Joanne and Machu Picchu

I want to share with you the fundraising letter I sent to my family and friends regarding my Machu Picchu trek. It speaks from my heart and I am so touched by the generous response I have received from its recipients. I am very grateful to you all. Here it is:


My Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know, I completed my first marathon in
January 2003 as a member of the Arthritis Society’s Joints
in Motion Training Team. With the support of my parents,
extended family members and friends, I fundraised over
$4000 for the Arthritis Society and participated in the
DisneyWorld Marathon. It was truly a humbling and life changing experience. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of those who made donations, I was inspired by the courage of marathon participants with significant disabilities, I was overcome with gratitude that I had the health and strength to take on such a physical challenge, and I was filled with a sense of pride and purpose that I had contributed to such a worthy cause.

When I returned to Regina I realized I had another dream I wanted to pursue. I wanted to climb a mountain! The Arthritis Society did not offer such excursions as part of their Joints in Motion program and an internet search for other similar fundraising programs was unsuccessful. I put my dream on hold, but never forgot it. Now fast forward to September 2006 when the Arthritis Society announces its exciting 2007 Joints in Motion
destinations. Included among them is a 4 day trek in a mountainous region of Peru in August 2007. It is not exactly a mountain climb, but it is a 43 km trek on stone – paved trails built by the Incas to get to the impregnable citadel of Machu Picchu, deep in the Cusco cloud forest. The trail climbs through an impressive range of altitudes where climates and ecosystems range from the high Andean plain down to the cloud forests. Although the idea of fundraising again was, quite frankly, terrifying, I knew this was an opportunity I had been waiting for. With some encouragement from Joël, my oldest son, I took a giant leap of faith and signed up for the trek.

I am sending you this letter because I believe you may be interested in supporting the work of The Arthritis Society. If you make an annual contribution to the Arthritis Society or you make charitable contributions over the Christmas season please consider making one through me to help me attain my fundraising goal of $6900. Tax deductible receipts will be provided for all donations, and the funds raised go toward arthritis education, research, and services to improve the quality of life for the more than 140,000 infants, toddlers, children, teens, and adults in Saskatchewan affected by arthritis.

I have enclosed a sponsor form with more information for your convenience. Please take a moment to peruse the various ways you may be able to help the Arthritis Society. Thank you so very much for your support!!



And here is the sponsor form that accompanied the letter:

Thanks to the generosity of family, friends, and strangers, I have surpassed the $2000 mark in my fundraising. Less than $4900 left to go!! I am making a deposit of almost $1000 tomorrow thanks to the incredible generosity of the following supporters: Willow Underwood, Isabel Ruse, Colleen Lefebvre, Madeleine Jezagou, Shirley Webb, DEBORAH MIEVRE (my kindred spirit!), Neil and Patti Farmer (my wonderful brother and sister-in-law), Woodpack Industries Inc., Les Krentz and Jo Brown, Lorraine and Laurent Vermette, and Norman and Laura Peterson. Thank you as well to my former teaching colleagues at North Valley High School in Lemberg, Saskatchewan for purchasing Christmas cards for The Arthritis Society.

Speaking of schools, I have laid down a challenge for my students at Sedley High School. I have promised that if they raise $800 for The Arthritis Society by June 14, 2007, one lucky student will have the opportunity to, under strict professional supervision, shave me bald!! My grade 12 students actually wanted to do this at their grad, but in the interest of keeping the grad focussed on the students' achievements, it will be done at another time. I definitely appreciate their enthusiasm though!! Many thanks to the Sedley Post Office, Sedley Country Convenience, and Sedley Road House for agreeing to take jars for my campaign called "Change For Change - Give Your 5 Cents Worth For Arthritis Research." Any money collected in the community will also go towards the students' goal of $800.

I would love to hear from anyone reading my blog. Just click on the word "comments" found at the end of each blog entry and it will allow you to send a message to my blog! It would be great fun for me to hear from any of my supporters, or anyone at all who reads my blog. Hope to hear from you all soon!! Bye for now.......................

