Operation Gratitude | Putting a (BIG) smile on a service members face!

"A year ago Mike Gibbons had never done any fund-raising. Now he hopes
to change the world" Regan White in "Message in a Button", Charlotte Weekly November 2006.

Upon reading that I was at first taken aback -- not exactly the kind of thing you want to lead with especially if your stated goal is to "change the face of fundraising". But as I thought about it IT IS PRECISELY what I want people to know and now I open all of my fundraising seminars with that line.

Fundraising is not easy nor is it as hard as you might think. I am proof of that and I am out to help ordinary people do extraordinary things -- the task is not easy but the answer is inside of each of us!

I kinda wish Regan had use this opening line instead.. 

"Here's to the crazy ones...because the people who are crazy enough to THINK they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Maybe the combination of the two sums it up -- I have been lucky enough to find a group of remarkable people, my cycling team MojoRiding and together we have become somewhat of a fund raising phenomenon (often in spite of ourselves I might add!) --we raised over $110,000 in 2007 for cancer and multiple sclerosis causes.

So how did we do it? We personalized our cause, we told a story, many stories! And then we took it a step further we made it tangible -- many of us made photo buttons of our loved ones to wear while fundraising -- can't fully explain it but there is just something powerful about these little buttons  --I have seen it make a difference and in some cases all the difference!

I hope you will take a look around (grab a cup of coffee) at what I am building here on Squidoo. I have tried to make unique, useful and updated lenses on active charity events. If you like the lenses then please visit my blog Behind the Button and of course my website Buttons of Hope -- where you too can go on make a custom photo button to wear in YOUR charity event 

The title of the full quote above is THINK DIFFERENT. Regan was right I am out to Change the World by helping people to not only think different but to be different -- it will change you and together we will be the change we wish to see...I hope one button at a time!

michaelgibbons's Pages

• Charity Walks 2009 | Honor those you love with a custom photo button!
• WALK TO CURE dIABETES 2009 | Honor those you love with a custom photo button!
• Susan Komen 3 DAY WALK 2009: Sixty miles of inspiration!
• How to Make Custom Photo Buttons @ Buttons of Hope | Personalize Your Cause Wear a Photo Button
• RELAY FOR LIFE 2009 | Personalize Your Cause Wear a Custom Photo Button | benefit American cancer Society
• The Best Fundraising-idea Ever: Buttons of Hope
• LIGHT THE NIGHT WALK | leukemia & lymphoma Society | Personalize Your Cause Wear a Custom Photo Button
• NIKE HUMAN RACE | 08.31.08
• Custom Photo Buttons @ Buttons of Hope | Personalize Your Cause Wear a Photo Button
• Lance Armstrong Foundation LIVESTRONG

See all of michaelgibbons's pages