The fight continues

 November is Lung Cancer awareness month and we want to make sure you all know that even though the race may be over the Fight Continues. Until there is a cure for Lung Cancer the importance of advocacy and education will never lessen. So many of you have helped out with our fundraising goals the past few months as we work to raise $5,000 for the North Carolina Lung Cancer Partnership and we are still working towards that goal. Our fundraising page will remain open until December 31st so if you can help us in any way please visit our page and be a part of so many great things NCLCP works to do with this money.

http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR?team_id=16620&fr_id=1428&pg=team

The Countdown is on- 18 days and the clock is ticking...

With 18 days till the Free to Breathe Raleigh 5K the time to join and donate is NOW. No more procrastination, no more I'll do it later. Whatever you have right now $1 or $1,000 put it towards our teams efforts to raise $5,000 for the NC Lung Cancer Partnership and be a part of changing the face of lung cancer. Every person who breathes can get lung cancer, you dont have to smoke or live with someone who smokes if you breathe you are a candidate. If your doctor told you tomorrow this was your battle wouldn't you want to know there were real options that could give you quality time with your family and possibly save your life? Your contributions make this possible, so please join our team and be a part of everything Pams Pearls and Free to Breathe stand for. The CURE depends on YOU!!

http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR?team_id=16620&fr_id=1428&pg=team

The Clock is ticking and we need your help!

When we started on our journey this year our goal was to raise $5,000 and we believed it to be fully attainable. As of today we have raised $1265.00 or 25% of that goal. There are only 21 days till the big day and we still believe with your help we can meet our goal. To those who have already joined our team, made a donation or shared our story with others THANK YOU!

Lung Cancer takes more lives than any other cancer, but we're hoping with your help to continually decrease that number until we find a cure. 

We have a team challenge to everyone who has been reading our updates and following our blog but not joined and that is to JOIN!!! Register to be a part of our team and come out to support Pams Pearls and Lung Cancer Awareness. Get your weekend off to a great start by doing something to make you feel warm and fuzzy. Visit our website and become a part of something greater then yourself.

http://participate.freetobreathe.org/site/TR?team_id=16620&fr_id=1428&pg=team

One Month till Event Day... Are you Ready?

Today marks the one month till event day- day! We are so excited for Lung Cancer awareness month and adding to our team roster and fundraising efforts. So far we have raised $1,130 which is great, but we still have a little over $3,500 to go. I know we can do it with your help. If you have an employer that matches charitable gifts then whatever you can give will be doubled! If you have a business and want to donate on behalf of your business we will recognize your contribution on our team banner on race day. Whether its $10 or $1000 no amount is too small. 

We have been challenged this week to add 100 people to the overall roster for the race bringing the grand total of people registered up 100 from where it is now. Please help us by joining our team and joining us event day to walk, run, or volunteer and most importantly to support North Carolina Lung Cancer Partnership and Free to Breathe by honoring my mom Pam Jaked and what she meant to all of us. Nothing can bring her back, but your donations can help the treatments that will prevent Lung Cancer from taking more loved ones too soon!

Thank you

Double Deal Weekend!- weekly update

November 5th is just around the corner and we have officially passed the 20% mark on our fundraising goal. As many of you already know we are working to raise $5,000 for Free to Breathe and the NC Lung Cancer Partnership. So far we have raised $1,055 and we are working hard to keep that number moving up. There are a number of ways that you can participate in our efforts so please choose one or more and support Pams Pearls:

• Pumpkins for Pam- purchase a pumpkin for display in our pumpkin patch.There are DIY pumpkins and pumpkins that are ready to go. Donation amounts are $1 and $5 respectively
• Cookie Dough Fundraiser- visit the Pams Pearls page on facebook and click on the cookie dough fundraiser app. Cookies are shipped from the distributor to anywhere in the US and Pams Pearls gets $4 for each tub purchased. We are aiming for a $200 profit from this fundraiser.
  

  http://apps.facebook.com/cookiefund/?fund_id=208189

• Join our team!! Visit the team website link on the right side of the blog under "Important Web Links" and register to walk or run with us on November 5th. Adults are $25, children 7-12 are $15 and children under 7 are free and do not require registration unless they want a tshirt in which case its $15.
• Make a general donation to the team page or to a select member on our team. This can be done by going to the team website and either clicking donate to pams pearls or clicking one of the names on the team roster at the bottom of the team page.
• ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!!! 
• We will have at least one more restaurant spirit night in October so watch for info on that as well
• Bring your children out for an afternoon of fun at My Play Place in Apex, NC for superstar sunday in October (The date will be announced later this week).We will have pizza, games, a movie and best of all discounted childcare all benefiting Free to Breathe and the memory of Pam Jaked

Thank you to everyone who as already participated in one or more of these great opportunities. Your gifts will help change the world of Lung Cancer one patient at a time! 

