Two years ago today, I was boarding a plane to Kabul. I was going to work on one of the many post-conflict development programs being implemented in Afghanistan. I believed that I was going to help its citizens define a new future for their country.

The decision to go to Afghanistan was a difficult one for me to make. Even though I had much experience traveling and working in developing economies, this assignment would be different. The issue of safety and security on this trip was of much greater concern. However, at that time, I could assure my friends and family that I would not be a likely target for violence myself.  

read the rest of this article at The Huffington Post

I wanted to follow up on my last message about this year’s Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), in which I promised to let you know this year’s total amount raised and donated to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute by the PMC. Last Thursday, that total was revealed at the check presentation held by the PMC at Harvard Medical School: (insert drum roll…) $35 Million!

This record-breaking amount represents the largest gift that the PMC has made to Dana-Farber over the past 29 years, and it is also the single-largest gift to charity made by any athletic fundraiser in the country! Many of you contributed to this success through your support of my ride, and those of others, and I thank you.

I wrote a short piece about my experience with the PMC over the past year which was published by The Huffington Post yesterday.

We intend to continue to count on The Huffington Post as a way to spread the word about our work with The Purpose Project and to share more pieces of the stories of the leaders with whom we are working. Please find the story here, and, if you are so inclined, click on the “buzz up” button near the top (which helps build our prominence on the site).

Thanks for your continued support!
Michelle

Boston, MA-On Thursday, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute received a check for $35 million from the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), the most successful athletic fundraising event in the nation. Some of these dollars will be used to treat a portion of the 1.4 million children and adults who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. And some will fund Dana-Farber’s pioneering research which provides patients with increasingly high odds of survival. But all of them, according to Dana-Farber President Edward J. Benz, Jr., MD are “critical to our mission to eradicate cancer.” And, what makes this gift remarkable is that most of it came from people just like you and me, despite the squeeze that we are feeling on our personal finances.

read the rest of this article at The Huffington Post

A few weeks ago, we told you that we would be participating in the 2008 Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC) as part of our efforts to capture the story of its founder, Billy Starr. Many of you have asked since then how it went, and I wanted to take a moment to share some of the personal reflections that I collected along the two day, 192-mile pedal from Sturbridge to Provincetown.

As Matt and I set off for the opening ceremonies on the eve of the ride, I was filled with anticipation and more than a little trepidation. Even after more than four months of dedicated training, I still didn’t know how I was going to fare over the next 48 hours, or how I was going to make it past the first fifty miles of hills. But, when we arrived at the Sturbridge Host Hotel, my focus quickly shifted away from the physical challenge that lay in front of me. The PMC’s opening ceremonies–presented to an emotionally charged, standing-room-only crowd in the hotel’s ballroom that evening–were a reminder of why the event is so much more than a test of physical endurance. (more…)

While getting to know some new friends, I was asked, “So, what do you do?” After explaining the framework for The Purpose Project, and our goal to inspire more young adults to take on the problems that are confronting our world, a conversation that started as small talk quickly turned into a spirited discussion.

Like many other members of our generation, the group around the table that day was frustrated by the issues that fill the news: the state of our environment, our political system, our economy, just to name a few. Momentum seemed to build as people took turns pointing out the causes or the implications of an issue and sharing the ways in which social issues present themselves in their lives. But after the venting subsided, the energy that had filled the conversation disappeared as quickly as it had come. What was the source of this sudden buzz-kill? That persistent, and difficult to answer question: “What can we do?” (more…)