Light The Night: Thank You!

Since July, I've been talking to people, blogging, tweeting, posting on Facebook, and sending out letters -- all in an effort to raise money for Light The Night, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual fundraising event. I'm not at all good at fundraising, and I only managed to reach about 60% of my $1,000 goal... But thanks to the help of many amazing people, I've gotten farther than I ever thought I could.

Now that I'm back from the event, it's time for immense an thank you to those who donated. In order by date of donation, starting with the earliest:

• Nadia Ballas-Ruta, a.k.a. @HappyLotus, and fantastic spiritual blogger.
• Yvette Lyle, my good friend (and former boss).
• Jamie Hanson, a great long-time friend.
• Suzy Liu, my lovely wife.
• Amy Bigbee, Jim Beeson, Maisie Creelman, and Trevor Brown -- my colleagues and friends.
• Helen, owner of the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant.
• Paul Montz, a.k.a. @RVPaul, who donated twice. Double "thank you!" to you, Paul!
• Sarena Ulibarri, a.k.a. @sarenaemily, and a writer at Associated Content.
• Russell Grimm
• Majid Razvi, a.k.a. @majidrazvi.
• Uncle TJ
• Howard Milburn
• Anonymous, who donated nearly $275 to the cause. I wish I knew who you were!
• Lori Deschene, a.k.a. @lori_deschene, and wonderful blogger behind Seeing Good.
• Shenmin Lo, a.k.a. @Kytoo.
• William Beene, a guy who hates backpacks and has a funny beard.
• And all my customers who generously donated whatever they could via our donation boxes at work.

I'd also like to thank all the people who helped spread the word about this fundraiser. Without them, many of whom are also listed above as donors, half of the donations I received never would have happened. In this category, a very special thanks goes out to Lori Deschene, Nadia Ballas-Ruta, and Dorian Rhodes (@coffeesister). These wonderful ladies, who are always so inspiring and thoughtful, were also very generous in their help to raise awareness for this fundraiser. If not for their efforts, I bet I would have raised only a fraction of the money I did.

As you can tell, this fundraising is not really my story -- it's about those wonderful people I just mentioned. The success of the last 2 months really belongs to all of them, because they are the ones who gave their money and their time to help me work towards my goal. So to everyone who gave something, big or small, money or otherwise, I say...

Thank you!

Whatever merit I've gained by the tiny role I've played in bringing all these generous people together -- by that merit may all beings benefit, may they be free of suffering, and may they find peace. _/|\_