Monday, October 13, 2008

Where do you find enough hours in a day?

Tonight as I start this blog I have to say today has been very similar as the past few days. There are more things to do than hours in the day. How is that always the case? How do I leverage my time more to ensure I have the time to devote to the Liz Martocci Lung Cancer Foundation? How did the other lung cancer foundations that walked before us do it?
What keeps me going at times like this? Several things, getting incredible emails and updates from people we as a lung cancer foundation have helped. You can’t help but to smile when you know you have helped someone living with lung cancer, someone possibly faced with their last breath. I, as the president of the Liz Martocci Lung Cancer Foundation am humbled every time we get an email from someone we have helped. I guess it kind of helps me personally on a different level. I live 350 miles from my mom, who as you probably know, is currently living with lung cancer, and all that goes along with it. Helping others and reading and hearing their stories helps me deal with the fact I am not there with mom in person.
Daily I focus on that “letter” from the IRS coming. The letter stating we are finally approved as a 501c3 organization. It seems that for so many that one (maybe two) pieces of paper make such a difference. Those waiting for us to get that piece of paper must feel we have finally worked hard enough to be legitimate. Honestly I am not sure we worked hard enough, yet I know we have all worked with persistence and without resistance. We again were not going to allow people to tell us “no”. We were simply going to find out how to get where we wanted to be, and ask a ton of questions along the way.
So how does the Liz Martocci Lung Cancer Foundation move into the next generation? As many successful organizations know the answers are sometimes unknown. I do know this; most new businesses do not survive their first few years in business. Since the foundation is all about survival of lung cancer patients there is no way we can fail. We simply need to improve our fund raising efforts. There are hundreds of people every week that deserve to benefit from the Liz Martocci Lung Cancer Foundation. That does not include the millions of people that need education on Lung Cancer.
To kick off Lung Cancer Awareness Month the LMLCF.org is launching a wrist bracelet campaign to help educate elementary school aged children on the risks associated with smoking. This campaign will bring awareness to children as well as their parents. Lung Cancer is commonly known as the silent killer. In the majority of cases lung cancer is found in the later stages, when surgery to remove the cancer is often not an option. If you are interested in purchasing a bracelet please contact lungcancerfoundation@gmail.com
With Warm Regards,

Dan Hart
www.LizMartocciLungCancerFoundation.org