers). If you can't come, but still want to contribute, you can always donate at our GiveForward Page. Or you can write a check payable "Cabrini Connections" and note that you want it to go to Passion's Team and send it 800 W. Huron, First Floor, Chicago, IL 60642.

Vote for the Tutor/Mentor Connection to receive a Pepsi Refresh Grant!

Exciting news! The Tutor/Mentor Connection has been chosen to compete for a $250,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project. This grant will support the 12-month cycle of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. We are currently in 228th place for votes and need to be in the top-2 by the end of March. Please tell everyone you know to vote for the Tutor/Mentor Connection by March 31st.

Please support the Tutor/Mentor Connection and all it does to support tutoring and mentoring programs throughout Chicago and vote here.

Cabrini Madness - Support Passion's Team

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you might have noticed the little basketball cartoon in the upper right hand corner (it was a graphic designed by our tech club!). If you were extra curious and clicked on it, you would have been redirected to our Cabrini Madness information page.

So what is Cabrini Madness? Well, in an effort to get everyone (students, volunteers, staff, board members, volunteer coordinators, club leaders, and outside friends and family) involved in raising money for Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection, and to take advantage of the excitement of March Madness, we have created Cabrini Madness. Cabrini Madness is a bracket tournament-style fundraiser where teams are formed (there needs to be at least one student, one volunteer, one staff member/board member/volunteer coordinator or club leader, and one outside person. Teams can be up to 10 people), and compete against each other to see who can raise the most money.

You can see which teams are raising the most money on our Cabrini Madness Give Forward Page. You'll also see that my team, Passion's team (why Passion's team do you ask? Well, our team leader is student, Passion Tucker, and we all thought her name was too beautiful and awesome for it not to be our team name) hasn't raised any money yet. You can help us out by donating to our give forward site at the link above or by writing a check payable to "Cabrini Connections" and noting that it's going to Passion's team and mailing it to:
Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection
800 W. Huron, First Floor
Chicago, IL 60642

If you would like to help Passion's team fundraise in any way, please leave a comment in the comments section.

Step 6 in Raising Money by Running a Race - Complete your Race!

You've raised your money . You've put in your training. This is the moment you've been waiting for:
6. Run/walk/bike/swim your race! This is the fun part! Once you've raised all that money, you're going to be so pumped to actually complete your race. I ran almost all of the Chicago marathon with a huge grin on my face because I knew how many kids I helped support (I'll admit I didn't exactly have a grin on my face miles 22-26.2, more like a look of determination, but still) Also, tell people to come out and cheer you on. I saw several people who supported me throughout the training - both emotionally and financially - who came out and cheered me on. Make sure you have someone in the last couple of miles like my dear friends Nate and Bethany Sutton who were at the painful mile 23 with cheers and hugs.

Step 5 in Raising Money by Running a Race - Tell Everyone How You're Doing!

When I was in the midst of my training, everybody was asking how I was doing. Some people would see me hobbling around after my 16 or 18 mile runs, but a lot of friends and family far away were very interested in keeping up-to-date with my progress. I noticed people were also interested in how our progress was in fundraising. So, in order to keep everybody up-to-date with your training and fundraising progress, here's what you do:

5. Blog about your progress! Fortunately I already had this blog to talk about how my training and fundraising progressed. If you don't have one, I encourage you to set one up because not only are you able to tell the world about how you're doing, but also are able to tell the world how much you appreciate everybody's donations. Include pictures and stories. People were also curious about what I was listening to as I trained (I'm sorry, but I just can't run 20 miles without some good music. The marathon itself was another matter because of the cheering crowds.) I was shocked about how curious and intrigued people were and how much they enjoyed reading my stories on my blog.

Step 4 in Raising Money by Running a Race - How to actually raise that money

So you've dropped little hints that you're training for a race and doing it for charity. Now, it's time to actually ask. Here's how:
4. Ask in a variety of ways. We noticed a two-pronged strategy worked best. A lot of our young friends donated online. We used FirstGiving as our portal for donations but there are a variety of great online fundraising portals that are safe and legitimate. I'd like to give a special shout out to GiveForward, which has been a huge supporter of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection in the past year. All of them will have a variation of a web page explaining what race you're training for and what the organization your fundraising for is. There also is a secure payment link where people can use their credit card to give a donation.