Despite the holiday season and the many demands on our time and budget, people are still generously making donations to The Arthritis Society. Today I am making a deposit to The Arthritis Society in the amount of $863! Thank you so much to the following people for their support: Peter and Shelley Frombach; Susan and Dan Zivec; JoAnn Buhr; Pete and Ev Peterson; Bill and Bebe Gillis; Harry Joynes; Verity Willway; Art and Marj Wakabayashi; Shirley and Larry Schneider; Kim Langston; Merlin Peterson; Ken and Joyce Ellis; Gary Thomas; Ann and Colin Nicolson; Al and Millie Dickson and Muriel Griffin. Thank you as well to Carla Lowthian, Marie Roman, Brenda Brick, Alison Deters, and Marj Farmer for purchasing Arthritis Society Christmas cards. The spirit of Christmas and giving is certainly alive and well, and it is very life affirming to be part of it. I have a most wonderful running friend who is originally from Chile. She is currently fundraising for her third Joints in Motion marathon. I was so touched (but not surprised!) to hear her recently say that the thing she likes most about Canada is that she is free to help people here. Wow - that still brings tears to my eyes! Happy New Year to you all - I wish you all a year to be grateful for!!

I realize it has been a long time since I have updated my blog, but I have been making progress. I have completed a letter writing campaign to all my previous Joints in Motion supporters as well as others who I believe may be interested in supporting The Arthritis Society. I hesitated to call upon people who so generously supported my previous fundraising efforts, but I reminded myself that The Arthritis Society is a very good cause - one that I hope many people will be happy to support again. I am also confident that people will make their own decision, and will not feel obligated to make a donation if they do not wish to do so. Within days of my first mailing I had three donations in my mailbox - the generosity of people still inspires and humbles me! Many sincere thanks to Marg and Art Reine, Pat Collins, and Edith Fowler for their generous donations to The Arthritis Society.

I was speaking to my brother who lives in B.C. last night, and I shared with him my plans and got some feedback about some of my fundraising ideas. He works in the corporate world and has considerable insight into what might motivate businesses to want to participate in my fundraising projects. However, his most memorable insight was regarding my request to Keith Richards about being my Joints in Motion hero. He says hopefully Keith won't read past the "joints in motion" part and, if that is the case, he may well be very interested in being my hero!!

That's all for now - life is calling!!

My first fundraiser is under way!! I am doing a nickel drive I am calling "Change for Change - Give Your 5 Cents Worth For Arthritis Research." My goal is to collect 1 kilometer of nickels. Then I hope to actually line them up for a kilometer to create a 2 kilometer out and back running/walking trail which I will run, with as many of my supporters who wish to participate. I am still working on the details, but I like the idea!! I am a math and science teacher so of course I see all kinds of opportunities for students - how big is a nickel, how many nickels will be needed, what will be their total mass, what will be their total value, calculating your walking and/or running speed, what new advances have been made in arthritis research, and who knows what else creative teachers could do!! Obviously, I am hoping that my school division embraces my idea, and that I have hundreds of children, young adults, and teachers enthusiastically sharing their nickels with a very worthy cause.

I have a wonderful group of women friends that meet monthly and, as fate would have it, our hostess for October organized a poker party and asked us all to bring our nickels. Despite the fact I lost our Texas Hold 'Em evening on the last hand, I came home with over 320 nickels!! Fundraising always provides many humbling reminders of the generosity of people, and I have very generous friends. In addition to their nickel donations they also kindly offered to help build the 1 kilometre trail of nickels in the spring! Their enthusiastic support is very encouraging and is appreciated more than I can say.

I have also received messages of support from my four female running companions. They were aware of my desire to climb a mountain and do the Peru trek before I committed to the Arthritis Society, and they are excited that I have decided to go for it. These women are such an inspiration to me - they began running marathons when they were in their 50's and have, in total, completed 10 Joints in Motion marathons and one "Conquer the Canyon" Grand Canyon hike, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the Arthritis Society. They have learned to swim and ride a bicycle while in their fifties, and have completed tri-atholons and rigorous bike excursions. They remind me that life is a wonderful adventure, and that anything is possible. I am exceedingly grateful for their love and friendship.

