Another leaf raking job complete!

Tammie saw my leaf raking flier posted at the YMCA and gave me call. She's super sweet and has two sweet doggies -- one hound that sounded the alarm on me while a raked and the other (photoed below) that I like to call "lion dog."

Mike and I started raking Tammie's seemingly harmless yard one Saturday afternoon thinking we'd finish it all in no time, but we were deceived! Leaves seemed to multiply out of the flower beds and we ended up only finishing the front yard just as it was getting dark (and brrrr cold!). I went back and finished up the back yard... here is a picture of my leaf bounty!

The cool thing about these leaves is that they are going to used as compost on a nearby farm! So environmental :)

Thanks Tammie for the hot chocolate, the raking job, the generous donation and the friend recommendation!

Climb On,

Jess

Holiday Lights!!

Putting up Holiday Lights might seem like an unusual way to raise money... but it worked!

A got a call in November responding to my leaf raking flier from a property manager of a house on River Road (very nice road here in Richmond). Turned out the leaf raking didn't work out, but I did get to help Scott put up some extravagant Holiday Lights for the Whitlock family!

I made sure all the ginger bread houses' lights worked!

I hug all kinds of trees...even wire ones with pointy lights!

These pictures don't begin to give the lights justice! My favorite scene was one of Santa water skiing... I put up all the sea grass that outlined the "water skiing" light section!

A HUGE thanks to the Whitlock family for their holiday cheers, and very generous donation to the Breast Cancer Fund!


Climb On,
Jess


www.breastcancerfund.org/Climb09/Jbarton

Raking Paynes

Oh, the pains of leaf raking -- sore hands, achy back, stiff shoulders ... but the Payne family was anything but a pain (their yard on the other hand, shew!)

Mike (my super sweet helper) and I first arrived at the Payne house in mid November to find and front, back, and side yards covered in layers and layers of leaves. We raked the first day for 3 hours and finish the front yard just as it was getting dark. We returned the next weekend with re-enforcement, Anna and Kat joined Mike and I in the raking fun! The four of us raked and bagged the back yard for hours. Between the two trips we had bagged over 50 bags of leaves!

Gale Payne called me again last week to see if I would want to come work on the yard again for another donation -- of course I would! This time I was helper-less so much to his chagrin, Gale's son Robin was sent out to help me tidy up the leaves in the front yard before the county came and picked up bagged leaves. The yard was soggy from rain the day before and the leaves were wet and heavy. Robin hung in there for a bit, but had enough after an hour of raking and bagging .

After tidying the front yard and bagging the remaining leaves I headed to the back to try and bag a few piles that we were unable to finish before it got dark the last time we were there. I also moved some more of the already bagged leaves to the front to be picked up. Here is a picture of me with most of the bags...

The Paynes are a sweet family and I am happy our paths crossed.Very sincere thanks to the Payne family for their generous donation(s) to the Breast Cancer Fund! Gale dedicated a pray flag to her friend Gail Davis, who has had her own battle with Breast Cancer.

If you too have a loved one you would like to fly a prayer flag for, please visit my fundraising page at www.breastcancerfund.org/climb09/Jbarton. With a donation of $100 or more I will fly a prayer flag on the top of Mt. Shasta in honor, or in memory of a loved one. The prayer flag is a Tibetan tradition in which flags fly from heights where the wind can catch and carry their messages of hope throughout the world. The BCF has adopted this tradition as a way to pay tribute to the lives and memories of those who have faced breast cancer.

Climb On,

Jess

Prevention Legislation 2009

Your donation will make possible the Breast Cancer Fund's (BCF) ambitious agenda for the months ahead:

• Establish a federal ban on toxic BPA. The Breast Cancer Fund will work to ban bisphenol A (BPA) in all food and beverage containers. BPA is a toxic chemical linked to breast cancer, birth defects, obesity and diabetes.

• Expand the national agenda to include cancer prevention. In the upcoming legislative session, BCF will work to shape the new federal War on Cancer to ensure that it includes a strong commitment to reducing cancer rates by funding research and initiatives that identify and eliminate the environmental links to cancer.

• Eliminate toxic chemicals in cosmetics. BCF will work to support federal and state legislative initiatives that require cosmetics manufacturers to remove toxic chemicals from their products.

Inspiring words

I've just started reading the book "Climb Against the Odds: Celebrating Survival on the Mountain" that the Breast Cancer Fund sent me with my Orientation Packet and wanted to share some words from it.

"Climb Against the Odds is about ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. It celebrates women of grace and power who have faced an internal mountain --breast cancer. "

I thought this quote from The Breast Cancer Fund's Director was great and really sums up BCF's mission and work --

"Every mountain climb we organize is dedicated to the women who find the courage to face the disease. Every publication we produce-- from our quarterly newsletter to 'State of the Evidence: What is the Connection Between Chemicals and Breast Cancer?' -- is committed to informing and mobilizing a public that is unrelenting in preventing the disease from striking more people. And every program we undertake--from strengthening environmental health policy to organizing International Summits on Breast Cancer and the Environment-- is essential to providing the legal and research framework necessary to create meaningful change."

- Jeanne Rizzo, Executive Director of The Breast Cancer Fund

First web donation!

I got my first Climb Against the Odds donation on my fundraising website today! Thanks Larry for being the first to donate on-line! Thanks Ian for being the second!

I also got another call about a leaf raking job today-- it you're looking for me this Friday or Saturday I'll be raking leaves!

Climb On,
Jess

To make your own donation on-line please visit:

www.breastcancerfund.org/climb09/Jbarton

Leaf Raking

For the past two months I've been fundraising money for the Breast Cancer Fund by raking leaves!

To gather interested folks I created fliers and put them up around town at local markets, gyms, and coffee houses. My fliers asked for a $35 donation to BCF for clearing their yard of leaves... I was SO excited when I got my first leave raking request on Nov. 1st as I was moving into my new apartment. I made an appointment to rake their yard the next weekend.... little did I know how much work clearing a yard of leaves entailed!

The seemingly small front yard and fairly large backyard took me about 6 hours to rake and bag. The next house I raked I enlisted help from my boyfriend. We raked the front yard in about 3 hours and had to enlist more leaf raking solders to help out when we returned to finish the back yard! I'm very, very grateful for all the wonderful people that have responded to my "Got Leaves?" fliers around town! So far I have raked 3 yards and raised $310 towards my $10, 000 fundraising goal.

Luckily everyone took to heart my hours of hard work raking and bagging leaves and donated very generously above the $35 requested on my flyer. People really are nice and really do care.

Climb On,
Jess :)

p.s. I keep forgetting to take a camera with me to capture the action, but promise to take leaf raking pics soon to add to the blog!