However, we noticed a lot of our older friends and family were a little leery of donating online. That's why we also sent out letters with all of the pertinent information in them as well. I'd say the number of mail donations vs. online donations was about 60/40 for mail to online. A lot of charities also have a paypal site which you can include in e-mails and other communication. Make sure to keep track of every donation you receive - I just printed out all of the donations and put them in a binder. This will make the charity's life easier when they get audited and the donor's life easier when they do their taxes.

Step 3 in raising money by running a race- This might surprise you

You've signed up for your race and found your training partner. Maybe you've started training a bit (quick bit of advice - do follow the training plan that the race gives out. Most races do. I really think that I didn't get injured/burnt out because I followed the Chicago Marathon's Training Beginner training guide to a T. Also, they usually do a nice job with making it doable while still having a life.)

Anyway, you're ready to start fundraising. But before you begin asking, follow our Step 3 and people will be MUCH more receptive to your asking:

3. Don't startle people with asking for money. Nick and I sent out letters to friends and family explaining what Cabrini Connections is and why they should donate in late-August/early-September, just a little over a month before the race. However, we had been telling people for at least six months that we were running the marathon and why we were running for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. Just drop it into casual conversation. Trust me, it's not awkward, if you don't ask right then and there. But if you talk about it initially as an abstract idea, potential donors will begin the thought process of "Oh hey, Joe's running the marathon for charity. He looks like he's training pretty seriously. I should donate to his efforts." When you do ask, they'll be more likely to give.

Day 2 - You've Signed Up for a Race, Now What?

So you've signed up for your race. Congratulations! But now, you're a little intimidated about how you're going to get from where you are now to finishing that race.. How do you do it? Here's step 2 of my training/preparation plan for charity:

2. Find a running/fundraising buddy, or a bunch of them! There will be days when you get home from work during your training and you're exhausted. Or it's dark and cold outside and you just don't want to wake up early to get 4 miles in before work. I've been there. But, having a training buddy helps! You don't even have to run together (although that's always nice). My boyfriend/marathon training partner/fundraising buddy Nick was way faster than me (sub 4-hour marathon! That's FAST), but the simple fact that he was getting home from work too and putting on his running shoes helped so much in training, even though we ran separately. Having a running buddy for a charitable race means a fundraising buddy as well. I know I would not have been able to raise almost $3000 on my own. But thanks to Nick's enthusiasm for Cabrini Connections and willingness to get out there and ask for money from his own friends, family, and co-workers, I was inspired myself to get out there and ask as well. Plus, it inspires a little friendly competition. So find someone you know will help you keep to your plan and you will accomplish this goal together. (That's us after a fun run between bars last Spring. A lot of people in our running group were donors and supporters of our marathon training and fundraising effort as well. See training CAN be fun!)

Getting in Shape for a GREAT Cause? Step 1

So you've made your New Year's Resolution to get in shape. Maybe you want to lose weight, maybe you just want to get back into the shape you were in before the holidays, or maybe you were always a casual athlete but want to challenge yourself. In any case, before the new year, you made excuses for yourself, but now you're ready to go for it. However, you need a little more motivation than to fit into your skinny jeans. Maybe you also have a cause you're passionate about. You volunteer at a soup kitchen every Saturday, or you walk dogs at your local animal shelter, or you're a tutor or mentor. This is your motivation, to raise money and awareness for an organization that you love by running (walking, swimming, biking, basically moving) in a race.

Trust me, I've tried the going to the gym every day type of resolution. And the lose 10 pounds resolution. But last year I realized that in order for a resolution to stick, I'd need to combine a goal that I couldn't back out of (signing up for the Chicago marathon) and doing it for a cause I'm passionate about. So here's Step 1 of fulfilling that New Year's Resolution and helping your favorite charity:

1. Sign up for a race. Be reasonable and be KIND to yourself. Don't sign up for a marathon if it intimidates you. If running a 5-k is a big step for you, sign up for one if you think you can finish it. Also, if you hate running, but enjoy swimming, or biking, or even walking there a variety of races where you can raise money for your favorite charity. Do some research, and I'm sure you'll find something. A favorite resource of mine is the Chicago Area Runner's Association website, which has a calendar of races that you can enter throughout the year. They also give you resources for training groups and other fun races along the way. I think you'll find the mere fact of signing up for a race (which you'll raise money for) a very easy and much more concrete goal than just fitting into your skinny jeans.

