Tri-ing

Tri-ing times 3, that is. It’s the season of triathlons and I am HARD at work. NO! I’m not doing 3 triathlons, but I am advocating for 3 important charities through the Janus Charity Challenge. As the weeks advance, there are days I wonder if I might switch places and trade the fundraising for the physical task of a Tri. No. Scratch that.I’m still in the thick of training for my little bitty 5K through the couch to 5K program. My legs ache as I type this from week 7 day 2! Yeah, NO tri for me.

The first Tri has come and gone – and we have results. Fairy Godmother and I organized our 4th annual Team Plumpy’Nut for Doctors Without Borders Fundraiser (see here, here, and here for 1, 2, and 3). The Janus Charity Challenge  ’switched teams’ and relocated their resources with the Lifetime/Toyota Triathlon series. Thus, our favorite local venue, the Wisconsin Ironman, was replaced by our neighboring state’s Lifetime Chicago Triathlon. Not intimidated, Fairy Godmother  and I recruited a lovely local man who was using the Chicago Triathlon as his ‘taper’ for the fabulous Wisconsin Ironman. His TAPER! We raised over $14,000 for Doctors Without Borders – feeding over 466 kids in the Horn of Africa. We are THRILLED with our result of FOURTH PLACE and a $500 additional cash award for Doctors Without Borders.  We were beat by competitors who had triple digit fundraising totals – we could not be prouder of our grassroots effort to bring compassionate care and nourishment to our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa. It was a WIN for our Team Plumpy’Nut. I celebrated with Mr. SillyPants and Blueberry by camping out in Lot 60 during the Ironman WI event. Fairy Godmother worked “officially” for the Ironman – supporting athletes as they ran through our beloved Camp Randall on the last 8 mile leg of the entire venue. Our fabulous athlete wore his MSF jersey during the bike and ran past me in his bright yellow running shirt. We held hands, exchanged smiles, and our family cheered for his big heart and a strong finish. That run is grueling. The whole dang Ironman is grueling.

During training Philip asked me about rules for finishing the Tri in Chicago. He said, “if mother’s in East Africa are carrying their dying children for months in search of food and help, I can crawl on my hands and knees to the finish line.” I was moved by his spirit and his determination for solidarity with the families stricken by one of the worst famines of our time. Thank you to Philip for his courage and determination. YOU are a WINNER.

Just for kicks, here is an image of Blueberry’s FIRST Ironbaby campaign. It’s fair to say, you’ve come a LONG WAY BABY! We are looking forward to our 5th annual campaign next year!

Of course, I never argue with a good idea, and I’ve been working on bringing some other stellar nonprofits to the Janus Charity Challenge at other venues. Enter Mudula Water Project and the Mudula Mamas. 3 amazing women are traveling to Dallas from across the US to join together for one cause – WATER. I am so excited about this Tri team and their dedication to bring water to over 10,000 people in Ethiopia. Each woman will do one leg of the race – my small part is simply that I’ve joined their effort by bringing them into the Janus Charity Challenge. This is an event WE NEED to dominate (please help!).  2 weeks until the race – so don’t delay!

The piece that makes me wildly giddy is that shortly after this event I’ll be heading to ETHIOPIA with the Mudula Water Team. How cool would it be to have fundraised nearly all of our funds? Hmmmm? No amount of donation is too small. And, for those of you who can make a larger donation, please do. I promise the BEST PICTURES EVER of Mudula Ethiopia and nearby communities that will have access to the water from this gravity well. Plus, I really want to see THIS TREE and know I’ve had a small part in changing the lives of these kids. The Janus Charity Challenge in Dallas is a deal maker for me. I brought this team together with the hope that we’ll rock the charity win  – we need your help to do this.

Last, but by no means least, Los Angeles is hosting an AHOPE for Children athlete at the LA Triathlon on September 25th. Y’all know how much I LOVE AHOPE for Children. Nick is bringin’ that love to the water, bike, and pavement when he Tri’s for AHOPE.  I blogged about all the reasons I love this non-profit and THEN I went ahead and accepted a seat on their Board. Yep. I did. I’m helping connect families with AHOPE and AHOPE with families. Be my connecting families, ok? Help us put the programs in place that AHOPE knows bring kids into better health and bigger hope. And remember how I said I’m traveling to Mudula? Well, I’ll be visiting AHOPE Ethiopia too. I am SO EXCITED to be there, back in the orphanage that received a donation that Waffles so carefully prepared when we traveled to Ethiopia to become Blue’s family. We had 5 travelers, which meant 5 personal bags and 5 bags full of donations.   This photo is circa 2008 —-> Blast from the past – it’s funny how the past becomes my present in my ‘becoming.’

