My Amazing Weekend (Avon Walk 2007)

[magenta321]

Here are pictures from my amazing weekend. It was hard to capture too much of it in pictures because I was working it!

Here it is:

http://s14.photobucket.com/remix/pla...fs=1&os=1&ap=1

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Love the bikini-fat suit combination!!! Looks like you had a great time

[magenta321]

Here's the story:

Event eve, went to the hotel and registered. Took a subway to my new friend Marybeth's place. I never met Marybeth before, but she's a niece of a coworker. Marybeth was kind enough to take me in for the evening.

Marybeth's studio apartment was much nicer than the ones I've seen on tv. I really liked it. Then Marybeth introduced me to her friends and her boyfriend. Then we all walked to Cuba Cafe for dinner. I had to be up in a few hours, so I went back to Marybeth's and went to sleep, while Marybeth and friends went out dancing. I never saw Marybeth again :p

I came "home," showered, and went to sleep for 4 hours, because I had to be up at 3:30 am!

When I woke up, I took a cab to Pier 84 where I met my teammates. We had to leave the pier before breakfast was served because we were the first rest stop. We of course, had to be set up before the walkers got there.

When we got to our rest stop location (which was a dog park, complete with kitty litter for the "ground") it was completely gated and locked. There were homeless people sleeping on the benches outside of the park. Drunk party-people stumbled out of nearby clubs, and also lay on the benches. Our team had to climb the gates and pass huge bags of ice, and boxes with 6 gallons of water over the gates.

We set up for the walkers and passed out leis. People came, drank, ate, peed, and whoosh... off they went. I danced for 2.5 hours straight.

After our duties at Rest Stop 1 were went back to the Wellness Village to help put up tents and to recoup. Some of my teammates went off to help "sweep" walkers from the final rest stops.

At wellness village, I did some yoga, ate dinner, met a stranger at dinner who ended up being a physician that refers to my office , and went to bed.

At 4 am we were back up, and packing up our tents, then grabbing breakfast before we made it to our next assignment.

We were at a high school in Fort Lee NJ. We set up again, and this time I danced on a wall for 2.5 hours. People were laughing hysterically at my costume (I am not sure why, they saw me the day before...) and this time EVERYONE was taking my picture. I was interfering with traffic, with the walkers (creating a bottle neck where I was standing) and I had to ask people to keep moving, and promise them pictures when they came up the stairs.

After we were done taking everything down we were bussed to closing ceremonies. I was pooped!!! It was realllllllly hot too. Our team didn't get lunch, so I was hot, hungry, sore, tired, and trying very hard to be in good spirits.

We left before the closing ceremomies were over. None of the crew could see the stage or what was going on. That part sucked a lot.

Then I signed up for 2008, got on a bus to grand central, and came home

AWBC 2007 NY raised the most ever -- 10.2 million dollars. Woot!

[theworm[$]]

Margaret, it looks like it was great!
Glad everything went off so well! It sounds exhausting but wonderful!

[hadassahchana[$]]

That total rocks- that's great!

[frazzledspice]

I'm glad it was such a success and that you enjoyed working with the crew.

We're having a walk here in two weeks--"Paint the Park Pink." There's a big pink ribbon in lights in the park already. But it's considerably more low-budget--it's $15 per walker.

Still, I think walks like that serve an important service. I have a friend who's a survivor, and her children are walking with her....if they had to raise huge sums of money to walk, or travel to distant cities, they could never do it, and they could never do it as a family.

I'm glad both types of walks are available--the high-budget ones and the low-budget ones.

Congratulations!

[taurusmoon]

Awesome. You go girl!

[magenta321]

frazzledspice said

I'm glad both types of walks are available--the high-budget ones and the low-budget ones.

All of them raise awareness and funds for the cause, and that's the important part.

I did freak this year... In the past, shelling out $350 for the event eve hotel (or splitting that cost with someone) seemed like no big deal. This year I thought of how many MONTHS worth of groceries I could buy with that money. Things are too tight to blow that kind of cash. I still spent more than I would have liked this weekend. The fundraising part... well... I won't lie, it's not easy. I never thought I'd pull it off when I started doing the walks. But it is doable.

Today I am doing the Memory Walk. No minimum. They would like us to each raise at least $100... but, they're not going to make us charge it onto our credit cards if we don't make it (unlike Avon).

[lynnzop[$]]

Congratulations Margaret, I'm so glad you were able to participate again! I know how much this means to you.

Looks and sounds like you had fun!!! Great memories.

[frazzledspice]

Wow, the Memory Walk, too. That's great!

We've done the Memory Walk for several years, once with our dog....