Adam featured in Diabetes Newsletter

Date: 12/19/07

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Love Life!
-Pattt

RAAM .. signed up and getting ready!

12/13/07

Ohh yea!!
Team AFC is all signed up for Race Across America! We signed up this morning. No going back now.

Starting June 12, 2008 our four man team of Adam, Alex, Keith, and myself will be racing across the country on our Surly Steamroller fixed gear bikes! We will finish 6-9 days later in Annapolis, MD.

I can't wait!

Love Life
-Pattt

AFC Documentary Premiere Photos

Enjoy!!!




Love Life
-Pattt

Documentary Premiere is DONE!

Date: 10/21/2007

Last night was the Documentary Movie Premiere about our cross country bike 'adventure' in the summer of ''06. All I can say is that PhillyK (director, producer, editor, etc etc) is freggin amazing and totally unstoppable. It exceeded all of my expectations. He is a genius!

Thank YOU to everyone who came out to support us and to EVERYONE who has supported our organization. We are so blessed to have so many people helping us in our causes.

NEXT STEPS FOR THE DOC:
1. Submit it to film festivals so it can get the attention it deserves.
2. Hope it gets picked up by a distribution company.
3. Hope for a TV showing.
4. Sell DVDs (I can't wait to see it on DVD with extra bonus features)

Thank you!

Love Life
-Pattt


ps. Pictures coming soon...

AFC Goes to Minneapolis!

Date: 10/18/07

On October 3rd and 4th Adam, PhillyK, HardcoreAndy, and myself went to Minneapolis to meet with Greg Lemond. We needed to meet with him to get him to narrate our Documentary Film!!! PhillyK and HardcoreAndy worked with him for 2+ hrs. It was awesome. They got everything they needed.

(left to right: Adam, Pat, Greg Lemond, PhillyK, HardcoreAndy)

After meeting with Greg we went to see Eric Sovern of Surly Bikes! Surly (because of Eric) is our biggest sponsor. He gave us a tour of the factory where they distribute thousands of bikes all across the world. It was super cool. Come to the documentary for a chance to win some cool Surly Swag!!

(left to right: Pat, Eric Sovern, PhillyK, Adam)

Love Life
-Pattt

We Got Greg!!

Date: 10/09

Oh yea! Greg Lemond spent 3hrs with PHillyK and HardCoreAndy and completed the narration of the documentary. It is going to be so awesome! I can't wait until October 20th.

Adam and I have not seen the film yet. It is going to be a surprise.

Also, while we were in Minneapolis with Greg we visited Eric Sovern of Surly Bikes! He gave us a tour of the Quality Bike Products (QBP) bike factory. It was ridiculously big! I love Surly. We even saw some of their new bikes that are coming out soon. Definitely cool!

Love Life,
Pattt

ps. pictures coming soon... hopefully

Documentary Movie Release Date Is Set!

Our Documentary Movie Premier Date is set!!!!

Greg Lemond is the narrator! We are going to fly to Minneapolis on October 3rd to have him do the narration!

Release Details:
3pm-7pm
October, 20 2007
Senator Theater
5904 York Road
Baltimore, Maryland 21212

Tickets are $10.00 PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!" type="image" border="0">

Please tell pass the word along to others. We have 900 seats to fill and we will need your help :)

While we are in Minneapolis we will meet with Eric Sovern of Surly Bikes!!! Eric is the man and Surly has been one of our biggest sponsors since the cross country trip.

Love Life,
Pattt

Ryan's Raiders

Date: 7/22/07

Next weekend on July 28th, Ryan's Raiders is holding their annual Bowl-A-Thon in Illonois! I know that is far away from us but we have been talking to Ryan's mom over email ever since the trip. We love what they are doing and we want to help.

(Ryan's Raiders)

Our plan is to fly out there on Friday and be there for the event. We will probably show our trailer videos for the Documentary and talk about our bike trip and how we used it to help others. If you would like to donate to Ryan and his Raiders use this paypal link

Donation Amount:

Thanks!!
Love Life
-Pattt

Our Return to Kenya

Date: 6/27/07

Adam and I just got back from 2 weeks in Kenya. We went there with Kupenda for the Children. We went there to see the kids, the boarding facility, how we can help more in the future, and to do some manual labor.