Whew! 3 athletes and 3 venues. There are 2 remaining in which you can make a difference and help us win charity purse $!!!!! Mr. Sillypants, who is wise, has said to me, “Ms. Plum, it’s your job to make the offer, but you don’t get to decide who takes you up on the offer.” I know he’s right, but I WANT YOU TO TAKE ME UP ON THIS OFFER!  I do. It’s personal. I’m petty like that.

Make sure you get it done before the deadlines:  AHOPE before September 24th. Mudula Water before Oct 1.               Amaseganalou.

I cannot afford ignorance…

I refuse to pay the price for ignorance – to trade my integrity and my capacity for compassion for an ignorant existence.

I can’t afford ignorance. The price is too high. And this is one of those things I can’t be quiet about. Hunger. Famine. Starvation. And if I can’t be quiet about it, how in the world can I DO NOTHING about  it? I talk. A lot. But the real deal is sealed by what I do. 

And so the doing is ON. Our 4th PlumpyNut Triathlon Fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders is ON. 

This is real. Drought destroys families.  This season the drought is devastating regions in the Horn of Africa again. They say the conditions are the worst they have been for 60 years. Children are dying. Families are losing their beloveds and facing choices no one should ever have to face.  My cupboards are full, and my once malnourished son is crying for Neuman’s chocolate cream cookies – he’d like more than 5 on his lunch plate. Not. right. and. no. time. for. ignorance.

Last night my Ethiopian friend shared with me that I’m doing a good job raising my son with a strong sense of his Ethiopianness. I wondered how she could say this in the company of a 3 year old pretty much occupied with cars, raccoons, and chocolate. Really?  She said it doesn’t matter if he speaks Amharic or identifies with the Lion of Judah or loves injera and berbere. What matters, she said, is that he is raised to be a good and caring person – because THAT is what it means to raise an Ethiopian. That is what it means to BE an Ethiopian. Let’s ALL bring our inner Ethiopians to the table and make a difference. Donate now. Please.

 

Food for thought – the luxury of the well fed

The expression “food for thought” is a privilege of the language of the elite.  If you’re hungry, food is about survival and certainly not a matter of cerebral jumping jacks or playful linguistic exercises.

I’m worried today. The ‘food news’ from the Horn of Africa is ramping up – food insecurity is on the rise. When food is in scarce supply, suffering is an every day experience.

The BBC reported this: “the eastern Horn of Africa “has experienced two consecutive seasons of significantly below-average rainfall, resulting in one of the driest years since 1995″. They added that the crops have failed and local cereal prices remain very high. The food reports from fewsnet are featured on the USAID page and include a map of the areas under serious threat of devastating famine.

I have a pretty good sense that this blog is read by a number of adoptive families who have been entrusted the care of children from the areas in crisis on the map. If your families are like our family, we made some promises to our Horn of Africa beloveds. Those promises were both explicit (you will know our son through annual communications) and implicit (we promise to care for the future of Ethiopia – in word and in deed). Thus,  I’m worried. More worried than usual. Ramped up worried. And, we promised to carry our worry into action.

I received this report from a friend on the ground in the area where my son was born: “There is drought in Southern Ethiopia because the rain was too late this year. [The rain] is started but farming inputs like fertilizers and seeds are so expensive. Most people do not able to farm their lands. Also the price for the foods are tripled because of bad policy of gov. and inflation. The free market policy give right to elites to do what they like. This time there is no sugar and cooking oil in [ southern area village] even for expensive prices. It is difficult time for children and aged people. Some children are in an urgent needs. We do not know what is going [to happen]. “

This picture was attached to the e-mail to demonstrate concern for conditions in southern Ethiopia- – the skin around the knees is loose and showing signs of malnutrition. I can see it. And I’m scared. For a family I love. For the people I love. For the work of social justice and food security everywhere. I don’t HAVE to know them to care…but in this case the knowing, the heart link, makes me weep. Injustice sucks.

I’ve got an e-mail in at Doctors Without Borders to see who is on the ground and where in Ethiopia. More generally, where around the Horn of Africa, too.

I wanted you to know. All of you. I don’t have a plan of action. Yet.

