The 21 volunteers for the 2010-11 Carry On Campaign pledged to raise $2,100 for the American Cancer Society. When the dust settled, that total was a little different. Well, a lot different. This amazing group raised $9,774 — almost 10 grand! That total helped the 2011 Concert for Life bring in over $41,000 for the ACS, bringing the show’s 11-year total to more than $280,000 and the total for all CFLs to more than $320,000.

How did they do it? Many simply asked friends of theirs - friends who weren’t familiar with the CFL — to donate toward the cause. One of our volunteers sold “requested reviews” on his movie blog website. Several donated proceeds from their side businesses (clothing, crafts, jewelry, candy, etc.). One volunteer ran a Super Bowl “pick ‘em” tournament and I ran an NFL Survivor Pool.

Our youngest volunteer was 13 years old (Marisa) and she also brought in the most money — a staggering $1,745! I couldn’t believe it when she told me. Tim — the movie reviewer — also broke the $1,000 mark with a total of $1,137.

With 21 volunteers, we had slightly more than last year’s 18. Hopefully we’ll have even more in 2011-12! 

In case you’re interested, here’s how the final fundraising totals broke down by volunteer:

Beth Babikan ($110)
Rosemary Babikan ($100)
Eileen Beckman ($120)
Tim Brayton ($1,137)
Dan Calandriello ($150)
Patrice Elacqua ($2,185)
Molly Eldridge ($150)
Corey Fruin ($200)
Mary Henke ($100)
Kathy Humann ($150) 
Melissa Lemke ($112)
Laura Mays ($371)
Kelly Milewski ($570)
Bryan Paull ($249)
Denise and Mandy Pedersen ($650)
Marisa Perry ($1,745)
Phil Van Ermen ($150)
Sue Walker ($100)
Katie Wessel ($775)
Kim Wessel ($260)
Matt Wessel ($440)

With the 2011 Carry On Campaign coming to a close, I’ve asked some of our volunteers to share their stories — why they volunteers, how they raised their money, etc. The series kicks off with Tim Brayton’s story.

Tim is a testicular cancer survivor. He’s also a huge movie buff with a knack for writing reviews, which he does so often on his blog, Antagony & Ecstasy. As you’ll read below, he decided to use his blog as a way to pull in money for the American Cancer Society. Along the way, he opened up about his fight in a way that he never had before. In the end, he netted over $1,000 for the ACS.

Volunteer Spotlight: Tim Brayton

Raising money for the Carry On Campaign was personally satisfying to me, and not just as a cancer survivor giving back to the world – though without question, it was more than satisfying on those grounds.  But beyond that, it reminded me of an essential truth, that people are basically good when you give them the chance to prove it.

I run a blog; a film blog, to be precise, where I review new and classic movies and sometimes weigh in on other movie-related issues, and while I won’t claim to be a major player in the field, I have my fair share of regular readers. When I agreed to raise my $100 for the campaign, my first thought was to ask those same readers: let’s say just 20 of them each contributed $5, that’s the total right there. And I was fairly certain that more than 20 people would contribute, for more than $5 a head, too.

For I had a Scheme: people would write to me fairly often, asking, “Why haven’t you reviewed this movie? I’d love it if you’d review that movie.” I decided to ask my readers to put their money where their mouth was: for a minimum donation of $15, I would write a custom review.  I figured that way, I was sure to get to $100 fairly soon.

And did I ever.  By the time all the dust had settled, I had received donations from forty-six individuals, totally $1115 exactly. Unfortunately, some of that got taken back in handling fees by PayPal, but that still left me with $1071.52 to give to the American Cancer Society.

And there I’d stop the tale, more than proud of myself, but for one thing: it wasn’t even the money that was most satisfying.  To kick off donation season, I wrote an essay, talking about my experience with cancer, and what it felt like five years later to be a survivor. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever written: but I don’t know if I’ve ever written anything that felt so cleansing. And the kind words that friends and total strangers shared with me afterwards were easily the sweetest part of the whole process. It was both humbling and honoring to open myself so fully (certainly, I was terrified to publish that essay), and be rewarded with such warmth and generosity, both for myself and for a tremendously worthy cause. I’m so glad that I could have been a part of it.

With the campaign rapidly coming to a close, I’m starting to receive checks from our volunteers. It’s fun to watch the total grow and grow. We have a couple of near-1,000 totals (wow!!) and everyone has at least raised their pledged $100. It’s amazing.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it looks like we’ll easily beat last year’s total of $4,750. Woohoo!

If you haven’t gotten around to starting your campaign yet - or if you are just now hearing about this - there’s still time! You’d be amazed at how fast you can raise $100 if you tell people you’re helping raise money for the fight against cancer. 

If nothing else, just put a coin jar out at work, send an email out to people about what you’re doing, and see where that gets you.

We’re hoping to break last year’s total of $4,750. 

