Day 1: Explanation of the Project and the 1st 200

As some of you may know, I am interning at a company called Heifer International. The more I work here, the more I realize how passionate these people are about ending hunger and poverty and caring for the earth. I have decided that during my stay with them in Little Rock, I would like to raise money to donate a water buffalo to Heifer's cause. A water buffalo costs $250. In order to raise that money, I am going to do squat jumps, or for those of you who are rowers, jumpees. I am asking that you pledge to donate to me one penny for every 10 jumpees I do, with my end goal being 15,000 jumpees. That will mean it I complete my goal, you pledge $15 towards my cause by the time I am done. I have set up a PayPal account to make these payments easy. At the end of my time in Little Rock (November 23 is my last day of work) I will make my water buffalo donation with the money I have earned. Should I earn a surplus of my $250 goal, the extra will also go to Heifer. I have officially caught 'the bug', I drank the koolaid, so I am going to run with it, or rather jump with it.

So far I have received nothing but support from those who I have told about this. (Although my friend Ali, wondered why I would want to torture myself in this way, haha.) My Boss stated that he would be my first donor. My Dad mused that before this is all over I could end up on Good Morning America (not holding my breath). My Mom, a long time supporter of Heifer, says she does not envy me but is supportive none the less.

After work today I will complete my first set of 200 jumpees. If you have never done a jumpee, I suggest you try it, as a matter of fact, try 20. That way you get the real feel for it. I am currently imagining my mother (so far the only person who might look at this blog) (and the best mom ever *Hi Mom!*) standing in our dining room attempting jumpees. For those of you who are familiar with jumpees, you might say that 200 a day is not very many. But consider how many jumpees you do a week (for those of you who do them on a regular basis). Do you do 1400 a week? Every week? Probably not. I am hoping my pants still fit at the end of this expedition (as I am thinking my thigh muscles might be the size of tree trunks before this is over, not a pretty thought.)

That's all for now. Wish me luck on my journey and if you have any questions, (on Heifer, jumpees, the current size of my thighs... wait, never mind on that last one) do not hesitate to  ask! :-D