But how will you get the motivation to stick with your training? Find out tomorrow . . .

New Year? New Year's Resolution? Here's How I Actually Followed through with Mine

Happy New Year Everyone! And Happy National Mentoring Month! I love how each new year begins with a month dedicated to that special relationship where one individual guides another in their growth.

Anyway, as it is the beginning of the year, we're all thinking of New Year's Resolutions probably. I know that many people resolve to lose weight or get in shape and many people become frustrated in this goal after a month or so. A lot of people also resolve to do something to help their community as a New Year's Resolution. If you have read my blog before, you know that in 2009, I raised almost $3000 for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection by running the Chicago Marathon.

Last year I was one of those people who resolved to get in shape and do something a little extra to help my community. By working for a fantastic organization such as Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, I feel so fortunate to be able to say that everyday I do something to help the community. However, I wanted to do a little extra outside of what my job title dictated and I knew that 2009 was going to be a rough year economically, especially for non-profits. It was at Martini Madness in October of 2008 when after a few (too many?) martinis, my boyfriend, Nick Infusino, said "Hey! Let's run the Chicago Marathon for Cabrini Connections next year!" and I replied "That's a great idea!"

For some reason, however, that idea wasn't just one of those drunk ideas that falls to the wayside. As 2009 approached, I decided that it was the year I was going to get in shape and run a marathon. I had always been an avid runner, but I had gotten out of shape for a variety of reasons. The idea of running the marathon was a goal that I felt was feasible and combined with the fact that I would be running it for a worthy cause was all the more reason to follow through. 10 months later, on October 11th, 2009, Nick and I were finishers of a major marathon and helped bring in almost $3000 from friends and family who supported our effort. Over this next week I will tell you how I stopped worrying about the marathon and fundraising and start loving it!

When you give, think of the Tutor/Mentor Connection

Last week I received a very nice e-mail from a tutoring and mentoring program leader who attended the November conference. They thanked us for having the conference and told us about how they are collaborating with a leader of another organization in a high-poverty, low-income neighborhood to help at-risk youth succeed. He writes, "We are going to plan activities with youth from both of our programs that focus directly on building friendships with kids from other neighborhoods, instead of falling into a 'gang mentality' and feeling people from other communities are enemies. I look forward to meeting with him again and I look forward to visiting your program as well."

This is what the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference is all about - giving leaders in the tutoring and mentoring community the tools and resources to help the kids in their neighborhood succeed. But we can only do so much and that's why it's so gratifying to hear of people collaborating and learning from each other in the time between conferences.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is a vital part of connecting tutoring and mentoring programs throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Unfortunately, the economic downturn has taken its toll on the Tutor/Mentor Connections and the programs it serves. I encourage to read my colleagues Dan Bassill's and Mike Trakan's blogs to read more about all the things that the Tutor/Mentor Conneciton does. Many of you will be giving charitably this year. Since you read this blog, please consider the Tutor/Mentor Connection in your charitable donations. To donate, please write a check made payable to "Cabrini Connections" and send it to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, 800 W. Huron, 1st Floor, Chicago, IL 60642 or visit http://www.giveforward.org/tistheseason/

Happy Holidays everyone! May they be safe and merry!

Thank you Jelly for Supporting Us!

If any of you are in the Lincoln Park neighborhood tonight, or are looking for something fun and charitable to do, come to Noble Tree Coffee and Tea, 2444 N. Clark St. at 10pm. Jelly, a consortium of freelance technology people are hosting their holiday party (called "Tech the Halls." Baddum ching!) their and the beneficiary is Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. Admission is free, but you do have to RSVP before. Thanks so much to Jelly for supporting us this holiday season!

