When the two of us met at the cafe weeks before to come up with a way to help the Johnson family we didn't have a lot of ideas with which to work.
We talked about -thons... dance-a-thons, walk-a-thons, even farm-a-thons... and none of them promised the kind of result we thought might ignite our friends here in the valley and make a difference in the fight John and his family were fighting with leukemia.
After a couple of fresh donuts, coffee, and Mt Dew - we were no closer to a solution than where we started. But, as Oscar unlocked his new brilliant blue Trek bike from the rack out front for the rest of his morning ride I could see the tumblers click into place behind his sunglasses.
"I may be on to something here," he said as he pedaled away, "give me a little time and I'll call you."
That's what this morning was all about.
"Instead of trying to pull together our own production," he said, "why not come together and piggy-back with something already planned and go all out to raise money toward winning the battle and the war."
"What? I'm sorry, Oscar could you give me that again, but in English?"
"Sure. What I'm thinking is we can get folks to sponsor my ride in next weekend's ride for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. But, we'll take it another step farther. We'll ask folks to sponsor whatever they can for each mile. Half will go to help folks all over the state dealing with those horrible diseases and half will go into a fund at the bank to help the Johnson family.""I suppose that sounds like a good idea," was my reply. "But how are you going to get the Society folks to go along with it?"
"I've talked to the executive director over in Milwaukee. She said that while this is a bit unusual it's a way to make a big difference in our town and for people around the state. She also thought the publicity for the idea might help both sides even more.
"Then, Mr. Post at the bank said they would match whatever is pledged dollar for dollar between now and the start of the ride. That doubles our money right there, and the Thrivent Chapter leaders - Henry, Carol, and Nancy - said they would also match all the dollars raised with their efforts. Everyone is coming together on this one."
I looked at Oscar with a bemused smile. "Oscar, you've done it again. I think this will really work. There's not much time to get the word out, but we can talk to all the churches before their services on Sunday and get some flyers out before the Fish Fry Friday night. I bet Ken will get this on the radio for us, and those guys at the TV station might help us out too. Let's go!"
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To help folks like the Johnson family, your gift to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will be used to provide practical help for families and fund research; you can make a gift in support of the ride here.
Catch up with Life on the Farm series.
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