THIS WEEKEND is our DOUBLE DEAL weekend! We are challenging our friends and family to help double our team size by Sunday. We have 12 members right now so we need to have 24 by Sunday night to be successful. We have several prizes to giveaway if we can meet this challenge including My Memories software, dinner from Texas Roadhouse in Wake Forest and babysitting from Brittany Jaked. 

Send any questions or comments to beansmomnc@ yahoo.com

Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Check out our YUMMY fundraiser. 

We are raising money for our Free to Breathe 5K team. All the money we raise goes to Free to Breathe and the NC Lung Cancer Partnership, and we are hoping to reach $5,000 before November 5th. For each tub of cookie dough you purchase you get a load of yummy cookies and we get $4.00 towards our goal. Please visit our link and purchase some today! These will be mailed directly to you from the company.

http://apps.facebook.com/cookiefund/?fund_id=208189

Just Breathe- weekly update

One year ago on September 21, 2011 we received final confirmation that my mother did in fact have stage four adenocarcinoma with a 9cm mass in her left lung. It seems almost surreal how one word can turn your entire world upside down, but it did. CANCER took the greatest person I have ever known and the best friend I will ever have. She was so much more then my mother and even though I can't call her when I need parenting advice or get a hug when I have a bad day, she is forever with me. I find as I grow older that children always need their parents and parents always need their children, those needs may grow and change as the people do, but they never go away. Even in death her presence is an everyday part of my life. I hear her encouragement when I doubt myself, I feel her strength when I don't feel I have of my own left, and I know her love as a mother everytime I look at my own child. Motherhood is not just lifelong- it is eternal and never ending just like her memory. Pam's Pearls is about doing what I can to be greatful for the life I still have and to honor the life that was taken from me. To know that lung cancer took the greatest part of who I am and left no cure or hope for those still suffering makes everything that North Carolina Lung Partnership and Free to Breathe so much more important. Lung Cancer does not receive the federal funding that others like Breast Cancer do, it does not receive the publicity of the rich and famous or the empathy of many. It is instead filled with stigmas and preconceived notions that if you have lung cancer you somehow deserve it for ever lighting your first cigarette, yet we all have lungs and less then 50% of those with lung cancer have ever so much as held a pack of cigarettes in their hand. Why is it that pink ribbons adorn the sponsorship pages of corporations and community groups like ornaments on a christmas tree, and people stare at my white ribbon like its a foreign object. Lung Cancer IS just as deserving of public recognition and sponsorship as any other cancer or horrific disease, it is just as deserving of sponsorship and financial aid as Breast Cancer, it deserves to have a run for a cure and the federal backing to support all the small efforts of myself and so many others who have been left to fight the battle of their lost loved ones without the necessary tools that the #1 cancer killer should have. Cancer doesn't just take the person whose body it inhabits, it takes a part of every person involved, and when that person leaves this earth those pieces leave to, and those affected are forever changed. It is almost inconceivable that such a small piece of science... a cell... ONE SINGLE CELL... can grow to change so much. However, I am learning that in this fight to raise awareness of lung cancer and further treatments to one day have a cure, I AM ONE SINGLE CELL, each person in this fight is JUST ONE SINGLE CELL, but just as cancer does we can join together, and like cancer we will learn to manifest, and like the loved ones we lose everyday WE WILL BECOME UNFORGETTABLE. Cancer may have taken my mother, but it cannot take my will or my faith or my love for her, those are never ending. Life may go on, but my purpose will always be greater because until there is a cure THE BATTLE GOES ON. So for my mother and every other victim of cancer may God be with you and your families each day as they face life without you and for every person who has ever lost someone to cancer know that God is keeping your loved one safe and cared for until you can join them again. There is so much we have to learn about cancer and unfortunately some of the worst findings we already know... CANCER SUCKS and nothing about it is easy, but know that God is always with us, guiding us and reminding us to keep the faith, keep walking and JUST BREATHE!

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us reach the fundraising milestones that we have. We clapped our hands at $150, jumped around at $500, and now at $955 are just overjoyed and smiling ear to ear as we thank God for the blessing he has bestowed upon our team and most importantly Free to Breathe. Know that each and every dollar of your donation goes to fight and fund a cause that receives little help elsewhere and that these grassroots efforts we are starting will someday be the change that finds a cure. Words could never truly express what your support means to me personally, but each and every dollar donated on the way to our $5,000 goal is like a star being lit in the sky and a bit of hope being placed in the hands of a lung cancer patient and that in itself is worth every bit of effort I put into what I do. I could never say it enough times but I'll say it once more anyway... THANK YOU!