Also, the Chase Giving Challenge, where Chase Bank will donate $25,000 to each of the top vote-getters has been extended another day and will go on through tomorrow, Saturday December 12th. Please click on the button below and support Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, but also be sure to see if any of the other charities that you are passionate about are trying to get votes as well.

Holiday Bar Night for Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection Tonight!

If you've ever been to one of our bar nights, you know how much fun they are. Trust me - everyone I know who's ever gone has a great time and anticipates the next one. I think it's a combination of great people (staff, volunteers, friends, and family) having a good time at the end of the week and at the same time, raising money for a great cause.

Anyway, we're having a bar night TONIGHT, Friday , December 4th from 8pm-12am. It's at Fizz Bar, 3220 N. Lincoln Ave., just off of Lincoln and Belmont and just south of the Paulina Brown Line Stop. Admission is $40 (this goes to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection) and covers beer, wine, and well drinks. There will also be appetizers.

In the upper right hand corner is another graphic created by our tech club. This was created by one of our students. Hopefully it will remind you why we do what we do here at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection and why we need your dollars to continue to help these kids create amazing things.

Chase Giving Challenge on Facebook

Hi everybody! So if you're on Facebook, I'm sure you've seen the Chase Giving Challenge. Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection is one of the organizations vying for a chance to win $25,000 (which is A LOT for a non-profit!). We just need to get as many votes as possible before next Friday, December 11th.

Here's what you have to do. Go to the icon below and click on it. Login to Facebook and they'll ask you to become a fan of the Chase Giving Challenge. Then you can vote for us. It's free, quick, and easy. And what's really cool is if there's another charity that is near and dear to your heart, you can vote for 19 other charities as well to receive money.

So if you've become a fan of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection by being a student in the program, volunteering for us, coming to one of our conferences, learning about us online or any other way, please vote for us to receive a much-needed donation!

Two Weeks Until the Conference

I can't believe it's already two weeks until the conference! October went by QUICKLY! But some great things are coming together for the conference and I hope you're just as excited as I am about it. Yesterday I talked about a great keynote speaker that we're having, Timothy Hogan of the Royal Order of Experience Design, who's talking about how businesses and non-profits can collaborate by having volunteers use their professional experience to help the non-profits.

Today, I would like to highlight a keynote speaker and a workshop that that touches on a topic that is currently quite relevant for many non-profits: the state of the current economy and how non-profits can stay funded and running through the current recession.

On Thursday morning, November 19th, the morning keynote will be by Jill Zimmerman of the Alford Group. Jill spoke at last May's Conference on grant-writing. This November, Jill will be doing a State of the Union on the economic climate and how it's affecting tutoring and mentoring programs. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know the struggles we've had here at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection to stay afloat, especially this Fall. We're not the only ones though. I've talked to several programs that have had to shut down and lay off key staff members in order to stay open. This is not okay, especially in light of the continued violence that plagues Chicago and other big cities. (read Dan Bassill's blog article about the tragic shooting death of a DePaul student over Halloween weekend to get a glimpse of what we're dealing with). Knowledge is power, and since everybody has been affected by the economy, it's definitely worth your while to listen to Jill's keynote.

Then, later that day, during the second afternoon workshop, Liz Livingston Howard of the Northwestern University Kellogg Center for Non-Profit Management will be speaking about 10 Tips for Staying Ahead in this Economy. This workshop was also held this past May, but the topic is just as relevant now, if not more so and we really appreciate the Kellogg Center for Non-Profit Management coming back and doing this workshop again.

Like I've said before, the Tutor/Mentor Conference usually has a little something for everyone, so if using volunteers' professional skills or fundraising in a tough economy doesn't persuade you to come to the conference, maybe one of the future blog posts will!

Cabrini Connections Bake Sale - How do you get Volunteers and students more involved?

