This was my first year helping out with team 311. All I have to do is turn some wrenches, offer words of encouragement, or talk B.S. Yet this is one of the most fulfilling things I have ever been involved in.
In June of 2008 my friend Kelly lost her Mom, Marie Young , to cancer. She was one of the biggest fans of Team 311 and rock crawling competition in general.
There was only one way to honor the memory of Marie and support the continuing research to cure cancer. WWW.CRAWLTOCURECANCER.COM was born. After the 2008 season the Jeep had a complete makeover. New tub, new paint, old and new sponsors, and a brand new mission. Along with the competing was raise money and awareness.
The competition part certainly could have went better. I think we broke things that before us were unbreakable. The raising money and awareness part went better than we could had ever hoped.
Every competitor in W.E.Rock was sporting a black and pink CRAWL TO CURE CANCER sticker on their rig. It is really nice to see that people like what you’re doing. The thing that was so humbling to me was the reaction from the crowd.
There is one instance in particular that really stands out to me and makes me proud to be part of Team 311. We were in Dayton, TN( My favorite place we went all season) . Kelly had just finished up her last course of the day and we were watching the rest of the comp. The announcer was walking around interviewing drivers and got to Kelly. She like a true professional talked about the courses, thanked her sponsors, and told the crowd what Team 311 is all about. Out of nowhere people were coming up to us and handing us money. A $5.00 here a $10.00 there, I even saw some $20.00s. Out of the crowd a man headed toward us. He was an older gentleman with a hat as greasy as his bib overalls. He had a tear in his eye and money in his hand. He told us that he owned a mechanic shop not far from there. He had started this place with a partner many years ago. His business partner had died of cancer. He had never met us before and told us how proud he was of what we were doing and wanted to donate.
This one guy who we had never met on the top of a mountain in Tennessee made me so proud to be part of Team 311. For a perfect stranger to come up to you, see what you’re doing and say thank you. It brought a tear to everybody’s eye.
This was just one instance, there were many more.
4 Wheel Drive Hardware was gracious enough to match and contributions we were able to collect during the season.
We sold Team 311 t-shirts and gave away stickers, an just had our little jar set up. Our Little jar held a lot more that we could have ever imagined. We turned in $4,738.00 in donations, 4 Wheel Drive Hardware matched our $4,738.00 and gave us all of the proceeds from the t-shirt sales. The total donation from Team 311 is $14,371.00. We would have never thought that we could do this. We couldn’t have without the donations, the sponsors and 4 Wheel Drive Hardware.
So that was may couple of paragraphs about who we are and what we do.
Now is time to get ready for the 2010 season, and we have a lot to do. But when I get tired and wonder why I volunteered for this I think of the mountain in Tennessee and it all seems worthwhile. If we are out and you see us please come say hi, and check the rig out. It means a lot to us and this is why we are there.
See you on the trails. J