We need your help. Volunteer now!

The goal of the Carry On Campaign is for all volunteers to raise $100 for the American Cancer Society. But there’s no rule that says you have to stop there! Marisa, one of last year’s volunteers, raised over $800. And I just found out that one of this year’s volunteers — details to come — has already passed $1,000!

Awesome!

My Carry On Campaign idea for this year was to run an NFL Survivor Pool with half of the money going to the American Cancer Society. The idea was pretty simple. It cost $10 to enter. All you had to do was pick one team from each NFL weekend that you thought would win. If your team won, great. If they lost, you got a strike. Two strikes and you were technically out, although we instituted a buy-back rule. If you paid an additional $10 after your second strike, you could come back in on a single-elimination basis. (In other words, three strikes and you’re out - for good!) The big catch was that you could only pick a team once. So if you picked Green Bay to win in Week 1, you couldn’t pick them again for the rest of the season.

We had 41 people participate - 16 of whom bought back in at some point. That gave us a pot of $570. Of that, $285 will go to the American Cancer Society by way of the Carry On Campaign. My friend Bryan was the tournament’s big winner, taking home $200. I came in second and netted $75 and Chris, another buddy of mine, won $10 of his money back for coming in third.

It was a ton of fun. We started with 41 and ended up with just two (Bryan and I) in Week 17. Because he only had one strike to my two, he was declared the overall winner. 

The contest brought a whole new dimension to the NFL season. It gave me so many more games to follow — both my pick and the picks of others I was rooting against. 

We’re definitely going to do it again next year and we hope to raise even more funds. 

I’d love to hear your Carry On Campaign story so I can post it on this blog. Click on “Share your story!” on the homepage. 

Carry on!

At each of the past few CFL shows we’ve played a montage of photos featuring cancer fighters, survivors and victims, usually shown during a live performance of “See Them.” It’s always very emotional singing the words to that song while seeing the faces of those for whom I wrote the song. I always get choked up when I see my mom or dad’s picture come onto the screen. And last year I was especially choked up when I saw the picture of a young boy.

The thought of young children having to fight cancer - and the truly painful thought that some of them don’t survive - is a hard reality to grasp. As young as my dad was when he died (47), he still experienced high school, college, marriage and children. Cancer isn’t fair for anyone that has it - but especially those who have yet to learn how to drive or had their first kiss.

Tonight, a friend of mine e-mailed me information on the 12 Oaks Foundation. The foundation was created in memory of Matt Hupp, a 13-year-old boy who lost his fight with cancer in 2009 - the same boy from the CFL montage. Named in part to honor the number chosen by Matt in the sports he played, the 12 Oaks Foundation aims to provide monetary support to families in need so that their children can know the pleasure and benefits of participating in youth sports and other community activities. It’s a wonderful way to honor their son’s memory and a truly perfect example of “carrying on.”

While their effort isn’t officially part of the Carry On Campaign, nor is it raising money for the ACS, that doesn’t mean that we can’t support it. Any fundraiser done in memory of a loved one is worth championing. And I’m particularly fond of “run-raisers,” too. Everyone can use a good run and it sounds like Matt was a pretty good distance runner. (He ran a 6:17 mile!)

Check out their homepage for more information on the runs and the foundation. If you live in the area, I encourage you to consider participating.

There’s one week left to sign up for my NFL Survivor Pool. Just $10 to join and half of all the money raised goes toward my Carry On Campaign. 

Help me meet my $100 goal and add a new element to the NFL season. Last year’s tournament was a ton of fun. 

Details here.

Last year I was amazed at how many of our Carry On Campaign pioneers went beyond their $100 pledge. Many of them found the cause so worthwhile - and their work for the cause so much fun - that they kept on fundraising right up until the Concert For Life. 

If my latest e-mail from one of our volunteers, Tim, is any indication, this year appears to be more of the same:

By the way, I’m up to $800 so far! Mark my words, I’m going to hit $1000 by March, no matter what.

$800?! With over six months to go? Now that’s what I call a good sign.

(By the way, more on Tim’s campaign and story is available online.)

I received an e-mail from Warren Township High School yesterday, asking for some dates for the 2011 (and 11th Annual) Concert For Life in Gurnee, Ill.

Not only did it remind me that the summer is over, 2010 is almost over and I need to start writing some new music for next year’s show, it also reminded me to start focusing in on the 2nd Annual Carry On Campaign. After all, we now have a real $$ goal ($5,000) and not meeting it is not an option!

This blog will soon replace the existing carryoncampaign.com site. It’s easier to update and will hopefully do a better job of keeping people involved in the campaign’s progress and process.

As for the campaign, it’s a simple concept and I hope more people take it on this year. All you have to do is raise $100 for the American Cancer Society by the 2011 CFL. If 100 of us do it, we’ll have $10,000 to add to the CFL’s usually impressive total.

So grab your carry on. Let’s do this.