One last note - I went to see the Rolling Stones in Regina on October 6 and was very moved to see, on the big screen, close-ups of Keith Richards' hands. Although some described them as gnarled, to me they also looked beautiful - like hands that had packed in as much living as they could!! I was told that Keith Richards has arthritis so, even though I am not sure if that is true or not, I emailed him to ask if he would be my Joints in Motion hero. You see, every participant in a Joints in Motion marathon or hike chooses a hero - someone with arthritis who reminds us during our difficult moments of training and fundraising exactly why we are doing this. I haven't heard back from him as yet, but I expect to any day now!!! If any of you are in contact with Keith I'd appreciate you reminding him of my request!!

I must be mad, and yet I haven't felt so invigorated in a long time! I emailed Cindy at the Arthritis Society today and told her to put me down for the Machu Picchu trek!! My thoughts are suddenly consumed with fundraising ideas, and I will share them all with you once my mind slows down a little and I can think more coherently!! I have shared the news with a few close friends but I haven't yet told my parents. I know they will worry about me, because that is what they do, but I also know this decision will inevitably create work for them. When they get over the initial shock they will help me with my fundraising in whatever ways they can because that is also what they do. They love me and have always always been there for me when I needed help and support. I have been truly blessed to have them for parents. I am also blessed to have a partner who is generous with his time, energy, resources, and spirit. Like my parents, he loves me unconditionally, but, unlike my parents, he does this totally voluntarily! I think the man must be a saint!! I know I could not embark on this journey without their love and support and I am overwhelmingly grateful.
I need to go now and get some Kleenex for my runny nose and tear stained face! I'll keep you all posted!!

Welcome everyone to my blog! I am sure some of you are wondering why Joanne Farmer has a blog, and I am sure more of you are wondering how in the world Joanne Farmer figured out how to start a blog. Well, big ideas require desperate measures sometimes, and I am working on one heck of a big idea!!

As many of you know, I ran the DisneyWorld Marathon in January 2003 as a member of the Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion Training Team. As for many participants, this really was a life changing experience for me, and when I returned from Florida I found myself dreaming of someday climbing a mountain. I did some preliminary research to see if any charitable organizations offered such opportunities in a fundraising program, but the only ones I could find at that time existed in Europe. I put my dream on hold, but I never forgot it.

Now, fast forward three and a half years, to October 2006. The Saskatchewan Branch of the Arthritis Society has announced its Joints in Motion destinations for the upcoming year and included among them is a 4 day trek to Machu Picchu in Peru. Not quite a mountain climb, but it is a 43 kilometre trek through a mountainous region which winds past carved granite Inca settlements, and is surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty. For me, it sounds like a dream come true.

Then I look at the fundraising goal for this unbelievable experience - $6900!! I am overwhelmed by a sense of fear and trepidation! How can I possibly fundraise that much money in 8 months I ask myself. I begin to convince myself that it is an impossible task.

Then I share my dream with my oldest son Joel who is a very wise almost 19 year old. His eyes begin to shine that wonderful shine I have come to know in the past 18 years as soon as I begin to tell him about the trek. When I finish my description he says with incredible enthusiasm and confidence, "You have to do that Mom!" and he offers to help with the fundraising whenever he can. Suddenly an impossible task seems entirely possible, and I am overwhelmed not by fear, but by my love and pride for both my sons, who I know will support me wholeheartedly in this venture. Joel's enthusiasm is infectious and I want to hang on to that enthusiasm, much as a drowning person clutches on to a life preserver. And I am reminded of one of my favorite running quotes - one that eloquently describes the experience of running a marathon. It ends with "and you realize the person you thought you were is no match for the person you really are."

I am planning to phone Cindy Kobayashi at the Arthritis Society office
tomorrow morning and make my commitment to do the Machu Picchu trek. My guts are churning, but I know that this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if I miss it I will regret it for the rest of my life. I also know I am blessed with a wonderful loving family and partner, and the most incredible collection of friends that anyone could ever hope for. And I remind myself that the money I raise is going to an incredibly important cause - better treatment and care for the 148 000 people in Saskatchewan living with arthritis, as well as research for the causes and cures for arthritis.

I am now going to bite the bullet and publish this post. With the quick click of a mouse I will "seal my fate" and the fun will begin (right after I finish throwing up in the bathroom!) Here I go..........one.....two......three.......