(Adam and our friend Holly holding Prince)

(Lauren and Pat.. isn't she pretty?!)

It has been a year and 1/2 since we were last there and all the kids were just a little bigger.

(Hanging out with the kids)

The boarding facility was 95% complete. There was a grand opening ceremony and there were 5 small trees planted outside the facility, one for each of us who traveled across country (Adam, Jesse, PhillyK, AndyK, and myself).

(Adam planting one of the trees)

We saw many needs such as a kitchen add-on the the boarding facility and other building projects that we could raise money to support in the future.

(The boarding facilitythat AFC raised money to build)

Adam and I did some masonry work while we were there on one of the school buildings. We helped install some new windows :)

(Tiredddddd...)

I love everyone of those kids. All of their lives have been changed for the better because of the efforts of Kupenda and its founder Cindy Bauer (no doubt she is awesome... she makes this world a better place).

(Cindy Bauer... she is kinda like a super hero!)

Kenya pictures from my camera

Kenya pictures from Lauren's camera (includes good captions)

Kenya pictures from Holly's camera

Love Life
-Pattt

This is what we do :)

Date: 5/16/07

Adam has received tons of emails like the following because people see him who is a super active person with diabetes. It is very hard to properly manage sugar levels even with the insulin pump, yet Adam was still able to bike 6,500 miles, averaging around 90miles a day, across the country in 3 months! His life is an example to other diabetics that they are not limited by their disease. He can also give really good advice for those who are new to diabetes or new to being active!

Here is an email we received today (in red).... below that is Adam's response (in blue).

I wondered if you had any advice/info for a new runner
with type 1 diabetes. He's 16 [diagnosed a year ago] and
wants to take up running and train for a road race in july, so he's not
on track team or anything like that. He's on the pen, not pump.

when he plays ultimate frisbee he has pen, glucose tablets, glucose
meter, cell phone, and water bottle handy [backpack] and can just leave
them by the side of the field. Plus of course a bunch of his friends
are around.

But unless he does all his running at a track that backpack arrangement
seems a little cumbersome.

have you managed by using fanny pack or something? Do you stop and test
on a planned sked, or just if feeling bad?

thanks very much for any info or advice.

Well one thing I do is I make sure I always carry a gu or some sort of carbs with me on the run. Running shorts usually have those small pockets in the shorts so just make sure I have something in there. Also another good idea is to not to give yourself lots of insulin right before running. So pretty much try not to eat alot right before running cause then you will need insulin. Unless you have to and sugar is low. I have found that is best method then dont have to worry that much since not lots of insulin in your body during athletic event.

I also noticed biking affects(makes sugar drop way more) then running does. I am not really sure why but it does. When I am biking a lot I lower my ratio of carbs to insulin by almost half. How do you guys like the pen? Have you thought about the pump? I love my pump been on it since I was 12.

I dont think I have ever carried my sugar checker while running. I guess just cause the longest I could possibly be running is like 2 hours or so. biking different story since I could be out for like 4-5 hours.

I can usually tell when my sugar is low or dropping low when I am doing activity. Can your son notice that? Another good thing is have someone with your son when running. That is always a big plus.

Let me know if you have any other questions. And best of luck with your son in the road race in July. Let me know how it goes.

Officially A Non-Profit Organization!!!

Date: 5/3/07

As of March 23, 2007 Adventures For The Cure is officially a non-profit organization! Adam and I submitted the paperwork a few months ago and we just got a letter from the IRS confirming our status as a non-profit.


The following is an exerpt from the letter...

OHHHHHH YEAAAAAAA!!!!!

-Pattt
Love Life!

Running Water 5k Complete Success!!

Date: 4/17/07
Event: RunningWater5k
See the results

The Running Water 5k was held on April 14th at Oregon Ridge Park. It was a race to benefit Blood:Water Mission. B:W M is a charity organization that builds clean drinking wells in underprivileged communities in Africa. By bringing clean water to these communities they hope to help fight the war against diseases especially AIDS. Clean fresh water means better sanitation which will help keep AIDS victims healthier and therefore they might live longer.

