My first full day riding through Nebraska. Somehow we managed to jump back and forth between time zones – central, then mountain, then central again. It gets pretty confusing, especially since we scheduled our 2nd VIP Planning Teleconference for later today. (It literally took 20 minutes to figure out what time I had to get off the road to make sure I was on the call.)
But the most important thing about today (about every day, actually) isn’t the ride – it’s about getting the word out. Helping people understand the importance of what we’re doing – and helping people come together for a cause.
It’s estimated that 1 out of every 4 dogs will get cancer in this lifetime. It’s also estimated that there are about 73 million dogs in America (in 69 million households). That’s over 18 MILLION dogs who will have to deal with this terrible disease.
When we started this ride, we set a goal to help – to raise $100,000 for dog cancer charities. You know, it would be great if we found one or two large sponsors to help us reach that goal. But do you know something, if you get the word out to the dog community it would take just 100,000 people, donating just $1 each, to have the same result.
OK, let’s do the math – 18 Million dogs with cancer – $100,000 to be raised from 100,000 people – that’s just one-half of one percent (0.5%). That’s all we need.
Better still, we have The Map of Heroes (http://www.MapOfHeroes.com). The Map of Heroes allows dog owners to donate $35 or more to put a tribute to their dog cancer hero on the map while helping other dogs get the cancer care they deserve. There’s 2,700 spots available on the Map of Heroes. All together, that’s over $94,600 for dog cancer charities. So really, all we need is to reach 2,700 dog lovers (now that’s just 0.01%).
The only question is, how do you get the word out? That’s what we’ve been doing all summer long.
It may LOOK like I’m riding my bicycle across America. Really what I’m doing is working to create a community. I KNOW the dog lovers are out there. I know they understand how important dogs are to their owners. I know they understand what it means to have to sit there and watch your dog suffer because you can’t afford to pay for his care. And I know they want to help.
My job is to form a community, where people can come to help.
And today, some of the key members of this community joined Ian, Nikki and me on that telephone call – to figure out ideas on how to get the word out, and bring the community together.
It was wonderful to have everyone on the call – thank you – because I realized a while back that my ideas (while they can be pretty good at times) are nothing compared to what can come from the collective group of dog lovers and Dog Cancer Ride Across America supporters.
If you missed the call, but still want to be involved, please let me know. Or better still, make sure to visit our website http://www.DogCancerRide.com (where you can check out our new promotional video, that was professionally edited by my movie producer friend in Los Angeles) and the Map of Heroes at http://www.MapOfHeroes.com.
And of course, tell your friends about the Ride, and let’s see what we can do together, to Get the Word Out and help these dogs (and their owners) get the chance they deserve.
- Ted Schneck
along The Dog Cancer Ride Across America
