the202-- Lemme take those questions one by one....
the202 wrote:
What exactly do you do for Inwood House? How long have you worked for Inwood?
I'm the assistant to the Executive Director-- so I'm not a social worker and I don't do case management or anything like that. This is kind of nice because that lets me be sort of like 'the nice aunt' rather than the badgering mom that a social worker has to be. Since I'm not the one disciplining, and nagging and all that sort of stuff, I get to joke around with the girls and the social workers have the hard emotional work. They have really earned my respect- it's not a job I think I could handle.
We're not a huge organization, but we're definitely the biggest maternity shelter in New York, because others are smaller or don't take the same clientel we do. There are only 3 other residences in NYC. The organization is 175 years old, and the building we're in-- it's a browstone sort of thing-- is verrrrry old. I think 150 years. (that's old for over here in the US). It's really falling apart, but it's a really great place. Sometimes its hard because we're essentially a shelter that's housing homeless pregnant girls and we're smack-dab in the heart of the swanky Upper East Side. I've worked here about a year and a half now. I used to be an Associate Producer at a A & E Television.
the202 wrote:
Do you need money to finance travel and boarding for your "North Pole Marathon" trip or is that covered by Inwood?
Inwood House isn't going to cover anything, because I didn't feel comfortable asking them to. After all, they didn't come up to me and ask 'hey, can you run the North Pole Marathon for us?' In fact, I think a few of them don't quite believe it fully. I'm going to pay for the flight & registration fee, and then give friends and family a long Christmas list filled with things like: 1 pair of 'UltraLite Atlas Racing Snowshoes' and 'Neoprene Toe Liners'. I think it would be really shady if people gave money and I used some of it for gear, travel etc.
the202 wrote:
Have you ran the North Pole Marathon before? Have you been involved with any marathons previous to to NPM?
I've done 2 marathons before-- the Boston and the New York Marathons. So I thought, hey, I can do it. It'll just be a little colder, and I'll train a lot. Then I started training. And I was thinking, my god, what the hell happened to me? I breezed through the Boston Marathon and barely trained!
And that's when I realized... I was 18 when I ran the Boston Marathon. I'm 33 now. And oh how things change. So now I just train a lot harder. In New York, there's a market called Fairway which has a meat section so big that they just hang parkas outside the entrance and people walk into the meat freezer to shop. I'm going to write them a letter and ask if I can jump rope in there, because they say you need to acclimate your lungs or something like that.
the202 wrote:
Do you already have pledges? Have you raised money for Inwood in this fashion before?
I haven't started taking pledges because I wanted to use the website as the launching pad for the whole campaign. I'm trying to go as big as I can with it promotion-wise in terms of newspapers and TV. We'll see what happens. I've never raised any money for Inwood House before.
the202 wrote:
What do you think is a fair price for the desired penguin artwork?
I really, really, really haven't the foggiest. I'm entirely new to the world of chopping.
the202 wrote:
How will the penguin artwork help your cause?
I think it's absolutely crucial-- the stuff I looked at last night.... I swear, I just could not stop laughing. I'd go and do something like cook rice, and I'd have to go back to the computer and look at it again so I could laugh my ass off again. Is there something wrong with me? I just think it looks so great, what I've seen.
The fact is, that the penguin image and the spoof on "America's Next Top Model" is a lot more fun than using me as the 'frontpiece' of the website and campaign. I'm even toying with the idea of not referring to myself by name at all on the site, and instead just saying "The Head Wadder" or "Chief Waddler" in the "About" section. I think people would be more likely to pass word around about funny penguins rather than some out-of-shape chick who's running a marathon.
the202 wrote:
What is your financial goal for this project? Are contributions tax deductable? Is there a more direct way to support your endevor...?
My financial goal is sort of arbitrary. I'm shooting for 50K. That's if it doesn't really take off and it's just me badgering every single person I've ever met to please donate money because they will go to hell if they don't. So, I guess 50K is the answer. And yes, all donations are 100% tax deductible. A more direct way to support the endeavor is a monetary donation, straight through the website, once it's set up. (but then there's also going to be 'the gamblin' man's option, where you place pledge based on what you think my finishing time will be. So the faster I finish, the more your pledge goes up. The flip side of that is if I don't finish the race, you can have your pledge back.)
hope that helps!
anyway if you want it then i can make it for your menu 
