MS Readathon - The 3rd Year

Fundraising is no joke.

Everyone seems to have a pet cause - Bikes for Bibles, breast cancer, children's cancer, FoodWaterShelter - and which ones you adopt are usually influenced by a personal connection.

Like, your cousin died of breast cancer, so in honor of her memory you organize a Girls' Night In every year after.

Or, while on a missionary trip in S Africa, you learn that the villagers have only one Bible amongst them. So what do you do?

You raise funds of course.

Which leads to two common problems: donor fatigue and fundraising shyness.

Most of us have a favorite charity and limited dollars (and patience) for random charitable causes. I know I feel really awkward - and sometimes guilty - when asked to buy raffle tickets or add $2 to the shopping bill for a children's charity while at the Big W checkout. I say no, then spend the next few minutes rationalizing to myself that I have the right to choose my causes.

And those of us who do have a good cause don't really know how to open our mouths to ask others for money, even if it's for the benefit of someone else.

Why am I talking about this?

Because this is the 3rd year Beth is tackling the MS Readathon, which encourages school children to read as many books as they can while raising funds for multiple sclerosis sufferers. We don't know any MS sufferers personally (although come to think of it, Beth's favorite author JK Rowling mentioned that her mum had MS), and support the event just because Beth loves reading and it's a good way to do good while doing something she loves.

The first year, it was really exciting. She was in Prep and she was the only one her age at school who could read fluently and prolifically.

Now, she's in Grade 2 and the novelty has worn off somewhat.

But this year, her favorite young person - Bindi Irwin - is the Ambassador for MSReadathon. Which I think is going to add a whole new level of zest and zeal to Beth's reading effort.

Go Girl!