Sacred, Profane, Profound, Mundane

I have decided to enroll in the Janus Charity Challenge at Ironman Wisconsin, and to raise money for Doctors Without Borders--and, specifically, for their work in delivering the high energy peanut-based medicinal food called "Plumpy'nut" to kids at risk of death from malnutrition and starvation---it seems a true revolution in addressing malnutrition. Check out this newscast to understand why, besides the Plumpy'nut name, I chose to put my fund raising energies here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/19/60minutes/main3386661.shtml

Talk about true endurance.

Check out my Janus Charity Challenge website to make a donation:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=250249&supid=225436667


Doctors Without Borders is a Nobel-prize winning non-profit (yes, your gift is tax deductible) that manages its resources well. $40.00 (yes, 10 Starbucks lattes, three or four pairs of running socks, two trips to the movies with a date..) buys them enough Plumpy'nut to turn around the health of a kid facing death from malnutrition and starvation. Through the Janus Charity Challenge, by pooling our resources, we stand to win another $10,000.00 contribution to Doctors Without Borders from Janus, an investment firm. How many children can we afford to save this summer? Let's get creative and make this happen!

My friend Meghan, who is adopting a child from an area in Ethiopia where childhood malnutrition is especially serious, is joining me in this effort to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders---she's asking folks to donate to the fund in lieu of baby shower gifts. Another friend is considering taking this project on as her Sedaka mitzvot as she and her children convert to Judaism. The possibilties are as great as the needs. When do we have the chance to do so much for so little? Please consider making a contribution, telling your friends, asking your company to match your gift, or making a donation as a gift in honor of a doctor, a care provider, an Ironman, a mother ..or in honor of the person who kept you in peanutbutter as a kid!

I feel GREAT about supporting Doctors Without Borders and about competing in the Janus Charity Challenge. I have my doubts about winning Ironman Wisconsin this year (LOL), but I think that, working together, we can win the Charity Challenge and that $10,ooo from Janus for Doctors Without Borders...250 more lives that will not be lost simply because of lack of access to food.

Oh, and, how's my training coming? Today I swam in Lake Wingra in a thunderstorm. Without boat support. My training pal Polly shared this experience, about which I will write more later, when I have stopped humming the lyrics to that song that starts "Thunder, lightnin,' oh Baby, it's fright'nin'..."