We're Famous!

This past week, we were incredibly honored when our hometown newspaper, the Cortland Standard, chose to run a long feature about our team for the Boston 3 Day for the Cure.  Our article, which was titled "Beating Breast Cancer in a Big Way", was written by Life and Living editor Katie Hall.  The feature took up almost a whole page of the paper and included two photos.  The first photo was taken by longtime Cortland Standard photographer Bob Ellis of our teammate Melissa Moreland Campos on one of her early morning training walks and the second photo was one of my photos that shows the four of us walkers at our 10 year high school reunion in 2008.

Unfortunately, there isn't a digital copy of the article available.  However, my mom (Karen Sager) was nice enough to scan the article for us so that we could share it with all of you.  Larger versions of each image are available by clicking on the photos.

Enjoy!

Melissa on her training walk in Homer, New York

 Our article!  Click to enlarge so you can read it!

We are incredibly thankful to Katie and the entire staff of the Cortland Standard for featuring our efforts.  While most of us have moved out the area now, we are all true Homer girls at heart.  Our hometown is small and tight nit and having this kind of publicity can really go a long way towards helping us to reach our fundraising goals.  As you can tell from this article, this is a cause that is very near and dear to our hearts.  Having the support of our community behind us as we take to the streets next week in Boston truly means the world to all of us!

If you have been moved by our story and would like to help us reach our fundraising goals, you can make a donation at our team fundraising page on the 3 Day website.  You can also reach each of our personal pages directly by clicking on our names in the right hand side bar. 

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Happy Birthday Mel!

Everyone here at Relentless Optimism would like to wish Melissa Q. the very happiest of birthdays!

Mel at the 2007 Atlanta 3 Day

If you would like to give Mel a birthday gift by donating to the 3 Day in her name, you can do so on her personal fundraising page here.

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Congratulations to Sharon and Maria!

The members of Relentless Optimism would like to extend a hearty congratulations to our teammates Maria and Sharon on their new jobs!  

Maria has recently taken a job with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in Syracuse, New York and Sharon has recently started working as a nurse at the Gulf Coast ER at the Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Meyers, Florida.  Three cheers all around for our working girls!

Jen and Sharon (L) and Maria at the CNY Race for the Cure (R)
Unfortunately, due to their new work commitments, Sharon and Maria will be unable to join us for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure in Boston in July.  We will miss you girls very much and have loved having you as part of our team!  Best wishes in your new jobs!
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Happy Birthday Michelle!

Everyone here at Relentless Optimism would like to wish our teammate Michelle Niescierenko a very happy birthday!

Dr. Michelle in Africa

As a member of the Medical Crew, Michelle is not required to do any fundraising for the Breast Cancer 3 Day.  However, I'm sure she would be thrilled if you wanted to honor her birthday by donating to any of the walkers on our team.  You can find a link to donate to all of our team members here.

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Happy Birthday Tommy!

Everyone here at Relentless Optimism would like to wish our teammate Tommy Schenck a very happy birthday!

Tommy with his daughter Jen

As a crew member, Tommy is not required to do any fundraising for the Breast Cancer 3 Day.  However, I'm sure he would be thrilled if you wanted to honor his birthday by donating to the walkers on our team that have not yet reached their fundraising minimums.  You can find a link to donate to all of our team members here.

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Happy Birthday Sharon!

We all hope that you have the very happiest of birthdays!

Sharon (L) and a friend at the Race for the Cure

If you would like to give Sharon a birthday gift by donating to the 3 Day in Sharon's name, you can do so here.

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Welcome to Relentless Optimism, Maria!

We are thrilled to introduce everyone to the newest member of Relentless Optimism - Maria Barredo!

Maria is an old friend of a few members of Relentless Optimism from back in the day.  Unbeknownst to all of us, Maria had registered to walk in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure in Boston 2010 - just like us.  When we learned that she was planning to walk as an individual, we immediately insisted that Maria join our team and we are thrilled that she accepted!

For Maria, the fight against breast cancer is a personal one.  Maria's family has a very strong history of breast and ovarian cancer.  When Maria was little, her mom was diagnosed with Stage III ovarian and breast cancer.  Thankfully, her mom survived and has been cancer free for over 20 years.  While Maria's mom survived her battle, too many other members of their family did not, including Maria's Aunt Sandy who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2007.  Following her Aunt's cancer diagnosis, Maria went into overdrive to learn more about her family history.  Maria began seeing a genetic counselor and at the age of 25, Maria learned that she is BRCA1+, putting her at a high risk for developing cancer at a young age.  Maria's destiny was in her own hands.  As she says, her like was suddenly split in to two parts: her life before and her life after knowing her genetic fate.  When we all take to the roads in Boston this July, it will have been one year since Maria took the first step toward taking control of her own destiny.  We will all be walking with Maria as she takes the first step towards her future... a future without breast cancer.

