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Learn more about how you can help Team Brigham outside the Cafeteria from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, April 1, Tuesday, April 5, and Monday, April 11.
These co-workers and team members are invigorated with individual resolve to run 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Copley Square and heartened and inspired to collect enough $5, $10 and $100 contributions to meet and exceed their fundraising target.
The 127-member Team Brigham aims to raise $400,000 to support BWH community health programs. Joined in their commitment to reach two milestones, the BWH runners agree to disagree on which half of their dual marathon mission is more formidable.
“Finding the time to train and staying injury free is more challenging,” said veteran Team Brigham member Chuck Labins, senior manager in BWH Real Estate and Facilities. Labins said fundraising is never easy, but he has managed to tap into a generous stable of real estate colleagues, developers and contractors, all in the name of a good cause. BWH's community health programs provide such valuable services for so many low-income families, his solicitation efforts are well received.
Although a member of the hospital's Development Department, fundraising can be more of a test for second-time Team Brigham member Nancy Downer. “I'm young, and most of my friends are in grad school,” she said. Downer has approached friends, family and acquaintances from her gym, dry cleaners and favorite coffee shop. And with her own personal page at www.justgiving.com , an Internet fundraising site, she's more than half-way to her $3,000 goal.
First-time marathoner Courtney Reed, a BWH physical therapist, said snow has provided significant obstacles as she tries to build up her mileage. Like Downer, Reed has been successful with her own page at www.justgiving.com. She has made fundraising headway with generous individuals at the schools where her mother teaches in Waterloo, NY, and where her friend teaches at in Maynard. Many students and teachers these two private schools pay a fee to “dress down” on Fridays, and that money will come to Team Brigham.
Kenneth Lee Baughman, MD, director of Cardiovascular Advanced Heart Disease Section, is new to Team Brigham and fundraising but not endurance contests. He is well practiced at marathons and triathlons. “It's more difficult to ask people to support my running habit,” Baughman said. “But once I get over the initial awkwardness, people have been generous.”
Clinical coordinator Laura Mowrey, a first-time marathoner, agreed with Baughman. “Training with the team has been great, and when you run, you just do it. But fundraising has been more stressful for me as it's not as straightforward,” she said.
DeeDee Mariano, a fifth-time Team Brigham member and 32-year BWH employee, said training is more difficult than raising money. “I raise money the old-fashioned way, letters through the US mail and handwritten thank you notes,” she said. “I'm not a techie at all.”
So which one is more of a challenge? “Good question,” answered Timothy Williams, MD, an Orthopedics fellow and first-time Team Brigham member. He is chronicling this endeavor at www.bostonmarathon.blogspot.com.
Additional BWHers on Team Brigham include Colleen Smith, Cynthia Lemay, Dana Jones, Elizabeth Taylor, Giorgio Pietramaggiori, Jennifer Byuers-Fischette, Lyndon Miles and Rhonda Martin.
With less than one month left until these BWHers take their mark on the Boston Marathon start line in Hopkinton, they will all be well trained and have made a difference in the lives of many in the community, who will benefit from their fundraising efforts.