Category: Fundraiser

Gearing Up for Muskoka Novel Marathon Number 15! Now Accepting Sponsors!

As July creeps closer to us (or us closer to it?!), this year’s Muskoka Novel Marathon prep is gearing up! That’s right, it’s now time for the writers to begin their fundraising efforts.

Writers at the 2016 Muskoka Novel Marathon’s opening day!

This is always the hard part for me! It’s a big ask, and it’s become an even bigger one in these times. And there is the donor exhaustion thing, as well. People thinking, ‘just how many times is this idiot going to keep doing this thing and asking us for money?!’

The in-person event location for the MNM. This year is ONLINE again…

The answer is, I’ll probably keep doing it for as long as it exists. It’s an extremely beneficial event for me. I’ve probably written more words at the Muskoka Novel Marathon than I’ve written during any other time of the year ever. In fact, I know I have. It’s what gives me the right to continue to call myself a writer.

A snapshot of my desk at the MNM 2016.

AND…I’m also passionate about the fundraising side of this event. LITERACY! It’s what writers value most. 100% of the collected funds goes right into literacy programs. 100%!

 

Literacy is really an umbrella word here. The YMCA literacy programs do SO much!

  • Academic upgrading (non-credit)
  • Literacy and basic skills in reading, writing and math
  • Computer and life skills
  • GED and ACE preparation
  • E-learning
  • English as a Second Language (ESL)
  • Savvy Seniors

As well as helping students upgrade their basic literacy skills, they help new immigrants to Canada and seniors who are lost in today’s new tech savvy online world. Their programs are far reaching.

Fun Photo time! This is from the 2018 MNM! Every Sunday of the Marathon Sue Kenney takes the writers on a little walk in the woods!

Small donations go a LONG way, because they add up! We can do this together! Since the inception of the MNM, writers have collected roughly $215,000.00! That is no small feat, but I guarantee you that the total was built up one dollar at a time. Nothing you donate is too small.

This year’s marathon is: July 14 – 17, 2023

If you’re a writer, you can still register to participate in the Marathon. LEARN MORE HERE.

If you would like to help by sponsoring me, I would be so thrilled! Here’s a LINK TO MY PERSONAL YMCA FUNDRAISING PAGE.

HERE IS MY MNM PROFILE PAGE, WHICH ALSO HAS A LINK TO MY DONATION PAGE.

Let’s see what our little army of writers can do with your help this year! We are writers helping you to help readers.

 

One Last Push – 2019 Muskoka Novel Marathon – Do You Believe In Literacy?

Every year around this time I implore anyone who will listen to assist me in gathering some much needed funds for the annual fundraising drive for literacy in Muskoka. It’s time for that last push before the Muskoka Novel Marathon takes place from July 12th to the 15th. Is it in you to give? Your donation could make such a huge difference in the lives of so many people. Illiteracy is one of those things that doesn’t only impact the person struggling with it…but entire families. 100% of the funds raised at the Muskoka Novel Marathon go directly to programming that helps lift real people out of the struggles illiteracy causes. Your donation has an immediate positive impact on lives.

Here’s a passage taken directly from the Muskoka Novel Marathon‘s Where the Funds Go page:

Funds raised at the Muskoka Novel Marathon are donated to the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka Learning Services in Huntsville, Ontario. These funds are used to directly support literacy programs in our community. Two out of every five Canadians struggle with basic reading and writing. Literacy levels influence career opportunities, salaries, standard of living, housing, education and the ability to participate fully in our communities.

Another thing you may not know about the literacy programs offered, is how they help and who they help. There is more than one kind of illiteracy. Here’s more from the Muskoka Novel Marathon’s website:

Employment, Education, Independence…Take The Next Step.
We work with individuals to deliver training in the following areas:

-Academic upgrading (non-credit)

-Literacy and basic skills in reading, writing and math

-Computer and life skills

-GED and ACE preparation

-E-learning

-English as a Second Language (ESL)

-Savvy Seniors

There are such a wide variety of services being helped by your donation. And these are under-funded necessary services. The Muskoka Novel Marathon typically raises more than $30,000.00 a year now. We have raised well over $200,000.00 over the history of the marathon. It’s only possible to maintain these kinds of numbers with your help. So, here I am…just a writer standing in front of a reader asking you to love the gift of words…

With your help, we can CHANGE LIVES!

I guess I should explain what the writers do over this 72hr novel writing marathon. There are 40 of us who meet up once a year at the Active Living Centre in Huntsville, Ontario.

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We all stay in one room and each of us attempt to write an entire novel over the course of the weekend. It’s a time of camaraderie, stress, joy, creativity, laughter, tears, peace and trepidation. We become this commune of creativity, discussing plots, characters, struggles, achievements and life. It really is an incredible experience, which I suppose, is the reason so many of us make it a yearly occurrence. Once you’re indoctrinated into the MNM family, it’s almost impossible to pry yourself away. The fundraising aspect is the most important aspect, but not the only one. We are definitely a family…a unique and crazy one, but a family nonetheless. From the starting bell on Friday night at 8pm to the communal meals to the late night readings to the walks into town to the Sunday morning walk with Sue Kenney…this is a weekend of words and bliss not to be missed. One of the greatest writing events on the Canadian calendar.

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Here’s a link to my MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON BIOGRAPHY PAGE.

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The room where it all happens!

AND here’s a link to my ONLINE DONATION PAGE, which you can also get to by clicking the green SUPPORT THIS WRITER BUTTON on my MNM Bio page. Donations are tax receipted.

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We are WRITERS HELPING READERS READ. You can be READERS HELPING WRITERS HELP READERS READ if you wish. Do you have it in you?

Thanks so much in advance!