Fresh Ideas From Someone I Never Contacted

Today I received an email from someone I never contacted, Ms. Aileen Galley, who is the Administrative Director for the Penn State Cancer Institute at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Ms. Galley said the Campaign email and webpage link were forwarded to her from a friend. Her email was both refreshing and informative, as she offered a couple fresh ideas for the Campaign:

Dear Chris - Your email and webpage was forwarded to me this morning by a friend. I think you have created something truly fantastic that I hope our whole community can get behind. I just wanted to check in to see if you had talked with any local car dealerships to get a discount/donation. I don't know that any could give a van away, but I wonder if they could give a substantial discount and generate some good press. Also, with the cost of gas these days, perhaps the gift could be raised to give this family a year's worth of free gas. Shaner Energy and Sheetz are two area businesses that come to mind - I know they have been very generous with other philanthropies. I hope this doesn't come off as unsolicited advice for a campaign you are obviously running so well. I will happily send a donation to you this week. My best to you, Aileen Galley

These are great ideas and I'll follow up on them - contact local dealerships as well as Shaner Energy, Sheetz and others that make sense.

Ms. Galley's email demonstrates the power of a viral campaign. I started with something small, someone did their part (emailed to Ms. Galley); Ms. Galley added her part (suggested fresh ideas); I'll do something that I didn't think of originally (act on her ideas); and in the end the Campaign will advance. Now this is cool!

By the way, the giving is up to $6,652. And we heard from Pastor Grabill of AoG - they will participate in the match! Can We Do This? Yes We Can!