Delaney & Taylor, Who says 13 year olds don't get it?

First of all I won't pretend I'm Denise writing this blog. If you notice any problems with punctuation, sentence structure, or grammar please send all complaints to Mrs. Kennedy, my high school English  teacher. Remember when we used to just call it English, not Patterns of Communication or Literacy Works? How things have changed, but I digress...   About a week before Thanksgiving I was approached by two past students of mine at Meadow Glens. Delaney and Taylor were my students from kindergarten to fifth grade. They are now seventh graders at Madison Junior High. I absolutely loved having them in class back in the day. As it turns out they had both taken an interest in running. Isn't that interesting? Maybe I'm rubbing off on people.     Anyway, they saw a newspaper article on Facebook about what Denise and I were going through and sprang into action. It seems that they had a service project coming up in Social Studies class and instead of volunteering at a homeless shelter or something else they wanted to do something "for someone who mattered to them." That's where I come in. I cannot tell you how humbling that simple statement was to me. I get all choked up whenever I think about it.  In the article it said I was going to push Denise in a full marathon in New Jersey on the first Sunday  in May, and along with that I was trying to raise $26,200 (a marathon is 26.2 miles) for the Les Turner ALS foundation.  That's where the strange number came from. Basically a thousand dollars a mile. Pretty aggressive goal but reachable, thanks to Delaney and Taylor.    So the girls decided to put on a dodgeball tournament to help me with my fundraising goal. Their goal was $5,000 which I thought was awesome. How cool would it be if they could reach their goal while helping me reach mine. So on the week Thanksgiving, Dodgin' 4 Lou Gehrig's Disease was born. These girls were on to something, something big.   The way in which these girls went about this event would probably impress a 20 year veteran of fundraising. They sold oodles of Dodgin' 4 Lou Gehrig's Disease bracelets for $2 a piece, got M&M Orthopaedics to spring for all the T-shirts for volunteers and players, and instead of 15 to 16 teams they ended up with 22! They also created a Facebook page that has over 200 friends, rounded up 30 volunteers to help with the day's events, and the back of the event day program listed over 70 families and businesses who helped sponsor this event.  These girls are wise beyond their years; I'm sure they learned a lot along the way. For a first time event everything ran smoothly and a good time was had by all. Denise and I stayed for the whole event and were so impressed by the "community feel" through out the Field House.     The success of this event was so beautiful. I can't fathom the amount of work that had to go into an event of this magnitude. The girls raised over $13,000 for the Les Turner ALS foundation. Almost three times their original goal. To watch them during the event was a blessing. They thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the event from planning to participating. I was so glad they could enjoy the day and see it all happen in front of their eyes. So many times In life you have all the hoopla leading up to an event and then "BAM!" it's gone and you don't remember a thing. These girls will remember this event always, a great life lesson.     Finally, what more can I say about Delaney and Taylor? I feel as if I had a front row seat to an actually blessing from God with the help of these girls. They single handedly changed my perception of today's youth. They are focused and want to be part of change. They want ALS to be cured. They believe they can help make it happen. They are making Dodgin' 4 Lou Gehrig's Disease a yearly event with an even bigger goal in mind. These girls "get it." I am so humbled to have been a beneficiary of their kindness and grace. What a blessing these two teenagers are.     Only thing left to do, run a marathon pushing my wife, Denise. It's not going to be easy pushing "Porky" but when I'm struggling towards the end nothing will stop me from reaching my goal. All I need to do is remember back to  January 13, 2012 and that above all will get me across the finish.  P.S. Please take a minute to check out the links to the right under Home to read more about the marathon and the tournament.