Most of you know I hate selling stuff. And asking for money. I hated selling Girl Scout cookies. I hated selling ballet tickets over the phone even more. But no matter what I do, I always seem to find myself needing to do one or both-bills to pay, etc. So, bear with me.

As many of you know, I’ve been working for the past 5 month as a video editor for www.runtellmanrun.com. For those of you who don’t, Tellman is running across America to raise money for programs that provide outreach and support to homeless youth in America. This is a bigger problem than I realized-over 2 million kids will experience homelessness in the U.S. this year-and this statistic doesn’t count kids with families. Just kids who are on their own. This is pretty terrible to think about. As the run has progressed, we’ve met tons of people who are working to provide much-needed services to these kids-basic stuff like food and shelter, and bigger stuff like job searching, budgeting and emotional support. And like a lot of us, they have been losing funding. My role in the project has been editing a daily video diary of the run for the blog (www.runtellmanrun.com), and organizing the footage for a full-length documentary once the run is finished. This job has been an incredible opportunity for me to be a head editor for a documentary project and to work on something that I really care about.

So the run was budgeted to last five months-and five months has passed, but Tellman’s only at mile 654 (of 3,200). No one has ever done this before, so there’s been a steep learning curve. Now the project is paused as we regroup and fundraise to continue. For myself, this means raising $6,000 to edit and distribute a short documentary that chronicles the journey so far. Proceeds from the sale of the film will go directly to the RunTellmanRun project (not to fund the expenses of the run, but to the actual non-profit itself). I will also be entering the film in festivals and other outlets, hoping to spread the word about the project and the cause.

Yesterday I launched a fundraising page on www.kickstarter.com, an awesome website that provides a fundraising forum for creative projects. In less than 24 hours we’ve raised over $1,000, but we’ve still got a long way to go, and we only get the money if we reach the $6,000 goal in 30 days. The site is grounded in the idea that if enough people care enough about a project to support it, then it’s worth doing. And the idea is to get lots of little donations (even $1) from your network of “backers” (you!). So, with impeccable post-holiday, post-natural-disaster, and mid-recession timing, I’m asking for your help. Whether it’s donating a few dollars, or just sending (emailing, facebooking, twittering, etc) this to people you know who might be interested in supporting a positive, creative project. I’m also accepting vibes, prayers and positive thoughts. By the way, www.kickstarter.com is also set up so that “backers” of a project receive “rewards” for their support, depending on the amount pledged. Anything from a free download of the film to access to a virtual “cutting room floor” while I’m editing. So even if you don’t care about homeless kids (or me having a job), you can still get something out of it for yourself.

Here’s the link to donate/share the project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1736787415/runtellmanrun-a-barefoot-odyssey

Ok, I feel really uncomfortable, and you’re probably bored, so I’m going to stop here. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and thank you for any support you can give (vibes included).

Love,
Sara

P.S. All donations are considered “pledges” until the final deadline (Feb. 20). Meaning, if we don’t reach the $6,000 goal in time, you don’t get charged. So if you want to make yourself look/feel good without actually spending any money, just donate a few bucks and hope we don’t make it.