I’m doing some serious work to recruit a triathlete who will compete in Janus Charity Challenge’s  new venue – the Life Time triathlon.  Janus is  now partnering with the Life Time triathlon series. I’d like to have an athlete for MSF and an athlete for AHOPE for Children compete for the charity purses in the Life Time triathlon events. Do you know any athletes registered for a Life Time triathlon? If so, we could tackle getting some food aid to the people of the Horn of Africa and some support to the vulnerable children and the families who are supported by AHOPE for Children. You can read what seems like a bazillion posts on this blog (search for Doctors Without Borders/ Plumpy’Nut/ and Janus Charity Challenge) to learn more about the history of how to raise money through the Janus Charity Challenge. (Edited to add – we have an athlete for MSF! It’s our 4th annual fundraiser!). Live link here: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=469399&supID=330432677

It’s not like I don’t have enough on my plate already…. see, right there! Another example of the language of privilege as I think about what to do and how to mix and mesh the concerns of my community right here in my neighborhood and over there, in the neighborhood in which he was born. Today is pressing upon me. Today there is no ‘food for thought’, only ‘food for life.’  Let’s figure it out – let’s do the work. Fill the plate.

It’s your last day….and might LITERALLY be theirs

We are in the last 24 hours of our Plumpy’Nut Team fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders.  It’s ends tomorrow morning. This is it for our 3rd annual fundraiser. We’ve been working hard to get the word out. I don’t want to fill this blog entry with text explaining the fundraiser. Let me just direct you immediately to our donation site: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=330383&supID=280241001

Tomorrow SwimStef will do the Ironman Wisconsin – her effort honors families everywhere. Or Team Plumpy’Nut effort honors families in crisis – families walking in dire circumstances to nutritional feeding stations – families carrying dying children. I’m not being dramatic. This is real.

You want to know how I know this is real? Here is an excerpt of a note an MSF doc wrote to my friend. He’s working in a location in Africa where many families are suffering unimaginable PAIN.  Prepare yourself:

“For the second time in less than a week, a mother tells me that she knows I did everything I could.  The sickness had been going on too long and was too strong. It’s early morning, before sunrise, and I’ve been called in by the medical team because they couldn’t wake the woman’s daughter.   

Her little girl was a year old and had been brought in by our outreach team a little less than a week ago.  So unbelievably wasted and emaciated, she weighed nine pounds.  She had no hair and her face appeared shrunk-wrapped in cellophane skin, her sunken eyes and cheeks shaped by the skull bones beneath.  The skin on her abdomen was so thin, it was translucent. I could even see the white fascial layer of her abdominal wall.  She looked almost alien.  Nine pounds.  I’ve delivered newborn babies that big.”

Please consider donating your pizza fund for Friday night – if I had 100 folks do this we would top $10,000. If more did this, we’d meet what we raised last year (see note below). I can’t do this alone. I need  your help. Thank you.

*FYI, last year we raised $12375  and doubled the amount due to a nutritional fund matching program that was in place last fall (but is NOT currently)- then we added $1000 in award money to our total. As Tesi would say, ‘amazeballs!’  If you need to know more about our efforts, you can look here.

Plumpy’Nut – It’s our 3rd Annual Campaign for Doctors Without Borders!

As many of you know, I support/cheer/organize an annual fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders as part of the Janus Charity Challenge & Ironman Wisconsin competition.

This is an amazing fundraising opportunity in which Ironman athletes compete to raise funds for their chosen charity – top fundraisers receive additional charity dollars from Janus (as in, Janus Funds). Not one penny of your donation goes to the athlete, the Ironman event, or Team Plumpy’Nut – it ALL goes to Doctors Without Borders. 

This is a direct, effective, immediate way to support children suffering from serious malnutrition in Ethiopia, in Niger, in Chad, in Pakistan, in Sri Lanka…and the list goes on. This year, our effort coincides with a Doctors Without Borders campaign to raise awareness about the global nutritional crisis with their “Starved For Attention” media campaign. : http://www.starvedforattention.org/#/stories

Team Plumpy’Nut takes our support of this life saving nutrition seriously. In our recent conversations with Doctors Without Borders we learned that it costs $50 to provide a 6 week supply of this nutritionally dense food to save the  life of a child (last year the cost was $40 – but supplies and cost have increased). If you don’t know about Plumpy’Nut, and you want to learn about it, there is a great piece on this ‘ready to eat’ food source on the MSF website:  and a  CBS news piece here.  You might like to read this – How a small amount of food can make a big difference!

