Help Be Well! Pgh

Our friends at Be Well! Pittsburgh have launched a small fundraising campaign to help move their project forward, and we're calling on our friends to lend a hand. You can make a donation of any size by visiting their fundraising page. Be Well! is a crucial and critical resource for un- or under- insured folks in the Pittsburgh area. More about them:


Be Well! Pittsburgh has been around since 2005. We’ve shared resources (10,000 or so booklets, a website at www.bewellpgh.org, community health fairs, info sessions, visits to health care and social service providers, lots of referrals,…) in the hopes that people will be well with or without health insurance, even at lower income levels. We want people to stay well and have also shared info on preventive and alternative health care resources.

WE WILL:
- distribute 2000 updated resource booklets (and get the donations together to print them)
- find more affordable alternative health resources and share that info
- focus on relationship-building with health care and social service providers in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh
- find more info on preventive health care, in particular environmental concerns and health care and their relationship e.g. toxic burden
- talk with interested/involved people about what health care “reform” will mean and how we’ll deal with it
- learn how to better evaluate Be Well!’s work with the help of a smart statistician
- send monthly email progress reports to all contributors

WE NEED:
A laptop. We need $900 for a laptop. We’ll do the rest – the actual work for six months and the fundraising for printing booklets – ourselves, on a volunteer basis.

Tomorrow!!

So, here we are. The night before the big event. Theres still so much to do before 3pm tomorrow, but I wanted to take a minute to remind you all to come out and join us at AIR, 518 foreland St on Pittsburgh's Northside, for the BRICKS for Young Adults Cancer Awareness & Resource Guide release party!

This is the culmination of 6 months of hard work. I can hardly believe its here, and that I did it. SO many hours, so many helpers, so many stories and emails and on and on and on and all worth every single minute. The booklets look great, the posters (shown above) are out of this world. So many people came together to help make this vision a reality. I am eternally grateful. If I was able to do this much, in such a short amount of time, who knows what the future holds!! I feel really optimistic about BRICKS and proud of what we've accomplished so far.

In addition to bands and booklet contributors, we will have information and/or representatives from Gilda's Club, the Cancer Caring Center, Central Blood Bank, Be Well! Pgh, and the Sprout Fund on hand. Its a great opportunity to collect information and learn about these amazing organizations in our city, all doing such important work.

Details of the event are below, hope to see you all tomorrow!!!


March 20, 2010- BRICKS for Young Adults Cancer Stories Booklet release party

Release party for the BRICKS for Young Adults Cancer Awareness & Resource Guide, to be held at AIR, 518 Foreland St, Pittsburgh, from 3-10pm. This project supported in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund.

This event will include readings by booklet contributors and performances by local bands. With the help of the kind folks at AIR, attendees can bring a tshirt to screen with the BRICKS logo. Local healthcare comrades will be in attendance with info as well, such as the lovely Jude of Be Well! Pgh.

Bands playing are:

Coal Miner
Code Orange Kids
The Frantic Heart of It
Onodrim
Devil Deer
Shambolish

Booklet contributors are:

Katlyn Basilone
Robin Belinsky
Stuart Boslow
Ezra Caldwell
John Elliff
Luke Ferdinand
Joe DeFerrari
Charissa Hamilton-Gribenas
Jenn Gaugler (r.i.p.)
Rick Gribenas (r.i.p.)
Kristen Griener
Eric Meisberger
Jim Semonik
Louise Silk
Douglas Weaver

Calm before the storm...

Good day, dear readers, thanks for stopping by. Its been a little quiet around these parts, but not for long. March is gearing up to be the busiest/best/worst month ever. Hopefully just two of the three. It certainly cant be any worse than last March, so at least we've got that working on my side.

I wasnt feeling very good today, which is probably ok- Im sure Ive been overdoing it, working too hard, and my body has had ENOUGH. I tried to take it easy this morning, but my brain doesnt slow down very easily. So, in an effort to not feel like a total slacker, Ive decided to post a little reminder of the events we have coming up. I hope to see as many of you as possible over these three very busy weekends in March.

March 13, 2010- Tartan Devils Football Club Benefit for BRICKS for Young Adults

Join the Tartan Devils Football Club at Pipers Pub, located at 1828 E. Carson St. on March 13th, 2010 from 12-3pm as members of the team shed their locks to raise money for BRICKS for Young Adults. Teammates will accept donations in support of their public haircuts beginning today and leading up to the day of the event. Joining them will be the owner of the Pub, wives and girlfriends of team members, AND yours truly, founder of BRICKS for Young Adults. Those with hair long enough to donate will send their tresses to Locks of Love. Offering her time and skills to the cause will be the owner of Lunasea Salon and Day Spa, located at 110 S. 15th St., also on the South Side.

March 20, 2010- BRICKS for Young Adults Cancer Stories Booklet release party

Release party for the long awaited BRICKS for Young Adults Cancer Awareness & Resource Guide, to be held at AIR, 518 Foreland St, Pittsburgh, from 3-10pm. This project supported in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund.

Details are still coming together but this event will include readings by booklet contributors and performances by local bands. With the help of the kind folks at AIR, attendees can bring a tshirt to screen with the BRICKS logo. Local healthcare comrades will be in attendance with info as well, such as the lovely Jude of Be Well! Pgh.

Stay tuned for more information, including a list of bands, confirmed so far are:

The Frantic Heart of It
Onodrim
Devil Deer
Shambolish

Booklet contributors are:

Katlyn Basilone
Robin Belinsky
Stuart Boslow
Ezra Caldwell
John Elliff
Luke Ferdinand
Joe DeFerrari
Charissa Hamilton-Gribenas
Jenn Gaugler (r.i.p.)
Rick Gribenas (r.i.p.)
Kristen Griener
Eric Meisberger
Jim Semonik
Louise Silk
Douglas Weaver


March 27, 2010- Ride and Talk with Ezra Caldwell of Fast Boy Cycles

BRICKS for Young Adults is teaming up with Urban Velo magazine and Bike Pgh to bring Ezra Caldwell to town. Ezra is a cancer survivor (WOOHOO!!!) and bike builder, who has an amazing story to share. He is also a booklet contributor and all around nice guy. Exact time and locations are still in the works, but there will be bike riding, story telling, and FOOD. Stay tuned for more info any day now...


Im really grateful to our friends and supporters, who believe in the BRICKS mission of raising awareness about young adult cancers, and connecting young adult cancer patients and survivors to resources and each other. Because of the generosity of more people than I can list individually, all of these events are FREE to the public. When I think of everything we have been able to accomplish in only 10 MONTHS as an organization, I feel really hopeful about the future. Please please please join us for one or all of these events, say hi, and support the cause!!!

BRICKS now listed on Be Well!

Yesterday I got a very happy email from my friend Jude Vachon, the hardworking lady behind the Be Well! zine, letting me know that BRICKS for Young Adults had been added to the Cancer Resources section of the Be Well! website.

Be Well! was started in 2005 in Pittsburgh, and is a resource guide offering a wealth of information for individuals who are un- or under-insured. Everything from dental care, to womens health, to resources for the recently unemployed are available in both the print version of the booklet and the web site.