OMG - you guys are awesome. Thanks Nicki - saw your post that Jen is in. Great. Christine - I have my own Facebook page, but setting up a separate Facebook page for this would be great - do you know how to do that (for a cause)? I know my recipient's family put up a site for finding him a kidney, raising money for his expenses and for keeping people up-dated.
I'm anonymous to everyone but my family, my recipient and his immediate family and; of course, you guys - I'd like to at least try to stay in the background (identity wise) but don't know if I'll be able to pull that off. So if you're willing, I'll take you up on doing whatever you could to help us set up the RUN FOR LIFE Facebook site.
For participants, I'm working on getting us free or reduced entry fees for the 1/2 marathon. There's a spaghetti feed at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on Canal Park the night before and the night of the race - I and my wife will host you all for a cook-out either at our house or a local park down the block from us (our treat for our new friends).
My wife Penny is a manager of two Subway stores and we're working on getting corporate sponsorship from them to purchase our designed running jersey's and matching shorts. Just so happens Subways main color is green (works perfect for gift of life colors). We'll need to design something for the shirts to deliver our message (if anyone has ideas, let me know).
I'll contact someone from the National Kidney Foundation, although I think it was you Nicki that said you had some contacts there? It would be nice to at least get sponsorship in name on our shirts and media release from them. I know they have some issues with funding recently.
Regarding lodging, considering you'll all incur some expense getting here, the least we can do is help out with lodging. For those who want to get their own hotel, lodging is somewhat limited and fills up quickly, so you'd want to make arrangements for next year soon. Otherwise, I have several really good friends that will surely sponsor you in their homes. We will make certain you have comfortable accommodations while you're here. Please let me know that you're alright with that.
Anyway - I'll start arranging most of this and if you guys have ideas, let me know. Thanks again for your help and participation
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!
Scott