Maria says that she is humbled to participate in this walk while honoring the spirit of survivors and cherishing the memory those that we've lost.  We are very lucky to have someone like Maria on our team for the 3 Day and we're looking forward to walking with her in July!

Maria looking pretty in pink!

If you would like to donate to Maria, you can do so on her 3 Day fundraising page which can be found here.  We have also added a link to her page in the right hand side bar.

Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer

Welcome to Relentless Optimism, Uncle Doug!

We are very excited to introduce yet another new member of Relentless Optimism - Doug Schenck!

Uncle Doug is Relentless Optimism walker Jen's uncle and Relentless Optimism crew member Tommy's brother.  Doug was moved to sign up for the Boston 3 Day crew after chatting with Tommy about the event.  He felt that crewing for the 3 Day is a great way to support our cause, honor our angel Marcia (his sister in law) and to spend some time with his brother.  We couldn't agree more and we are thrilled to have Uncle Doug on our team!

Our favorite crew members Tommy (L) and Doug (R) at Jen's wedding in 2005.

If you are interested in becoming a member Relentless Optimism, there is still time to sign up!  As an added incentive, if you register for the 3 Day before May 9th, you can save $20 on the registration fee when you use the code MAY2010 at check out.  Please be aware that all of the crew positions for the Boston 3 Day are now full.  However, you can still register to walk with us or to be a part of the Medical crew!  We want you for Relentless Optimism - register today!

Welcome to Relentless Optimism Michelle!

We are very excited to introduce everyone to the newest member of Relentless Optimism - Michelle Niescierenko!

Michelle is a pediatrics/ER doctor in Boston and has registered to be part of the Medical Crew for the Boston 3 Day!  Michelle is smart, enthusiastic and is generally better at life than most people.  She spends a lot of time traveling the globe saving sick babies and doing other incredible things and we're thrilled that she's going to take some time to help us out as well.  As a crew member, Michelle does not have a required fundraising minimum.  However, she has graciously offered to help out the other members of Relentless Optimism to reach our personal and team fundraising goals.

Welcome to the team Michelle!  We're so glad you decided to join us on this adventure!

Michelle and Kristen in Boston in 2008.

If you're interested in becoming a member of Relentless Optimism, now is the time to act!  For a limited time only, you can use the code GOTEAM to get $25 off of your registration fee when you sign up to be part of our 3 Day team.  To register online today, please click here.  Whether your interested in walking, crewing or being part of the Medical Crew, we want you!

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Thinking About Joining Relentless Optimism?

To all of our friends and family -

You've all been reading all about our fundraising efforts for months now.  You might even be following along on Kristen's 3 Day blog "Kristen Walks".  If you've been contemplating becoming a member of Relentless Optimism and joining us in Boston in July, now is the time to do it!  Every new member of our team that registers between now and midnight on Friday, April 23rd will get $25 off of their registration fee when they use the promotional code GOTEAM.  You can find the link to register for our team on the Relentless Optimism team page.  Simply click where it says "Register to Join Team" and follow the directions!

Maybe you're thinking about walking with us because you've been touched by breast cancer.  Maybe you want to start giving back to your community.  Maybe you just want a good challenge.  You might be thinking about putting your medical skills to work as part of the Medical Crew.  You might be contemplating joining the crew in whatever capacity you can.  Whatever your reason for considering getting involved in the 3 Day, please register today!  The more people that register for the 3 Day, the more money we will raise for breast cancer research and the more lives we will save.  It is as simple as that.

So what are you waiting for?  Join Relentless Optimism today!

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Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Relentless Optimism and the entire Mag 5 family!

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for all your love and support.  We hope the Easter Bunny left all of our supporters a little something extra in their Easter baskets this morning!

Sincerely,

Melissa C, Kristen, Sharon, Melissa Q, Jen and Tommy

Happy Easter from the Querry and Campos families!

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Relentless Optimism Fundraising Update!