This past Saturday, on Halloween, Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection hosted a bake sale organized by one of our students, Melissa Young, and her tutor/mentor, Elena Lugo. At the beginning of this school year, when there was a distinct possibility that Cabrini Connections would not be able to stay open through the 2009-2010 school year, students, volunteer and staff came up with ways to raise money. I raised money by running the Chicago Marathon (which is still live and taking donations through January 1st, 2010!) El Da'Sheon Nix, our administrative coordinator, and Kurt Kittner, one of our board memebers, created a Northwestern-University of Illinois Challenge to see which universities alumni could raise more money before the Northwestern-UofI football game. Mike Trakan, our GIS and Mapping Coordinator hosted a mapathon. We also had the TRW hill challenge, hosted by a former Northwestern football teammate of El's - Matt Ulrich, which raised over $6000 at last count.

While we truly appreciate everybody's efforts in fundraising for our organization, we were especially impressed that one of our students decided to take the initiative and organize a fundraiser herself. Melissa decided that she was going to host a bake sale on Halloween. She got the word out to our volunteers, students, and staff through SVHATS and we had many volunteer tutor/mentors and friends of Cabrini Connections bring in delicious baked goods. My boyfriend Nick and I helped out, but most of the organizing that day was done by Melissa and Elena. We also had nine of our students help out by standing on Chicago Ave. And Halsted St. holding signs beckoning people to come into Cabrini Connections and buy delicious baked goods. The bake sale was a great success! People were coming in off the street as well as buying baked goods while they were in their cars, stopped at the stop light. Also, many of our friends and volunteers came in to buy the baked goods as well. Overall, we raised $328, which was a lot more than we had expected to raise. Hopefully other students will take Melissa's initiative and organize fundraisers of their own.

In the coming month, we will have more fundraisers hosted by volunteers. On Sunday November 22nd, one of our volunteer tutor/mentors, Sarah Randag (also in our volunteer spotlight this week!) will be hosting a wine-tasting for Cabrini Connections at Cellar Rat Wine Cellar. Only 15 spots are left and it's $25 admission to find about wines that go well with turkey and other Thanksgiving food staples. During the holidays, one of our college zone volunteers, Stephanie Rogers, will be hosting a card-writing fundraiser by sending holiday cards written to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. For each card sent, $1 will be donated to Cabrini Connections.

Volunteers can be a great source of other services than tutoring and mentoring and fundraising as well. At our November Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, Timothy Hogan, of the Royal Order of Experience Design will be doing the lunchtime keynote on Thurday November 19th. He was once a volunteer tutor and mentor but had to stop due to being too busy with his job. However, he did stay in touch with the Tutor/Mentor Connection through our monthly newsletter. Mr. Hogan realized that he could volunteer in a different way - by using his expertise in technology to help rebuild the Tutor/Mentor Connection website. He also has helped recruit other volunteers as well to help tutoring and mentoring programs with their technology needs. This is the perfect example of how volunteers can help out non-profits not just by volunteering directly with the service they provide (such as being tutors and mentors at organizations such as ours), but also by offering their professional expertise in technology, accounting, legal advice and much more. As Mr. Hogan demonstrates, even if you can't help out once a week as a volunteer tutor/mentor, there are still a variety of ways that you can help at-risk youth succeed simply by offering your professional skills to a grateful organization.

The Marathon is Over but We're Still Running!

The marathon has been over for a week, but here at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection we need your help to keep on running. Thank you to Maryjo Byrnes for your donation to our marathon training, which has so far raised $2,783.20 for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. If you had wanted to donate to Nick Infusino and me running the Chicago Marathon for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection but didn't or want to donate again, you still can through January 1st, 2010 on our FirstGiving page.

However there are a couple of other fun ways to give to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection this month. The first is through workplace giving. Over the past week, I have visited two CTA stations and the US Pretrial Services Office to speak about the Combined Charities Campaign or Combined Federal Campaign. What the Combined Charities or Combined Federal Campaign (depends on whether the organization is a federal organization or not) does is that employees can designate a portion of each paycheck to the charity of their choice and the donation is tax deductible. So, say I work for the CTA - I can designate a dollar per week to Cabrini Connections and that means a donation of $52 for the year. This is a great and easy way to give and it's been a lot of fun talking to people about what we do. We are "Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection" under the Black United Fund for the Combined Federal Campaign. For the Combined Charities Campaign, we're either "Cabrini Connections" under the Black United Fund or "Tutor/Mentor Connection" under Community Shares of Illinois if your organization does workplace giving already.

