3-Day Crew Captain - New to Blogging

Well, from a programmer's perspective..."Hello, World." The standard phrase to test results from your program. This has been a long time coming and I am definitely behind on the Web 2.0 phase. However, I needed the appropriate time to think about what was really important to write about.

After much thought, I decided I am going to post about my experiences, best practices, and thoughts about being a volunteer CREW member for the Susan G. Komen, Breast Cancer 3-Day.

So how about some context first?

I started volunteering for the Breast Cancer 3-Day (hereafter written as 3-Day) in 2003. San Francisco was the city and it was a 60-mile walk from Bay Meadows to Golden Gate Park. Instead of walking, I decided to help with the behind the scenes work. After attending a crew meeting, the crew coordinator, Terry Hoerstkamp (sp?), now Terry Yoder, asked for crew captains. I thought to myself, why not? I can lead. Little did I know, I volunteered for one of the hardest working teams of the event, SETUP. If anyone remembers that year, it was the year of the "RELO!" My team ended up coming back from campsite 2 to grid out a couple thousand sleeping spots within the confines of the Bay Meadows building.

The experience turned out to be wonderful...so I did it again next year. Craig Hermes was the crew coordinator and he did a great job. Unfortunately, the powers that be decided that Bay Area was too expensive and there were too many competing events, namely AVON. So I had to find a new home because I did not want the magic to end. I was hooked.

In 2005, I manage to sign on with San Diego. Little did I know (again!) that San Diego turned out to be the BIGGEST event. With SF gone and LA gone too, people flocked to San Diego (and Seattle). That year, over 4,200 walkers participated in San Diego and combined with approximately 300+ crew, the event raised just over $10 million.

Since 2005, I have been in San Diego as Crew Captain for Camp Logistics (a fancy way to say SETUP). In 2007, I also worked Boston. Next year, I plan 3 events, Boston, San Diego, and Bay Area.

IT'S TRUE! 3-Day is coming back to the Bay Area!

Why do this?

Everyone has their own reasons for participating. However, for whatever reasons you have, the reason to participate is because it is IMPORTANT. I used to think, "Why raise money that will not go very far?" We have all heard of the stories of corruption and administrative costs that suck up all the dollars. Furthermore, we can very well speculate that the pharma companies have incentives not to cure diseases because that disrupts revenue streams.

So what's left?


AWARENESS. Look after yourself as a person. While pharmas won't cure every disease, they at least make products that help us live longer. With breast cancer...EARLY detection is paramount.

That's why it is important to participate...because everyone deserves a lifetime.

~Andrew