All of our hard work is starting to pay off!  Our team has been working hard to raise money for the 3 Day through fundraising contests, flower sales and letter writing campaigns and it is starting to show!  Our team has now raised $2625, enough to cover at least one team member's fundraising minimum.  None of us has reached our personal minimum just yet, but we get closer every day.  The important thing is that our team totals are climbing!

Speaking of our team totals, are you wondering why our team goal is so high?  Well, that's simple: We want to be a power team!  A power team is any team that averages more than $3300 raised per person.  That's an extra $1000 beyond the minimum that the team as a whole needs to raise per walker.  With five walkers on Relentless Optimism, that means we want to raise $16,600 before the end of July.  If you want to help us get there, you can do so one of three ways:

1, You can buy some flowers through our team account with Flower Power Fundraising.  All of the details of that fundraiser can be found here.

2, You can enter one of our two remaining fundraising contests, the details of which will be posted here later today.

3, You can donate to one our more of our team members directly.  Our team page on the 3 Day website can be found at www.the3day.org/goto/relentlessoptimism and links to each of our individual pages can be found on the right hand side of this blog.

Thanks for all your support!

We do more than just walk...

Just a quick post to let you know about some of our team's other 3 Day activities outside of fundraising and training!

First, Melissa Campos has been asked to be a 3 Day Training Walk leader for the Upstate New York region.  That means that she's going to be planning and leading a series of training walks for other 3 Day walkers in the area to help everyone prepare for the big 60 mile event.  Training by yourself is really tough, so having a group of people to train with definitely helps.  We will do our best to alert everyone about when Melissa's training walks will be held, so check back here often.  Melissa will also be serving as a Safety Monitor on the official event which means she's in charge of making sure that we're all following the rules on the event and not running out into traffic like crazy people.

Second, Kristen Cincotta (that's me!) has been named an "Online Ambassador" for the Breast Cancer 3 Day.  I've been blogging pretty regularly about all things 3 Day over on my personal 3 Day blog, Kristen Walks to try to increase awareness and educate people about what the 3 Day is and why it's so important.  If you're walking this year or thinking about it for in the future, definitely check it out.  In addition to documenting my own preparations, training and fundraising efforts, I'm also trying to cover a lot of practical tips to help everyone get the most out of their 3 Day experience.  If anyone has any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  That's what I'm here for!

We all believe very strongly in the goals of the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure and are doing everything we can to help achieve them.  Thank you so much for supporting us along the way and we'll see you in Boston!

Join Relentless Optimism today!

Thinking about walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for Cure?  Are you interested in becoming a member of Relentless Optimism?  Then now is the time to register!

Step 1.  Click over to our team page at www.the3day.org/goto/relentlessoptimism.  Then click where it says "Register to join team" to start the registration process.

Step 2.  During check out, enter the discount code RESOLVE and you will receive a $25 discount off the registration fee provided that you register before March 9th.

And that's it!  You're officially a member of Relentless Optimism!

Need a reason to join us in Boston?  Well, here's 100 reasons to walk, courtesy of Online Ambassador D'Lyn who blogs at Meanderings of a 3 Day Mom.  

Here's one more reason:  because we need as many people as possible in the fight against breast cancer.  For every person that registers, that's another $2300 at least that's going to find a cure.  Together we will make a world without breast cancer a reality.  Register today!

 Image from www.the3day.org

Welcome to the team, Sharon!

Relentless Optimism is pleased to welcome Sharon DeGaramo to our team for the 2010 Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure!

 

Sharon with her sister Melissa Q. at Mel's wedding

Sharon is one of our Mag Sisters and we're thrilled to have her walking with us this year.  The link to Sharon's personal fundraising page on the 3 Day website can be found in the sidebar on the right hand side, along with links to all of our pages.  You can track Sharon's fundraising progress and make a donation to her there.

Welcome to the team Sharon and good luck!

Introducing Reese Alexandra Querry!

We are pleased to introduce everyone to Reese Alexandra Querry, the newest member of the Mag 5 Family! Little Reese entered the world at 7:12pm on Tuesday, November 24th. She weighed in at 6lbs 13ozs and was 21 inches in length. Congratulations to Melissa and Todd on their beautiful new daughter!

Baby Q, Where Are You?

Just a quick note to congratulate Melissa and Todd on reaching Baby Q's official due date! Now, when is this little baby actually going to come out and meet us? I mean, we know how cute Mel is with her Buddha belly, but I'm guessing she's ready for Baby Q to get here even more than we are!