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Note From Our PBCer and National American
Liver Foundation "PBC Fund The Cure"
Chairperson Kathryn Krivy
We are all strangers, and yet all connected, all family. I am so grateful for all that you do, in your own special way, each and every day, to help your PBC family navigate this challenging journey. To Linie and all of the many, many others who make this digest, and our website, our chatrooms, our upcoming convention and all of the other countless opportunities available to us - thank you! You should feel a great sense of satisfaction in being a part of something so wonderful.
And thank you to ALL of our more than 880 members - for giving us a voice. When I first got involved with the PBCers - there were a handful of us. Now we are almost 1000! But I need your help more than ever before - WE need your help more than ever.
We are trying to raise $1.5 million for the Fund for the Cure. This is the ONLY organized effort to raise money to help identify the cause and find a cure for PBC - OUR PBC. A million dollars might sound like a lot - but its only the beginning. If it sounds hopeless to you, I would ask you to remember that when Linie started this group - there were only 3 PBCers....
As of last week, we broke $300,000. And I want to acknowledge the efforts of our PBCers who brought us to this level of achievement, some of whom have make substantial personal gifts. While that is very impressive, we still have a long way to go, FOR US!
People give for lots of different reasons. I often think of one of our PBCer donors who made a major gift to the fund. She told me that she wanted to give money that she had personally earned and originally set aside for her retirement, because in reflecting on it, if no one worked on the cure, there were no guarantees and she might not be around to enjoy a retirement.
In the final analysis, we give because we believe in so doing, we can make a difference - even if its a small difference. And collectively, those small differences add up to a big difference. And you only need to look to Linie and the PBCers to know that's true!
I would ask each and every one to make a contribution - a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars - no amount is too small!!!! Or, make a pledge to raise /funds for the cure - twenty dollars, fifty dollars, one hundred dollars - NO AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL!!!!
Be a part of something bigger. Make a commitment to do something, right now. Yes, right this very moment. Get your checkbook out and write a check to ALF: THE FUND FOR THE CURE. Take that spare change you have sitting in your coat pockets and under the sofa cushions and send it in. Give up that little treat you were going to give yourself for just another day or week - the price of a movie ticket or two, a couple of packs of cigarettes (not that we smoke!), two or three magazines, Oprah's new book club selection, a week's worth of Starbucks.
When we go to major corporations with a request for funds, they always ask how much money has been raised from the people who have PBC. I want to be able to tell them that we're looking for a matching gift of $1.5 million!!!!!
Just between you and me, I never liked the thought of asking for money. Hated it. Thought that if there was a job in the world I would NEVER want, it would be salesperson or fundraiser...well, doggone it, if you resist something for long enough - it just kind of happens. And you know what? Its not as bad as I thought it would be, because I figured out the secret that all successful sales people and fundraisers know...It has to be something you believe in - one thousand percent. I believe in me and I believe in you. I believe that if I can do this, so can you. And I believe that we WILL find the cure. And finally, I believe that if we don't support the cause - NOBODY ELSE WILL - PERIOD.
So, write me, call me, send me an e-mail, fill in the PBC Fund the Cure Pledge Form...I will keep bugging you, because I can't help myself. AND, I'm not going to stop there. Because overcoming PBC is too doggone important. Therefore, in the meantime, I also want you to be a part of our very own research efforts. We still need multiple PBC families to participate in our research projects. Dr. Gershwin is still looking for responses to our mini survey that was sent out a few weeks ago (our response was PATHETIC). I will reissue the survey again. And there are other research opportunities that lie ahead. But in the meantime PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
1. Make your own gift.
2. Open a door for ALF to solicit
3. Solicit your family ad/or friends
4. Undertake a special event through which you will raise funds
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, WILLING AND ABLE....... PLEASE FILL OUT OUR PBC FUND THE CURE PLEDGE FORM AND SEND IT TO ME kkrivy@nmh.org OR mail it to the American Liver Foundation.
