Week 27: Contribute to a Cause

This week my blog post is in honor of my friend, Bill Strauss.  He's the guy in the middle of this group of men wearing high-heeled shoes.  Last week, Bill participated in a YWCA fund-raiser to fight domestic violence, "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes."  Look at those beautifully adorned feet! I don't think I could walk two feet in those shoes or even stand two feet in those shoes! (Love the extra accessorizing, too, Bill!)

Bill helped me achieve Goal #15 in my list of 60:

Contribute to any cause that a friend asks me to support

This is one of those goals that is ongoing, but I wanted to blog about it this week because I'm especially happy to be able to support Bill since he has been such a huge support of mine for many, many years.

Bill and I were Electrical Engineering majors together at U.C. Davis (class of '82!) And though EEs are known to be geeks, I think Bill and I are not your typical geeks. I'd like to think we are playful geeks! Bill has always been one of those friends who would play along with whatever crazy virtual party or event I had going on. He was one of my "Virtual Running Buddies" in 2005 when I ran in the Disney Marathon,  he submitted a sweet story about he and his wife in 2010 for my 50th  Birthday "Love Party", and  earlier this year, won the prize for "Best Predictor" at my Virtual Academy Awards Party. 

But beyond his awesome creativity and playful spirit in every thing he attempts, Bill is also one of those friends with such a generous heart when it comes to charity. He has contributed to every cause that I've raised money for over the years, and since we have known each other for so many years, that has really added up! I am so happy to be able to reciprocate now and support a cause of his. 

I'm going to mark Goal #15 as complete, but in my mind change the wording to be a goal I hope to be doing for the rest of my life:

Help and support any friend who asks...  or offer help when I see the opportunity

There are a lot of ways to help friends in addition to contributing to a cause.  I'm happy to be able to help friends who might need a ride somewhere, help when they're sick, help with finding a job, need a place to stay, or maybe just need someone to listen. I love having these opportunities to pay it forward for all the times that these things were done for me.

I also know that besides my annual ALS fund-raising, there will probably be times when I'll need to ask for help. That's not easy for me to do, so I'm selfishly trying to "earn karma points" by helping others.  Give me those opportunities! You know how much I like earning fictional points!

What worked well about this goal:

• I love to have the opportunity to support a friend who has always supported me
• Love that Bill sent pictures, raised a lot of money to fight against domestic violence, and, in his usual style, went 'all in' with the shoes
• This is one of those great goals that I hope I can do for the rest of my life! (although I'll mark as accomplished on my list with this Blog Post!)

What could be better:

• More people need to ask for help or support!