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A Note from Team Chad:
Dear Friends,
It is that time of year again when we all make New Year's resolutions and try to figure out ways to get back into shape. We have a great opportunity for you to do both this year, and raise money for a great cause at the same time.
Again this year, we will be running the Country Music Marathon (or Half Marathon) to raise money. Due to the unbelievable response the last 2 years, Team Chad has been able to sign up over 170 runners/walkers and raise over $80,000. To date, Team Chad has raised over $150,000 in a little over two and a half years through all of our events and fundraising efforts. With this money, we have been able to begin improving the lives of people fighting their battles with cancer. Through the Hematology Helping Hands Fund (HHHF) we helped establish at Vanderbilt Cancer Center (Chad's hospital), we have been able to directly impact the lives of people fighting the same battle that Chad fought over the past several years. We believe the stories on our website (http://www.teamchad.us/html/tc_stories.html) will show you how small amounts of money can have such a positive benefit on these patient's lives. These stories are only a small sampling of the people we have been able to help and we hope that you find them to be as encouraging as we have. In addition to HHHF, Team Chad is supporting several other leukemia based charities such as The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation.
It is our hope that you will join us this year in raising money for this great cause. The Country Music Marathon (http://www.cmmarathon.com/home.html) is being held on April 24th this year and we are asking you to sign up to run or walk it with us. It is our goal to sign up 100 people this year and raise a minimum of $50,000. If you sign up, we only ask that you commit to raise $250 of support. We believe that you will be surprised to find out how easy it is to raise this money. The past two years we have had quite a few people that raised much more than $1,000.
If you would like to join us, please send us an email at teamchad.us@gmail.com and we will send you a sign-up sheet. Please sign up as soon as possible so we will know how many shirts and other materials to order. In the next couple of weeks, we will begin our optional training runs. Last year, we found this as a fun way to train and we had great turnouts every week. We will also be forming running groups in Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville and Atlanta. We will email out further information in the weeks to come.
Finally, if you know someone that might want to be a corporate sponsor this year, please email Micah Lacher (mlacher@anchorinv.com) for further details. Due to the generosity of last year's sponsors, we were able to raise close to $6,000 in additional funds. All of our sponsors will be prominently displayed on the back of our shirts.
Whether you had the opportunity to know Chad Welch or not, we encourage you to consider helping out this great cause.
Please let us know if you have any questions. You can email your questions to info@teamchad.us .
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As stated previously, one of major Team Chad fundraising events each year will be the Country Music Half Marathon. Next year, the half marathon will be held in Nashville on Saturday, April 24, 2010.
Prior to Chad 's illness, he was employed as an Affiliate Broker at Crye-Leike Commercial Realty. A native of Nashville and a lifetime member of Brentwood United Methodist Church , Chad graduated from Brentwood High School in 1996. He graduated from The University of Tennessee with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2001, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Chad was also a member of The Phoenix Club of Nashville, a young men's organization that supports the Boy's and Girl's Club of Nashville. He enjoyed Tennessee football and was an avid sports enthusiast, catching a game whenever he could. Most of all, he enjoyed spending time with his family, friends and two dogs, Folly and Gus.
As you may be aware, leukemia is a malignant disease (cancer) of the bone marrow and blood. It is characterized by the uncontrolled accumulation of blood cells. An estimated 44,240 new cases of leukemia will be diagnosed in the United States in 2007. At the present time, there are approximately 218,659 people living with leukemia in the United States . It is anticipated that approximately 21,790 deaths in the United States will be attributed to leukemia in 2007 (12,320 males and 9,470 females). Notwithstanding these statistics, there is hope. The relative five-year survival rate has more than tripled from 14% to nearly 50% in the past 47 years for patients with leukemia. However, we can all agree that 50 percent is not enough.
That is why we would like your help in continuing Chad 's fight against leukemia . In that regard, we have started a new charitable organization, Team Chad , whose stated mission is “to continue Chad 's fight against leukemia by raising money for leukemia charities. Every year, Team Chad will host multiple fundraisers designed to raise money through a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation, The Chad Welch Memorial Foundation, established with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. At the end of each year, Team Chad will work closely with Haley Welch and The Chad Welch Memorial Foundation to determine which leukemia charities will benefit from the money raised by Team Chad fundraisers. One of the flagship Team Chad fundraising events each year will be the Country Music Half Marathon, which will be held in Nashville on Saturday, April 25, 2009.
At this event, we will enter a team of runners (hopefully 100 or more) who have trained together over a 3-4 month period and who are outfitted in orange Team Chad uniforms. After the race, there will be a post-race party with bands and other entertainment at a McDougal's Village Coop.
So, even if you do not run or walk, please plan on attending the party! We are asking that Team Chad runners raise a minimum of $250 each for The Chad Welch Memorial Foundation. If you live outside Nashville and want to join Team Chad , please do not be discouraged by the fact that it will be hard to train with those of us in Nashville .
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We are in the process of setting up Team Chad “running chapters” in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Atlanta. Each one of these chapters will train together in their respective city with the goal of all of us running together as a team in the Music City Half Marathon. If you are interested in managing a chapter in one of these cities, please so designate on the attached form.
We also have a need for Team Chad volunteers who are not interested in running. The primary goal of these volunteers will be to raise money at various mile markers throughout the half marathon, all while cheering on the Team Chad runners. If you are interested in joining Team Chad in a non-running capacity, please so indicate on the attached form.
If you are interested in joining Team Chad in either a running or non-running capacity, please complete the Registration Form and return it to Team Chad headquarters. We will be in touch with further details about the race and other Team Chad fundraising events. In the meantime, please join Team Chad and help continue Chad 's fight against leukemia.
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