First Event!

Thanks to everyone who came out to The First Down Sports Bar last night for our first fund-raising event! We had an awesome turnout and as of right now seem to have (unofficially) raised $800+ which is a great start. Here are some pictures from the evening!

Our next Happy Hour event is on April 24th at Porter's Dining Saloon in downtown, D.C. Join us for $3 Miller Lites, $3 rail drinks, and $4 drafts until 10pm. Hope to see you all there!

Boy & Girl of the Year

Just wanted to follow-up on the video we posted the other day. This video features me with the Boy & Girl of the Year, Alessandro and Megan. They are, and will continue to be, a true inspiration for us throughout the following 10 weeks.

I also wanted to share this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyEVAJpg91c of the Boy & Girl of the Year. Watching this video immediately took me back to the many hospital rooms my brother Patrick occupied during his hospital stays. The pictures you will see of Alessandro and Megan in this video are the same pictures we have of Patrick at those stages.

We are trying to get Alessandro and Megan to attend a couple of our events so that you may also have the opportunity to meet them.

On a lighter note: we have our first event coming up this Thursday at First Down Sports Bar & Grill in Ballston, located at 4221 North Fairfax Dr., Arlington, VA.

15% of the proceeds from this event go toward our campaign. Specials include $1.99 Domestic Drafts, $2.99 Premium Drafts, $2.99 Rail Drinks. $4.00 selected appetizers, and $12.99 all you can eat wings. Please come out to support us!

Andrew's Promo Video

This video was shot at the LLS Kick-Off party on Wednesday, April 1st. Watch as Andrew promotes the Man & Woman of the Year campaign with this year's Boy (Alessandro Valeri) and Girl (Megan Avery) of the Year.



CLICK HERE to learn more about Alessandro and Megan.

Kick-Off Party at The Park

Last night, LLS held the official Man & Woman of the Year kick-off party at The Park at Fourteenth in downtown, D.C. It was a great way to start the campaign, mingle with all the candidates and meet members of the Society. Here are a few pictures below!

All the Man & Woman Candidates

Most of the 2-Times Strong Campaign Team

Andrew Kepley -- 2009 Man of the Year Candidate!
Honorary Chairs Alison Starling (ABC7/WJLA-TV's Good Morning Washington Co-Anchor) and Brian Egan (WMZW Morning Show Host)
Andrew and Katie Goode, Man & Woman of the Year Campaign Manager

The Candidate with his proud parents!

Andrew with Last Year's Man and Woman of the year (Chartese Burnett & Jim Galvanek)

The Kane Show from Hot995

Don't forget that our first event is at First Down in Ballston, Thursday, April 9th starting at 5:30. There will be great food and drink specials, of course with part of the proceeds going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society! Hope to see you all there!

Donate Now!

As of 12:01 this morning our campaign has officially begun! To donate, please visit our fundraising website. Now that we are able to collect money, please help us reach as many people as possible. How can you do this?

• If you have a blog, you can post our "button", found on the left-hand side of the page, on your blog. You can also become a “follower” of our blog
• If you're on Facebook, join our group "The 2-Times Strong Campaign" and invite all of your friends
• Send the link for our donation page to your contacts
• Come out to our events and bring your friends! Even if you don't live in our area, we will be having events throughout the country, be sure to check out our calendar for upcoming events near you

From this day we have 10 weeks, until June 13, to raise our goal of $50,000. Please help us reach our goal, spread the word!

5 days til the kick off!

Our campaign officially begins on April 1, which is a mere 5 days away! Over the past few days our team has been scurrying to get as much done as possible before the start of our campaign so when the time comes, we are ready to start making an impact right away.

If you want to help us get the word out, "grab" our logo and put it on your blog or website. If you do this, people will be able to click on the logo and it will bring them directly to our site, pretty cool huh?

Our amazing blogging guru Aliya, was also able to add a calendar function to our blog. Be sure to check this often for upcoming events! Speaking of events, I'm proud to announce our first official event will be at First Down Sports Bar & Grill, which is located at 4221 North Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201 on Thursday, April 9. First Down is located directly across from the Ballston metro stop on the Orange Line. Please come out and join us for a great time!

Check back soon for more updates on the campaign and details about our first event. Thanks!

Letters are done!

One of the less-exciting tasks in any fundraising campaign, is the sending of fundraising letters. I am happy to report that our team has completed this most-important step! Combined, our team was able to gather close to 500 contacts to which we will be sending a letter. Because of the astounding amount of money these letters can generate, the LLS was kind enough to help us in the arduous process of stuffing envelopes! Seriously, these people are an inspiration to our team to continue to push forward even when the task at hand might be less than exciting.

If you find yourself wondering how you can help, the easiest and most effective way to help us reach our goal is to pass on any communications you get from us, emails, facebook group invites, letters, etc., on to your respective networks. We need to reach as many people as possible over the course of this campaign. PLEASE help us spread the word!

In other news, you can expect to see the unveiling of our new team logo shortly on this site! My good friend David was kind enough to give us a hand with creating this logo. Please check back soon to see it! With 10 days to go until our Kick Off, we are continuing to make great progress so that when April 1 comes, we'll be ready to hit the ground running. Thanks for all of your support, be sure to check back often!