(Everyone lined up to race the 5k)

Adventures For The Cure partnered with Hunt Valley Church and their young adult ministry called "twelve." to put on this 5k that raised about $10,000 for B:W M. According to B:W M a new well cost an average of $3,000 so we built about 3 wells!!

(Left: 2nd place finisher Eric Furst
Right: 1st place finisher Stump)

(Left: 3rd place finisher "The Goat"
Right: 4th place finisher "Baby Sugar")

This could affect so many lives and I believe we really made a difference through these efforts :). Not only did we make a difference but everyone had a super great time at the race!!

(The beginning of the race)

Glenn and Debbi Weinberg save the day!

Date : 4/15/2007

Cindy Bauer of Kupenda recently told us that the boarding facility would cost an additional $6,800 to complete construction. She also told us that they needed the money buy June 10th. We immediately started thinking of ideas for how we could possibly raise that much money in such a short time. It was especially hard because we were in the midst of organizing the Running Water 5k that was yesterday (a total success... but of no help to Kupenda since we were raising money for Blood:Water Mission... another good cause!)

We were trying to organize a car was to try to alleviate some of the burden but nothing was working out and we just kept hitting dead ends with getting people to help us make it a big event. Martin Gould, who is a good friend and huge help to AFC, told his cousin Glenn Weinberg and his wife Debbi about Kupenda's great need.

(Glenn, Debbi, Cindy, and Adam)

Their hearts were filled with compassion for the kids and what we were trying to do for them. Cindy, Adam, and I met with Glenn and Debbi on Friday April 13th. We went to their house early in the morning and Glenn made amazing coffee for us :). Yesterday, Glenn sent us an email saying that they would be donating all of the money needed for us to build the facility!!! Wow! He said "The money will come from The Associated Jewish Charities, from a Philanthropic Fund that Debbi and I have set up with The Associated."

We are so grateful to Glenn and Debbi that I don't know how to say thank you enough. Because of their immense generosity lives will be changed. I can attribute these events to nothing but the work of God.

-Pattt
LoveLife

Additional Costs of the New Boarding Facility (nothing is ever easy)

Date: 3/21/07

Now that the construction on the new boarding facility has begun it has been discovered that Kupenda will need to raise an additional $6,718.75 for the building. The discrepancy is due to bad estimates of the initial cost and because exchange rates of US dollars to shillings has changed over the past year (during the time we did our fundraising).

AFC wants to help as much as possible. The money is needed by June 10th. We are prepared to donate money ourselves and we are working on thinking of creative ways to raise the rest of it.

So far we have come up with the following:

1. Holding a car wash on a Sunday at Grace Fellowship Church and have the Sunday School kids that we teach help us wash the cars.
2. Have a fundraising pancake breakfast.
3. Solicit our smart friends for other ideas and hopefully someone will want to take the reigns on and put on a charity event themselves!! :)

We will also be putting our donation page for Kupenda back up on our site just in case.

In this email from Cindy Bauer (Founder of Kupenda) she explains the exchange rate problem.

The total cost of the boarding facility (twin dormitory and dining hall is Kshs. 5,823,004.30 (Five Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Three Thousand, Four Shillings and Thirty Cents Kenya Shillings). The dormitory alone is Kshs. 3,568,960.30 (Three Million, Five Hundred and Sixty Eight Thousand, Nine Hundred and Sixty and Thirty Cents Kenya Shillings) and that of the dinning hall is Kshs. 2,254,044 (Two Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Four Thousand, and Forty Four Kenya Shillings).

The cost of the single wing under construction is Kshs. 1.83M (One Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty Thousand Kenya Shillings). The actual deficit is Kshs. 430,000 (Four Hundred and Thirty Thousand Kenya Shillings).

So if we go with the worst exchange rate (64 Kenya shillings to the US dollar) that Ksh 430,000 is approximately $6718.75 USD. Another problem we had before was I was going with an average exchange rate of Ksh 74 to the US dollar. The issues of dealing with other countries.

