I am excited to do something for others and get healthy at the same time.
This year I am going to travel from Milwaukee, WI to SXSW in Austin, TX by bicycle and I am going to raise money to donate to my favorite charity in the process. And we are offering some far out love-gifts in exchange for your charitable donations.
About The Trip:
The trip is 1,207 total miles and I still have to route it. The plan is to ride 121 miles per day starting on March 1st and to arrive in Austin, TX on March 10th or 11th. I will stay in hotels and journal the experience each evening on this blog. I will take pictures and videos along the way and introduce you to someone cool in each destination city. When I arrive in Austin we will have a raffle at our showcase event to give the bike to one of our donors. I'll even autograph the bicycle for you.
About The Charity:
http://www.twloha.com/
Mission
To
Write Love On Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting
hope and finding help for those struggling with depression, addiction,
self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire,
and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.
Company Overview
To
Write Love on Her Arms began in Orlando, FL in February 2006 as a
(written) story, the true story of five days spent with a friend who was
denied entry into a drug treatment center. The story was a look at
those five days, and the t-shirts were printed and sold initially as a
way to pay for our friend's treatment. The vision is that we actually believe these things…
You were created to love and be loved. You were meant to live life in relationship with other people, to know and be known. You need to know that your story is important and that you're part of a bigger story. You need to know that your life matters.
We live in a difficult world, a broken world. Life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you're not alone in the places you feel stuck.
We all wake to the human condition. We wake to mystery and beauty but also to tragedy and loss. Millions of people live with problems of pain. Millions of homes are filled with questions – moments and seasons and cycles that come as thieves and aim to stay. We know that pain is very real. It is our privilege to suggest that hope is real, and that help is real.
You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption. We're seeing it happen. We're seeing lives change as people get the help they need. People sitting across from a counselor for the first time. People stepping into treatment. In desperate moments, people calling a suicide hotline. We know that the first step to recovery is the hardest to take. We want to say here that it's worth it, that your life is worth fighting for, that it's possible to change.
Beyond treatment, we believe that community is essential, that people need other people, that we were never meant to do life alone.
The vision is that community and hope and help would replace secrets and silence.
The vision is people putting down guns and blades and bottles.
The vision is that we can reduce the suicide rate in America and around the world.
The vision is that we would learn what it means to love our friends, and that we would love ourselves enough to get the help we need.
The vision is better endings. The vision is the restoration of broken families and broken relationships. The vision is people finding life, finding freedom, finding love. The vision is graduation, a Super Bowl, a wedding, a child, a sunrise. The vision is people becoming incredible parents, people breaking cycles, making change.
The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.
The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know.
The vision is hope, and hope is real.
You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.
Donation Tiers:
- Donate a penny per mile: For a donation of $12.07 I will personally hand write and mail you a postcard from each destination city. They will be the free ones provided by the local hotels, but still........
- Donate two-pennies per mile: For a donation of $24.14 you will get the postcards and we will send you a Jivewired wristband. You will be the envy of all your friends. I know this for a fact because I wear one and everybody who sees it on my wrist is like "Dude, that wristband is so rad. Whoaaaa - where can I get one?" and of course everybody I meet talks exactly like Keanu Reeves.
- Donate three pennies per mile: For a donation of $36.21 you get the postcards, the wristband and a picture diary in disc form documenting the entire trip in scenic pictures from America's heartland. I can already hear your 'oohs' and 'ahhs' for ten sunsets in ten different cities!
- Donate four pennies per mile: For a donation of $48.28 you get your postcards, your wristband, your picture disc and a digital download featuring 10-15 songs showcasing some of Jivewired's member bands and artists. Adele will not be on this compilation. But assuredly every song we choose will bring some serious heat. Street value on this donation tier, is, um, infinity. Believe that baby!
- Donate a nickel per mile: For a donation of $60.35 you get the postcards, the wristband, the picture disc, the music digi-pak and, wait for it........
A rad-tacular 'Jivewired Is Road Trippin' To SXSW' t-shirt designed by me.
The cool thing about the t-shirt is that if you wear it every single day no one will ever forget your name. Promise. But you have to wear it every single day. - Dime It Up: If you make a donation of $120.70 you get everything included in the nickel package plus you can give your favorite band or artist a lifetime Jivewired membership - or you can use it for yourself if you are in fact a person of musical persuasion or a member in a band and you want the coolest digital one sheet representation on the face of the earth. I do have a testimony somewhere that actually says that. Remind me to dig that up.
- Buy Me A Meal: Three squares a day for ten days is thirty meals. Donate ten dollars and I only need to cover 29 more meals. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. See what I did there? Maybe I need a shampoo sponsor. Somebody call Proctor & Gamble.
- Shelter Me: Hey, I'm not asking for the Ritz-Carlton here. The average Red Roof Inn, Budgetel Inn or Motel 6 comes out to about $55 per night including taxes in a semi-safe neighborhood. Yeah there are cheaper hotels, the ones where the sheets are conveniently crispy and I'd probably have a heart attack if I killed the fluorescents and inspected the linens with a black light. It is what it is. $550.00 in donations shelters me for ten nights. You'll sleep well knowing I'm sleeping well. You may now try to get the Joe Cocker song Shelter Me out of your head.
- Dine With Me: Going to SXSW? I am having a dinner for my industry peers and your donation of $301.75 gets you a seat at the table. Are you an industry mogul? Maybe you always wanted to be an industry mogul? Maybe you just want to have dinner with me? This is your chance then. Disclaimer - please do not represent me as your 'date' for the evening without my expressed, written consent ahead of time. Break ups are always messy so I'd rather we dine and then depart as friends only.
(But, kick in $10,000.00, I'll fly you to Austin and you've got yourself a date! Send check for $10,000.00 made out to TWLOHA to our business office by February 15th, 2013. Our mailing address is 403 N. Main St. Unit A, Thiensville, WI 53092). - Music To Our Ears!: Donate $1000.00 and I will book a band to come to your house and play two full sets in your backyard this summer. I'll cover their expenses, but you have to feed them, even if you just throw a couple weenies on the grill and dole out a few mustard packets as a garnish. This makes a great graduation present for your musically enriched high-schooler, the perfect setting to 'pop the question' to your betrothed, or, it will serve as a loud, musical statement that will either make you the coolest cat in your neighborhood or everyone's mortal enemy.
Simple.
Select an option from the dropdown box, click the BUY NOW button and Paypal will do the rest.
I hope I can count on you, in all seriousness. TWLOHA is a charity that I am very, very endeared to and I'd like to make a difference in any way that I can. True, teenagers and young adults spend more on music per year than any other demographic, but we value them and their contributions for so much more. Our futures need their futures. If even one of them needs our help, we as an industry should reach out a united, helping hand whenever possible.
Regards,
Michael Canter