not much for something

I have been thinking a lot about trying to raise funds to send our oldest to Thailand. Don't get me wrong, I have also been thinking about raising funds to get him BACK from Thailand...sheesh. While doing this, I was looking around at the ways that other people were raising monies, and my endeavor was missing a key element; the "what's in it for me" factor.
You know the one. Girl Scouts want money, so you give them $50 for 2 boxes of cookies. Boy Scouts want money so you buy outrageously priced pop-corn. We've all done it in one form or another. Do you know how many millions of those yellow wrist bands LiveStrong has sold? Me, either, but I am sure that it is more than 28 Million (see what i did there?).
A coupla weeks ago I posted a letter from Mike, our son who wants to go to Thailand and give baths to elephants and pick up monkey poo. Or something like that. He went into great detail as to what the trip involves, but I was probably playing Angry Birds or updating myfitnesspal (let's see...how many cheese sticks DID I have today??) and missed all of the nitty gritty. If you'd like, you can read about it by clicking the link at the top that says, "elephant baths and monkey poo", or by clicking this.
Thank you for sticking around this post for so long.....NOW I am about to get to the title subject.

Yes, a t-shirt. I have created a shirt over at cafepress, along with 20 bajillion other people. Heck, if it works for them, it just might work for us.

Unlike most shirts out there, though, this one carries a more personal message. Don't get all mushy on me: this isn't about ME, but about YOU. Or someone you know. How so? Here's how: ever been involved in a training run or in the gym or just on errands, having a crap-tastic day? Sure you have. We ALL have. What do many of us do (no, no, I'm NOT offering free pints of Ben & Jerry's) in these situations? We hang our heads. We look toward the ground, searching for something to give us a reason to pick our heads up and get back into the game of life. It is exactly this action that lead me to create this style of shirt. Without giving it all away here, I cordially invite you to go to my shop and look at the shirts. I kept the selection simple and the mark-up low, and am very willing to add products. Simply send me an email with your request and after I have added it to the store I will send you an email letting you know that it has been added.

If you have already contributed, and would like a shirt, please let me know and we can make arrangements.

Again, thank you for sticking with me, and thank you for helping me help our son realize a dream.

Geno

Elephant baths and monkey poo.

My stepson loves animals. And he loves to travel. Well, he loves the IDEA of travel, as he really hasn't traveled much. But anyway, he has the opportunity to travel to Thailand this spring to help take care of elephants, monkeys, and other 'exotics' that we don't have here in New England. He's on a track at the University of Vermont to study animals in their habitats and such. He needs to raise some money for this, as neither his mom nor I are uber wealthy. I offered to let him plead his case here on my blog, as we all know that I have about seven hundred readers. He isn't looking for much. Just 5 bucks. So make your own coffee and skip that Starbucks treat for a day. Ok. Maybe just one of your cups.
Interestingly, he wrote it as if I wrote it.......here is the unedited version. Thank you.
Without further ado, here's Mike. My Paypal button is located over there on the right.-------> Thank you.


Guess who is going to Thailand?!

My step son Michael is headed off to Thailand (or hopefully) on May 24th, 2012. The
problem arises because he is a poor college student. haha :P. The Trip would involve
him going to Thailand to work with monkeys and Elephants. He would be conserving
their environment to ultimately help their well-being. He would be doing everything
from feeding them, cleaning their environments, protecting them, to bathing them and
cleaning up after them (if you know what i mean).
The next part of the trip that he is have opted for is after the two weeks of conservation,
he will be traveling different parts of Thailand doing what is called adventure time! Which
is essentially a ton of different events including rock climbing, snorkeling, and white river
kayaking for another two weeks.
The program is all together 4 weeks long. It is through "ISV" International Student
Volunteers. Their website for more on what he will be doing is posted here: http://
www.isvolunteers.org/
He had to apply to this program and was lucky enough to be accepted to go. Now He is
scavenging the money he can get to be able to go. He is doing everything from sending
letters to corporations to saving every dime that he can on a daily basis.
He has never been out of the country except for Canada, so this is going to be huge for
him if he is able to go!
He has to raise close to $5,200 to be able to go on this trip (this is including the airfare
he has to pay for outside of the program cost/ and a little more for spending money (like
$100))
To be able to pay for just the program fees it is about $3,695.
What he is asking of you is to spare $5 dollars or more to contribute to his funds to help
animals in Thailand, and to allow him to experience something more than he has ever
been privileged enough to experience before.
This can be given to him by clicking the Paypal button on the right side of Gene's blog.

Thanks again!!!!!