On February 1st, I made a promise to 20 children who have been diagnosed with cancer. I sent 20 promise cards to Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada. I included an extra card for a staff member named Kelly.
CBS Channel 8 Las Vegas heard about the story and reported live from Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation Nevada and interviewed Delilah. Delilah lost her brother Jaxon to cancer in April of 2012…
8 News NOW
Candlelighters organized a speaking event because they wanted me to tell the kids in person that they were going to Disneyland. On March 21st, I flew from Cleveland to Las Vegas to deliver the tickets and get my promise cards back.
On February 28th, a post about my promise to these children made it to the front page of Reddit.com and received over 700,000 page views. So, I didn’t raise enough money for 20 Disneyland tickets…… I raised enough money for 100 tickets. Thank you to everyone who donated!
- The Reddit.com user community donated over $4,500!
- University of Nevada Las Vegas Greek Life raised over $1,000 in their “Change Wars” competition!
- Two corporations made $1,000 donations in exchange for “because I said I would” speaking engagements!
- Over 50 other donors contributed the rest!
Most Redditors were very supportive of my efforts, but in the wonderful place we call “the internet” you can find a negative person or two. There was one comment that really got to me…
But he has a point…. I benefit from the love of the Reddit community and all my other supporters…but I WILL NOT have those children and their families believe for one second that my heart isn’t behind Candlelighters and all that they do…
And that is why I made a personal cash donation of $2,500 from my own savings account. This final donation allowed us to meet and surpass the 100 ticket amount. I asked that the extra money beyond 100 tickets be used for ice cream, Mickey Mouse hats or whatever else the kids may want.
Don’t confuse me for some do-gooder millionaire, because I am certainly not one. I was a just a manager at a software company. I say “was” because on March 1st I resigned from that position in order to dedicate more time to “because I said I would.” With that decision came significant financial loss, but there are things more important than money…
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project. You have made a huge impact on these kids’ lives. I wish you could have seen their gratitude first hand. I am so grateful for all of my supporters and their generosity. It motivates me to keep pushing this movement forward. My heart is in this.
The video below was captured 1 hour before I gave my speech at Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada.