Corporations do workplace giving too, such as Northrup Grummond, Allstate, and Abbott Laboratories. You can read about how Northrup Grummond is helping organizations such as ours on El's blog. You can also read about how your work can get involved in workplace giving on Dan's blog.

Also, right now, the Chase Foundation, Parade Magazine and Facebook Causes have teamed up to give $50,000 to the cause that has the most donations on Facebook Causes until November 6th. The contest works like this (courtesy of Facebook causes):

The contest is simple: the cause that gets the most people to give $10 or more wins. Causes can win daily awards of up to $1,000 for getting the most donations in a single day, and overall awards up to $50,000 for getting the most donations over the entire challenge, which ends November 6th.

Go to www.causes.com to see the leading causes in the Challenge. From here, you can browse all competing causes or start a new cause. Or you can go directly to the list of your causes and pick one to help.

Once you have picked a cause, there are two easy ways to help:

1. Donate. Go to the cause you want to support and click on the green “Donate” button.
2. Tell your friends. Go to the cause you want to support and click on the green “Tell Friends” button. But don’t stop there—make phone calls, put your cause’s URL in your away message, and find other creative ways to get your friends to donate"

What we're trying to do here at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection is to have the most donations for a single day. We want YOU to donate this Friday October 23rd so we can reach our goal. I pledge to donate $25 this Friday. What are you going to donate?

Finally, don't forget about the Charity Hill Climb, organized by one of El Da'Sheon's former Northwestern football teamates, Matt Ulrich. Here's the information on that, via Facebook Events:

"What: A charity workout! TWR will host our second “Hill Challenge”. The “Hill Challenge” consists of walking or running up and down a sledding hill as many times as you can in one hour. There will be a minimum $25 dollar donation fee. You are also encouraged to find sponsors to raise additional money. We suggest passing along this info to family/friends/businesses, etc. They can sponsor you per hill or give a flat donation.
Why: All proceeds and pledges will be donated to Cabrini Connections: an after school program dedicated to helping underprivileged youth become extraordinary adults (All proceeds are tax deductable).
When: Sunday October 25, 2009 at 9:30a.m.
Where: The sledding hill behind the Southeast end zone of Soldier Field.
Who: TWR clients and any friends, family members, peers, or colleagues who would like to get together for a great workout and raise money for a great cause!!!
Details: Minimum donation of $25 dollars will allow you entry to Soldier Field Hill Challenge plus you will receive a complimentary t-shirt!!! The winner of most donations will receive one Train With Ron personal training session!"

So, there are variety of ways to donate to Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection even post-marathon! I'm going to keep trying to raise money - it's up to you to help us out!

Marathon is Over! But we still need your help!

I can now say that I have run a marathon. On a cold, sunny, Sunday morning, I ran 26.2 miles through the streets of Chicago. I finished the race in 4 hours, 44 minutes, and 28 seconds. My goal was to get under 5 hours and I was very happy with the result. (Picture at the right is me tired and happy after the marathon. The picture was taken by one of our outstanding tutor/mentors, Anna Ashbaugh, who was volunteering for the marathon and greeted me at the finish line!) My boyfriend, Nick Infusino, (photo bottom left, looking a bit worse for wear, but hey, he ran fast!) who was also a tireless fundraiser for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection ran the marathon in a speedy 3 hours and 59 minutes. We both agree that we would do a marathon again in a heartbeat! In fact, I'm already looking at Spring marathons to run in since I had such a great time!

To add to the list of people who donated since last time, they are:
- Emily Byers
- Kathleen Cox
- Bob Baeppler
- Susan Lanza

Thank you again to everybody who donated to our cause! It was truly inspiring to see the outpouring of support and encouragement - both financially and emotionally - from family and friends as Nick and I took on this race. It was an honor to accomplish something both for myself and for such a great organization. Thanks also to our family and friends who braved the cold to come out and support us throughout the race.

In total we raised $2,757.00 before the marathon, which is incredible! However, Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connections still needs your help and our FirstGiving website is still live and taking donations until January 1st, 2010 if you wanted to donate, but didn't in time for the marathon, or if you want to donate again. The marathon is over, but the need is still pressing and here.