Finally, and importantly, please visit our athlete’s donation page and make  your contribution to Doctors Without Borders NOW! $50 can provide a six week supply of Plumpy’Nut - YOUR DONATION can literally save a starving child from death. Please consider making a donation to save the life of a child!  Donate here: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=330383&supID=280241001  We make a difference – one donation at a time!

Team Plumpy’Nut thanks you for your support and encouragement in our yearly fundraising campaign! YOU ROCK!

Track Our Plumpy’Nut Athletes!

We raised an AMAZING amount for Doctors Without Borders – our final tally came in at $12,760. We finished in the top 10 and won an additional cash award of $750. Get this, we have provided life saving nutrition to 337 kids. I’m excited, humbled, and feel so fortunate to be part of something this big.

Now, it’s time to come together to cheer on our awesome women Triathletes!

Tomorrow, the two women who agreed to represent Team Plumpy Nut will finally face down Ironman Wisconsin. They race on behalf of the donors to this fund and the children who are its beneficiaries. Peg Lussenden and Judy Bergsgaard, a team of sisters who have trained for three years to make this possible, will swim 2.4 miles, ride a hilly 112 mile bike course, and then run a marathon. We hope you will join us for this amazing event and cheer them on, whether in real time on the course or on-line.

Tomorrow we will take a break from asking for your dollars and ask you instead to celebrate these two wonderful women who are racing for the cause by checking in on their race and sending then “Go Team” messages as you do.

Here’s how to keep track of the Plumpy Nut Racers:
1) Use Judy’s GPS tracking unit to see her progress IN REAL TIME
if you use a web browser or IPhone www.MapMyAthlete.com/vemap.aspx?name=048780
if you use a PDA/Blackberry/Palm www.MapMyAthlete.com/pda.aspx?name=048780
2)Track the athletes overall on the Ironman website http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/ using their race numbers.
Judy Bergsgaard race number is 2647
Peg Lussenden’s race number is 2667

As you track Peg and Judy, feel free to leave virtual messages for them in the “comments” section of this blog. I’ve turned off comment moderation, so your posts will be real time.

If you live on the course or are out cheering and have access to a computer, please post Plumpy Nut Sightings!!! We want to know where they are, how they’re doing, and whether they are still smiling!!

The race begins at 7:00 Central US, and goes until midnight. Let’s give our SisterShack some shout outs! These two women are AWESOME!

Thanks to everyone for being part of this extraordinary project! We are grateful to every person who has participated by giving time, energy, creativity, dollars, and, in the case of Peg and Judy, lots and lots of sweat equity! We hope you feel good knowing you are part of an effort that has resulted in saving nearly 350 children’s lives this year, and that you will join us to witness the conclusion of this year’s Plumpy Nut Ironman Campaign tomorrow.

Best wishes,
Meghan and Amber for Team Plumpy’Nut
*and lots of little full tummies of peanut paste called Plumpy’Nut

I care, therefore I am

all about PLUMPY’NUT and only PLUMPY’NUT for the next 48 hours. Here’s the deal:

There are 48 hours left to win charity dollars for Doctors Without Borders and their tireless work to feed those most seriously stricken by the famine this season in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the country where my son was born to a mother who could not feed him – there wasn’t enough food. I am passionate about this. With 48 hours left….WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Doctors Without Borders, a nobel prize winning organization, is distributing a life saving food to children in Sub-Saharan Africa called Plumpy’Nut – it’s a true lifesaver. $40 provides one full course of 5-6 weeks of nutrition that mom’s can give to the kids without hospitalization. It’s amazing stuff – and it’s being used right now to rescue children from the brink of death. I wish I were being dramatic – I’m not.

I have joined, once again, a team of dedicated friends and an Ironwoman Triathlete, to raise money for Doctors Without Borders as part of the Wisconsin Ironman Triathlon and the Janus Charity Challenge. You can help US take a charity podium finish AND save a child’s life, right now! We need to place in the top 5 for the charity competition to win an additional $2K to $10K for the distribution of Plumpy’Nut. Janus Funds gives this charity award in the race – and our racer is bound and determined to win (not the athletic competition – but the CHARITY competition!).

Here is the link to make a donation: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=296288&supID=246858948

Here is a video featured on 60 minutes about Plumpy’Nut: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/19/60minutes/main3386661.shtml

I’m appealing to your sense of making Ethiopia a place where women and men don’t need to relinquish their children because of a “temporary” hunger crisis. Please, do what you can. It’s worth your time to save a life today.

