Motley Moose – Archive

Hello, it’s me again with another diary about the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. I haven’t done as many of these as I’d like, this year has just gotten away from me. But this is important so I wanted to squeeze this in. If you want to cut to the chase, here’s my Hill Country Ride page, but I hope you’ll come with me below the squiggly thing for a good story. And of course music.

this starts at 6pm Thursday — so please donate after that time – more info on the Amplify challenge .

On March 20 & 21, there’s a major charity drive in Austin — Amplify Austin. Charities have matching opportunities, and the charities that raise more money get prizes. I am, of course raising money for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS. Below is a list of some of the ways specific amounts donated help. And you can donate at my Hill Country Ride page

But first, the bad/alarming news. There has been a 40% rise in new infections in youth in Travis County. Below is something AIDS Services of Austin executive director Paul Scott wrote about that:

I did this last year, but I think everyone is in need of some inspirational stuff, and I’m going to try to spread some good feelings around.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly had better years. But I’ve been trying to think about helping others who need it, as a way of getting out of my own space. I do the Hill Country Ride for AIDS every year, because the agencies it benefits help people out every day. They have a food bank, for people who really need it – and people with AIDS have to be very mindful about nutrition, about the timing, and what they eat…. so there are people who counsel about that. There’s legal assistance, medical subsidies, volunteers to drive people to appointments….. Just help, that their clients really need.

So I was thinking about why. Why help? What do I get out of it? I did some searching, and the results of my quest are below the squiggly thing. Of course, if you want to skip the inspirational quotes, the video & the U2 song, you could donate at my Hill Country Ride page now.

Oh – and a picture. Here’s a picture from the year I was top fundraiser (not gonna happen this year, I’m very late getting started this year), but anyway:

This diary is about my fundraising effort for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, but if you know me, you know that I usually use music in these diaries, so:

So, U2 is out with a new song & if you download it during the “Big Game” & 24 hours after, it is free & a donation goes to Red, which goes to fighting AIDS in Africa.

(RED) ‏@RED 32m

You’ve got until Feb 3 11:59pm EST to download #NewU2Song free & $1 goes to fight AIDS w/ @RED http://smarturl.it/Connect4Red  pic.twitter.com/9wzlLGzunB

and now on to me talking about the Ride, and enjoying some music – although if you want to skip the diary & just donate to help people with HIV & AIDS in Austin, here’s my Hill Country Ride page

So I have a milestone birthday on Saturday. And it is time to start training for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS, which will be in April. And fundraising for it, too. So for my 50th birthday — can I get the Mooses to donate to my 15th Ride? How many $50 donations can I get? There will be music & stuff below the fold, but if you want to skip that part & just donate, here’s my Hill Country Ride page

In about six weeks (oh, crap – it’s only 6 weeks away!), I’m walking the half of the Austin Marathon, with a group I’ve been training with since summer. My team raises money for the Austin Children’s Shelter — our team slogan is “Creating a world without child abuse & neglect, one step at a time.” If you want to skip the pleading, you can donate to Austin Children’s Shelter – look for me – 1st column, 10th name

There were a couple of stories about this on the news this morning, and it is all over my FB & Twitter feeds. Giving Tuesday, to follow Black Friday & Cyber Monday, where people (supposedly) were all being self-indulgent. I like it not only because I’m raising money for the Austin Children’s Shelter – look for me – 1st column, 10th name, but it seems to balance things out. Come into the rest of the diary & I’ll tell you why you should give to the Austin Children’s Shelter.

I joined this group that’s training for the Austin Marathon & Half Marathon. I’m doing the Half – walking the Half. The team raises money for the Austin Children’s Shelter, and each of us pledges to raise $750. having just finished an amazingly successful fundraising campaign for AIDS Walk Austin, I’m fresh out of ideas, and that’s where you come in. Help me come up with another way to raise the money? Unless you just want to donate to my Austin Childrens’ Shelter page

I just came home from AIDS Walk Austin & it was fantastic. I got to meet Cleve Jones, the man who started the Quilt – what an inspiration! And I wore a crown – people who raised over $1,000 were given crowns. There aren’t many of us who have done the Walk all 26 years, but 2 of us carried the Walk banner in the last 2 blocks. Come below the fold to see pictures.

I was logging out of the AIDS Walk Austin site, after thanking the donors from Friday’s amazing donations, when I saw this statement from AIDS Services of Austin:

This year’s sequestration means ASA is losing $78,000. And we need YOU to help us meet our goals in order to maintain the high standard of care we offer in Central Texas.

Wow. Lost in all the talk about the shutdown & the potential default has been the disaster that is the sequester. Come below the fold for more on why you should donate to this cause.