Peter, Marcy, Jed, and Jay

In 1994 and 1995, Jay ran the Los Angeles Marathon, as a fundraiser for the Leukemia Society of America. (Because Marcy had died of leukemia.) The LSA is now known as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I have six documents about that. Specifically, I have the following for each of the two years:

• A form-letter fundraising letter.
• A personalized note to George and Helen.
• A later thank-you note to George and Helen, in appreciation of their donation.

I’ve decided not to include the fundraising letters in this post, but the other items are below.

I’ve dated this post January 10, 1994, which is the date of the first fundraising letter.

Here’s the personalized 1994 note:

Grandma & Grandpa -

 

Sorry to send a form letter - such is the nature of fundraising.

 

I hope things are going well for both of you. (Grandpa - hope your eyes are okay.)

 

Take care -

Love,

Joaquin

And the personalized 1995 note (written at the bottom of the 1995 form letter, which was dated February 8, 1995):

Grandma & Grandpa —

I hope all is well for both of you.

Love,

Joaquin

The 1994 thank-you letter is a form letter, which talks about what the donations will be used for, and notes that Jay finished the marathon “in three hours and seventeen minutes. My time, which was close to 20 minutes faster than my prior personal record, put me in approximately 700th place out of 19,000 runners.” And he added a personal note that says “Thanks for the birthday card!”

The 1995 thank-you note says:

March 6, 1995

 

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support of my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia Society and name of a leukemia patient, redacted by Jed. Through the generous support of my friends, colleagues, and family, I was able to exceed my fundraising goal of $1,500.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite meet my other goal for the day--I have been trying to run a marathon in under three hours for the past three years, and I came up 36 seconds short, with a time of 3:00:36, which put me in 232nd place out of approximately 15,000 starters.

 

Thanks again for your support.

 

Sincerely,

Joaquin

Notes

…I just want to take this opportunity to say that as a non-runner myself, I’m impressed by running a marathon at all, much less in (about) three hours.