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I have an idea and need your input!
Ok, so, a little background...
In the leadup to my wedding in 2008, I embarked on a 'lose weight/get fit' mission in order to drop the weight I stacked on after having Maya and fitting into my wedding dress (I had bought it before we fell pregnant with Maya and had to postpone our wedding until after she was born).
I would walk to my local gym, which was this lonnnnng-ass stretch of a main road and the walk alone would take me an hour. Then I would go work out for an hour.
With the risk of sounding full-of-myself, I became a bit of a local 'celebrity' for want of a better term. I would get stopped at least 3-4 times a day by someone asking me "Hey, you're that woman I see walking up ____ Road, pushing that stroller, every day! I cheer for you everytime I see you!"
It became a bit of a joke amongst my family, who would ask me how many times I got stopped by people each day.
Well, I've started walking that road again three days ago but instead of pushing my little stroller with Maya, I'm now pushing my big double-stroller (which I should need a truck licence to operate ha!) with my two kidlets. My hubby said it's already started. He got stopped last night by two people saying "We saw your wife walking this morning!"
Sooooo, I'm embarking on a weight-loss/get fit mission again. Yep, I have stacked on the weight since falling pregnant with Samara. 28 kilos to be exact (well, to be fair, I had put on a bit of weight BEFORE I fell pregnant with her). My normal healthy sitting weight is around 60-65 kg's and I'm at 86 kg's (around 189 lbs I think).
Ok, I was thinking. Since so many people seem to take notice of me when I do this walking routine, why not use the exposure towards a good cause?
Like, making a t-shirt, or a little stroller-sign directing people to a blog I'll write where I ask people to support me in my weight loss and donate money for every kilo (lb) I lose, with the money going to this charity:
http://www.halftheskymovement.org/
I could show a weekly pic of me, warts and all, to chart my weight loss. People at my gym, driving past etc will see it. I mean, I'm just a mum trying to lose post-baby weight but I could make it a double-win and have it go to a good cause, right?
Thoughts? Ideas on how I could promote this and make it interesting/inspiring for people so that they get behind this little mission/support the cause?
Re: I have an idea and need your input!
Donating the money to charity is a sweet idea!
I think a t-shirt would be a good way to start - I dunno about hanging the sign on the stroller (though it would probably get more attention), that seems slightly off to me and yet I can't put my finger on why...then again, I haven't had lunch so maybe I'm just a little out of it with hunger right now and you should totally ignore me lol. I will go have a sandwich and think some more.
I'm chuckling! Don't worry, the sign seemed a bit...'seemy' to me too lol! Just throwing around ideas. Was definitely thinking of going with the Tee, though.
Need to go bathe the mini-cheebie and clean house..will be back later!
OK, now that I've had my sandwich, I think I've clarified the "seemy"-ness about the sign lol!
Reason it WOULD be OK: this is something you would be doing for a charity and therefore would not be personally profiting from.
Reason it would NOT be OK: at first glance, I would bet that most people would assume you would be making a profit, and using the stroller (and thus the baby inside, it's implied) to do so wouldn't be cool.
I don't know if there's some way you could indicate that it wouldn't be a for-profit in a way that would be instantly recognizable for anyone driving/walking by. You know like how the Cancer Council has the yellow ribbon? You see that and instantly know it's for charity. If I saw THAT on a stroller, I wouldn't give it the side-eye...but if it was just a piece of paper with a URL or something on it, I'd be all, "Whoa there! Way to use your kid as a billboard!"
Lisa, yeah I totally agree with ya re. what it would look like to people. I was trying to think of a way to have people be able to do a 'quick read' because...let's face it, I don't want people doing a 'squinty-what-does-that-say?' look and rear-ending someone else in front of em lol!
I think the t-shirt is probably the go, maybe with 'Half-The-Sky' in big words on the back. This whole idea started mulling in my brain this morning during my warm-down stretch so it's not yet thought-through.
I think I need to sit down and brainstorm and try and think of a workable and easy way of directing attention to this cause and getting people interested. I don't know which angle to go from. I think it would be more satisfying for people to go on the site themselves and, say, make a micro-loan to a woman (so that she could start a business) than to donate to me and have ME do the micro-loan (for example).
Maybe I could make it a joint-get-fit/lose weight effort? Those who wanna jump on board can pledge to donate x-amount for every lb they lose/each fitness goal obtained? They can get support from friends/family/local businesses who will also pledge to donate $$$ for said persons weight loss/get fit goals?
Thanks Christine!
*Interrupts her bathroom cleaning and runs back here*
What about if the blog has co-contributors and we invite others to jump on the mission and submit their stories (their goal/how much money raised so far/what they have done with said money as far as the story of the woman they have made a micro-loan to or another woman they have helped from they Half The Sky website)?
The blog can also feature Woman Of The Week on top of contributed stories, where we feature women who need a helping hand/their stories and their goal/business idea/dream/s...
Anyone from here who would want to possibly be a co-contributor to the blog/mission? Or anyone who wants to start their own get fit/lose weight fundraising towards this idea?
ETA: Co-contributors would obviously retain control of the blog and accept submissions via email in order to be able to screen submissions for genuine contributions and screen out the trolls etc.
Oh this is a good point too! Once you have things set up (whatever you decide on), contact your local newspaper - they might want to do a little human interest story.
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Thanks for the input and ideas!
Oh god, cannot WAIT to see myself all red-faced, sweaty and hair fly away's glued to my face lol.