LiveStrong Day at The Shrimp Box

In early 2001 I signed-up for what was to be my first 100-mile cycling event and for what I thought was going to be a one-time big splash effort to raise funds for a worthy organization. The event was in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and little did I know that those first pedal strokes would become 7 years of incredible reward.

As you might expect, these seven years of volunteering in support of the LLS is something that I’m personally very proud of. Aside from the obvious reasons for why I or anyone else would volunteer their time to a specific organization I think there are significant intangibles that also come into play. Of course there’s the cause itself but another powerful intangible, I think, is the people.

My involvement with the cycling team for the South Jersey chapter of LLS introduced me to a core of coaches and mentors that beyond a doubt are some of the most caring, compassionate, giving, and positive people that I’ve ever met. I have had the opportunity to make friendships with some special people that I know I will have for a lifetime.

One of these special people is Helen Ihde who as one of the LLS cycling coaches helped numerous people train for and complete their own 100-mile events. When I was diagnosed with cancer in January of this year and the Mintz’s Mentschen LiveStrong TEAM quickly came together thanks to the organizational work of Dan Nies, Doreen Dunnigan, Joanne Vencius, and others, Helen signed on right away. And Helen already has an awesome fundraising event in the pipeline that I need family/friends in NJ to know about so that you can help support her effort.

Helen is having a fundraising dinner at 6pm on Tuesday, May 13th at The Shrimp Box in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ (www.theshrimpbox.com). The owner is contributing a significant portion of each dinner to the fundraiser and MINIMUM donation per person is $30. There will also be a silent auction so bring your checkbook! May 13th also happens to be Lance Armstrong Foundation LiveStrong Day and they may send a representative to the dinner. Helen has also arranged for the head of oncology from the Meridian Hospital System to be a speaker. It proves to be a terrific night and I will be trying very hard to attend with my wife, daughters, parents, aunts, uncles….

Please contact Helen directly to purchase tickets in advance. She can be contacted as follows; hitrube@aol.com and 732-604-1928

I can’t thank these people enough. I know that I’ve droned on in prior blog entries about the overall Mintz’s Mentschen effort but it is just so humbling that people are doing these things in my honor. And as the seasons have changed to Spring the team will begin training and fundraising in earnest so expect more updates on our progress!