-Pattt
LoveLife!

Kupenda's Boarding Facility!!

Date: 3/19/07

We got this email today. It is from Leonard who is a Kenya who works for Kupenda in Kenya! Leonard is totally awesome because his job everyday is just to figure out new and better ways to help people :)

In his email to us he wrote:

Dear Adam & Patrick, Its long since you heard from me. I hope you are fine. Just to update you, the Marafa Project took off two weeks ago. The Contractor is working hard to complete the house by end of May or early June. Here are photos showing the progress of the construction works at the Site. Wishing you all the best and hoping to meet in June for the official opening. Yours Leonard

Attached to his email he gave us three photos of the construction efforts of the new boarding facility!!! I am sooo excited that it is actually happening!

Some of our friends from Kenya working on the plans for the Facility
(second to the right is our friend Reverend Mongie)

Big piles of rocks (supplies)

This is my favorite picture... Looks like the foundation of the facility!!!

On another note due to exchange rates and underestimates of the true cost of the boarding facility it seems that Kupenda needs to raise an additional $7,000.00 to complete the construction of the facility. To help Kupenda in this effort we are planning to hold a car wash at Grace Fellowship Church. We are also trying to think of some other ideas to raise the additional needed money. We are sure we will be able to raise the money. When doing such a good thing as building this facility no doubt that money will be raised in time :)

(We were told that the money is needed sometime early June.)

-Pattt
LoveLife!

AFC becomming official!!!

Date: 2/15/07

Yesterday Adam and I finally finished the paperwork required by the IRS to become an official non-profit organization! It was a lot of work but we did it. We think it will take 6-8 months for the IRS to go over it and sanctify us as a non-profit but at least we are on our way.

When we are official we will be able to write reciepts to companies/businesses that want to sponsor us. That makes us more legit so we can go after the bigger sponsors for our events.

The next even we plan to organize after the RunningWater5k will be a swing-dancing party. We will have that sometime in the Fall details will be posted as we figure them out :)

-Pattt
LoveLife

Trip To Kenya and The Documentary!

Date: 02/02/07

Cindy, president of Kupenda, is organizing a trip to Kenya this summer. I am definitely going and Adam is 70% sure he is going. We will be going there to visit with the kids, check on the status of the boarding facility construction, and possibly even help with the construction! Kenya is so beautiful and I can't wait to see those kids again. This time since we are going in the 'summer' it is actually cooler in Kenya because it is their winter time. Temps should be in teh 70s or so where we will be staying.

PhillyK is still hard at work on The AFC Documentary of our cross country trip. Check his videe-o's website for updates! I promise this doc is going to be amazing. PhillyK has so much talent it is ridiculous!

-Pattt
Love Life!

Diabetes Support Groups!

Date: 1/19/07

Adam and I have given 2 talks at 2 separate diabetes support groups since we have been back. We are making out way into being guest speakers at quite a few diabetes related organizations! It is soooo good for other diabetics and especially the parents of children recently diagnosed with the disease to see Adam and how he is able to do things that most people only dream of. Really you can do anything you set your mind to. We are schedule to make a few more talks in the coming months.

Currently we are working on organizing the RunningWater 5k, and charity bike ride for a group on the C&O Canal over 2-3 days that will be auctioned off at a JDRF Gala in June.

PhillyK is still working super hard on the AFC Documentary!!! Check his videe-o's site for updates and other works.

-Pattt
Love Life!

Running Water 5k!

Date: 1/10/07

Donation to Kupenda. My Aunt Katy and Uncle Ted donated $50.00!! Thanks soo much!

Hi everyone!! Adam and I with the help of some of our friends are organizing a 5k to benefit Blood:Water Mission. Blood:Water Mission is an organization that is building drinking wells for underprivileged communities in Africa. We thought it was a good and noble cause so we are going to help them out! All of the money made at the 5k will go directly to the charity. There will also be a 1 mile fun run :)


We have named the event 'Running Water 5k'.

Please sign up, join us for a nice race, and help a good cause!!!

-Pattt
Love Life!