*no athlete, no adoption agency, no individual person gains from our work – the kids who NEED THE FOOD get all of your dollars at emergency feeding stations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A Quarter Under My Bed

Our fairy godmother is amazing. I heard this from her today:

So, today, I did a Your-Neighbor’s-Life Depends-on-$40 scavanger hunt. $21.51 from my change cup, a quarter from under the bed, three bucks I didn’t know I had from my wallet, a dollar in meter change from the car, and 6 dollars from various coat and jacket pockets. Remembered that some credit card company owes me 10.68 cents. Called and asked for a refund. Just over $40. HOW CAN IT BE THAT SOMEONE’S LIFE IS SAVED BY MY POCKET CHANGE? We need change, alright. Let us be the change we want to see. Be the change. .

Donate here, and leave a note with your story on my blog, please. Really, no amount is too little.

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=296288&supID=246858948

Pedometers and Plumpy’Nut

Today by noon I had logged 13,000 steps on my pedometer. It’s a fun trinket to use to measure my progress in my daily efforts to improve my health and reshape my body. The typical day’s goal is to reach 10,000 steps per day, with 12,000-14,000 being better for weight loss programs. Today looks like it is going to be a banner day for me. I had a 2 mile run in the morning and shortly after I had my weekly meet and talk walk with Margaret. Dogs and little Blueberry are part of this second walk. It’s the first time I’ve meshed the run and the walk (which also happens to be 2 miles) in the same morning. My legs and feet know it … but I can’t get over the irony of walking/running/eating in ways that includes goals that I, a person of privilege and wealth, pursue while others around the world who suffer from a serious lack of food, find themselves walking great distances often with sick and listless children in their arms, in order to find food and medical assistance. This is the irony of my pedometer and Plumpy’Nut.

Donate HERE to help feed those who don’t have enough to eat: Doctors Without Borders has promised to direct all of the money we raise to Sub-Saharan Africa with special focus on Ethiopia. And, if you’d like to support my running program that is for a cause, donate HERE.

Now I have to go and take a nap. Another luxury in my life.

Plumpy’Nut : Second Annual Ironman Effort to Save Kid’s Lives!

It’s time for the Second Annual Plumpy Nut Ironman Fundraiser to Save Kids!

If you knew $40 would save a child’s life, would you find it? Of course you would. Here’s your chance to save someone’s world! Here’s a chance to save your world!

Last year, for the first Plumpy Nut Ironman fundraiser we pooled our cash and scrounged under our couch cushions to raise $14,000 for Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders pledged to buy Plumpy Nut —a nutrient dense energy food—to distribute to children in Ethiopia – children who were suffering from severe malnutrition. At $40 per child, we were able to create the resources to save the lives of 650 babies and toddlers! And because we raised this fund through the Ironman Janus Charity Challenge and placed in the top five fundraisers, WE WON ANOTHER $2,000—enough money to save another 50 kids. Working together, we were able to create a fund that turned around the lives of 700 children and their families and their futures. And it was important, Ethiopia was gripped by a severe food shortage last harvest season on account of very very late rains and a poor harvest.

And now we have a chance to do this amazing work again. Another Madison, Wisconsin woman, Judy Bergsgaard, has agreed to be this year’s Plumpy’Nut Ironman racer. Judy and her sister, Peg Lussenden, of Morris, MN, are both mothers and first-time Ironman participants, and they are gearing up to toe the line for Doctors Without Borders, for Plumpy Nut, for kids, and for us September 13, 2009, just a month from now. All the money we put together will go to Doctors Without Borders for their life-saving work with Plumpy’Nut. And if we can place in the top five again, Janus will give even more. Let’s make it happen!

Please think about making a donation and about spreading the word. Think about donating in honor of a child you love, a person who saved the life of someone you care about, a person who has inspired you to do the impossible, an endurance athlete, a mother, a sister, a friend, a nation.
If you need to know about the need for food relief please read this article about the tragic food shortages in Southern Ethiopia. Our little Blueberry is from Southern Ethiopia – it makes this personal. Being good global neighbors IS PERSONAL!

At $40 for each life saved, we have a collective opportunity to do something remarkable. When we pool our money as we did last year—from garage sales and bat mitzvahs and reducing our chocolate budgets for a month—we have the chance to see the energy of our money and our love expand.

Here’s the place to donate:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorreg/donorpledge.asp?ievent=296288&supID=246858948
As always, your donation is tax deductible – save your confirmation e-mail – and donate NOW!
Let’s win it!

*search my older posts by “Plumpy Nut” to read about our 2008 effort and then join us in ’09!*