New Year Bottle Drive

This blog is supposed to be about my training and fund raising adventures and so it's probably about time that I get you all caught up on things!

Fund raising is clicking along, albeit a little slower than I had hoped. Personal events of the past few months have thrown me off my game, but there's nothing like a new year approaching like a freight train to get you re-focused!

I have my third Bottle Drive scheduled for the 5th of January and this has been a fun way to fund raise and train at the same time. I deliver a flier to the mailbox of about 500 homes in the little pocket of Markham that I live in, announcing the date of the bottle drive. On the day of the drive, I go door to door and pick up boxes of empty wine, liquor and beer bottles that are then sorted and returned to the local Beer Store for refund. I follow up the Bottle Drive with a second flier that gives me a chance to thank my neighbours for their contributions and to bring them up to date on my fund raising campaign. This flier also gives me the opportunity to spread the word about arthritis and the work being done by the Arthritis Society.

Delivering the fliers takes about 6 hours of steady walking which falls nicely into my training plans. I now have an amazing appreciation for Canada Post mail men/women and many new ideas for redesigning my front garden! There are some very beautifully designed gardens and front walkways in my neighbourhood.

These bottle drives have also given me a wonderful opportunity to meet many of my neighbours that I wouldn't have had the chance to in the past. We are all probably quite familiar with the people who live next door to us or within a few doors of us, but thanks to our busy lives that is just about as far as the circle goes. Thanks to walking door to door in good weather and bad, I have met a wonderful group of people who have come to know me as "that lady that's walking to Everest", or "that Bottle Lady". Several of them even joke that they are "drinking for Arthritis"! All of their comments, words of encouragement, (along with their contributions of course!) make the whole effort seem to be more of a team effort. I now feel like I am training and fund raising with the support of a great group of people that have become in a way my Everest training team.

So I'm sending out a great big "Happy New Year!" to everyone and a special thank you to all who put aside their empties in support of the Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion Training Team Everest 2010 Trek!!