Tom & Atticus
New member
Somewhere in the past year and a half I’ve fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with these mountains. In that span of time my life has been transformed. A middle aged fat guy who spent most of his time sitting around turned into a middle aged fat guy who loves to hike. And Atticus turned from a lap dog (although he used to have a rather difficult time finding my lap when I weighed close to 300 lbs) to a mountain dog who loves the journey as well as the views from the top. The hike from then to now has been inspiring and uplifting and quite frankly, life altering.
I have found joy on the path, in the lush woods, on ledges and slides that make my legs shake and from the summits with their glorious views. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel right that I am so lucky to have found this much joy in this activity while others struggle with the little things in life, while others are sick, or lack the opportunities we all have to get to some of the most beautiful places in this world of ours.
This past summer I was thinking about that while driving north on I-93. I had spent the day listening to WEEI radio while the on-air personalities put aside sports talk radio for the day in their annual radiothon to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. The stories I heard were remarkable. Cancer and kids. It is such a horrifying prospect. But paying attention to these kids and the battles they fight only served to inspire. Many of the children on the radio that day had an unbelievable outlook on life. I was moved by them and wanted to do something to help in the fight against childhood cancer.
I’m like all of you, in that I know people who have had cancer, known people who beat it, and others who died from it. Heck, I even know one remarkable woman on this board who lost a sister to it and then beat it herself. I had a childhood friend, my next-door neighbor, die before he even reached middle school as a result of cancer. As an adult I’ve lost friends to this disease. Cancer kills. But inroads are being made every day. On that day while I was listening to WEEI many success stories were shared by parents and their warrior children.
I was somewhere around Plymouth, NH on I-93 when WEEI’s reception started to break-up and I was wishing it wouldn’t because I wanted to continue listening because it was great stuff. I found myself wanting to help in some small way. Right about that time I looked out as dusk was falling on the mountains and I had my answer.
After thinking about it for a few days I called the Jimmy Fund and told them I wanted to raise money for them. The woman I spoke with was quite pleasant but a little confused when I told her I wanted to raise money for the Jimmy Fund by hiking with my dog. I don’t think she knew anything about the 4,000-footers or any of the lists we hikeaholics chase after. But I did my best to explain it to her and over the last couple of months we have worked out a plan and Atticus and I have now become partners with the Jimmy Fund for the winter season.
Our goal is simple, to try to do what we couldn’t do last winter and hike each of the 48 in one calendar winter and if by chance we finish we’ll keep hiking and do as many of them as we can a second time, too. I know this might not seem like much to many on this board but to ordinary folks it is far more interesting than a walk-a-thon.
When I first spoke with the Jimmy Fund about this and filled out financial forms with them they asked me how much of the money raised we would be keeping to take care of our expenses. I could have sworn I heard her smile over the phone when I told her we didn’t want any of it, didn’t want to touch it if we didn’t have to. All I wanted to do was to hike and they could have the money. She asked me how much we could raise. I had no idea. She told me I needed to give her a number for the financial statement so I threw out $5,000 for a total. This past Friday I told our liaison at the Jimmy Fund we would kick off our fundraising on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I also let her know that just by word of mouth in my hometown that individuals and businesses have already pledged or sent in more than $6,500. So you can see that our fundraising goal has now changed.
The Monday after Thanksgiving we’ll launch our website: www.tomandatticus.com. The website will explain everything and by using an on-line pay system people will be able to donate in a manner that will go directly to the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
After watching the Presidential Traverse fundraising and the long-time efforts of Steve Smith and Mike Dickerman with an annual fundraising hike I figured this was a good way for Atticus and I to give back through something we have gotten so much from.
There are many people on this site who can hike faster and farther than us and can and will accomplish greater things in these mountains than I’ll ever be able to dream of. And doing the 48 in one winter might not seem all that grand to some but I just figured this was a good way for us to give thanks and to possibly help others out. I also figured Thanksgiving time was an appropriate time to launch it.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Tom & Atticus
I have found joy on the path, in the lush woods, on ledges and slides that make my legs shake and from the summits with their glorious views. Sometimes it just doesn’t feel right that I am so lucky to have found this much joy in this activity while others struggle with the little things in life, while others are sick, or lack the opportunities we all have to get to some of the most beautiful places in this world of ours.
This past summer I was thinking about that while driving north on I-93. I had spent the day listening to WEEI radio while the on-air personalities put aside sports talk radio for the day in their annual radiothon to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. The stories I heard were remarkable. Cancer and kids. It is such a horrifying prospect. But paying attention to these kids and the battles they fight only served to inspire. Many of the children on the radio that day had an unbelievable outlook on life. I was moved by them and wanted to do something to help in the fight against childhood cancer.
I’m like all of you, in that I know people who have had cancer, known people who beat it, and others who died from it. Heck, I even know one remarkable woman on this board who lost a sister to it and then beat it herself. I had a childhood friend, my next-door neighbor, die before he even reached middle school as a result of cancer. As an adult I’ve lost friends to this disease. Cancer kills. But inroads are being made every day. On that day while I was listening to WEEI many success stories were shared by parents and their warrior children.
I was somewhere around Plymouth, NH on I-93 when WEEI’s reception started to break-up and I was wishing it wouldn’t because I wanted to continue listening because it was great stuff. I found myself wanting to help in some small way. Right about that time I looked out as dusk was falling on the mountains and I had my answer.
After thinking about it for a few days I called the Jimmy Fund and told them I wanted to raise money for them. The woman I spoke with was quite pleasant but a little confused when I told her I wanted to raise money for the Jimmy Fund by hiking with my dog. I don’t think she knew anything about the 4,000-footers or any of the lists we hikeaholics chase after. But I did my best to explain it to her and over the last couple of months we have worked out a plan and Atticus and I have now become partners with the Jimmy Fund for the winter season.
Our goal is simple, to try to do what we couldn’t do last winter and hike each of the 48 in one calendar winter and if by chance we finish we’ll keep hiking and do as many of them as we can a second time, too. I know this might not seem like much to many on this board but to ordinary folks it is far more interesting than a walk-a-thon.
When I first spoke with the Jimmy Fund about this and filled out financial forms with them they asked me how much of the money raised we would be keeping to take care of our expenses. I could have sworn I heard her smile over the phone when I told her we didn’t want any of it, didn’t want to touch it if we didn’t have to. All I wanted to do was to hike and they could have the money. She asked me how much we could raise. I had no idea. She told me I needed to give her a number for the financial statement so I threw out $5,000 for a total. This past Friday I told our liaison at the Jimmy Fund we would kick off our fundraising on the Monday after Thanksgiving. I also let her know that just by word of mouth in my hometown that individuals and businesses have already pledged or sent in more than $6,500. So you can see that our fundraising goal has now changed.
The Monday after Thanksgiving we’ll launch our website: www.tomandatticus.com. The website will explain everything and by using an on-line pay system people will be able to donate in a manner that will go directly to the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
After watching the Presidential Traverse fundraising and the long-time efforts of Steve Smith and Mike Dickerman with an annual fundraising hike I figured this was a good way for Atticus and I to give back through something we have gotten so much from.
There are many people on this site who can hike faster and farther than us and can and will accomplish greater things in these mountains than I’ll ever be able to dream of. And doing the 48 in one winter might not seem all that grand to some but I just figured this was a good way for us to give thanks and to possibly help others out. I also figured Thanksgiving time was an appropriate time to launch it.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Tom & Atticus
