It’s halfway (OK, a little over halfway) to September and another successful Kilted to Kick Cancer push for awareness.

Following the huge outpouring of support for our cause Motorcop and I have decided to take this one step further and organize as a charity (501c3).  What does that mean to all of our supporters?

Not too much, really.

We’ll still be doing Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong fundraising challenges, donating to BlueCure and other prevention organizations, but now we’ll be opening the door to do something directly in our communities.

We want to not just write a check and brag about it.  We want to make a difference.

This movement started with the desire to change one life.  According to some of you we have surpassed that mark but now is no time to stop.

The last 2 years have seen us double our fundraising efforts and I expect no less this year.  Last year’s target of $50,000 may have been set a tad high, but we went all out and raised almost half that and as I said doubled the previous year.

What MC and I are hoping to do with the 501c3 is widen the ability for smaller donations by supporters and larger donations by organizations and sponsors.  It turns out that when businesses can write off a donation they give more, so let’s make it easier for them to do that.

With the proceeds to the KTKC Charity we hope to start making a difference in someone’s life.  That could mean donating time to a family who’s man of the house is in the middle of chemotherapy, hiring a gardener for a week, getting the house fixed up a touch, maybe sending them on a last vacation as a family.

But we’re more about prevention, aren’t we.  At the same time we comfort the afflicted we need to be teaching high school aged kids about their diet, lifestyles and risk factors for male specific cancers.  The best treatment for cancer is avoiding it in the first place.

Imagine a world where we say “Hey, remember Prostate Cancer?  That was crazy, right?”

Don’t laugh, it can happen if we try.

Let’s all start getting ready for September.  Ask the manager at your favorite bar or restaurant about hosting a fund raising night.  Make up flyers, call the local paper, put an ad on Craigslist for a piper or two, goto your local Highland Games and spread the word.

Get Active,

Get Kilted,

Get Checked.

Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend — not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.

Kilted to Kick Cancer is dedicated to raising awareness.  In its partnership with prevention-minded organizations like BlueCure, we are also dedicated to educating the masses about the best ways to avoid cancer in the first place.  The fact of the matter is those efforts are less successful without a fundraising arm.  Watch this video and ask yourself a question:  am I more concerned about overhead or results?

During the conversation he mentioned his father’s struggles against Prostate Cancer.  I mentioned our little project here and he laughed.

The conversation then went from high school exploits to how to prevent cancer, seeing as he is in the high risk group.

Give up caramel colored soda: Already done.

Give up dairy: Already done aside from pizza.  Pizza is good.

More veggies: He’s working on it.

PSA: Not yet.

Like so many others he is not yet able to access healthcare in a realistic time frame, or on his schedule.  When he does get care it is not preventative, but reactionary, visiting the urgent care and paying the co-pay there instead of waiting weeks to see a GP that has been forced to take so many patients by the insurance group he likely has trouble finding time to sleep.

So without access to preventative care he’s on his own trying to strengthen his body to fight against any cancer that may surface.  It’s that kind of prevention that will have the greatest impact on reducing Prostate Cancer.

This movement is not Kilted for a Cure (insert Susan G Komen royalty here) and we are not looking for a cure.

Gasp!

We are Kilted to KICK Cancer.  Kick it out of our lives and keep it from even getting in if we can.  That means young men 18-35 need to wake up and pay attention to your body.

Read the labels on your food, look at the crap our generation is literally being spoon fed.  Our parents were raised on a different diet with far less preservatives, chemicals, plastics, additives and far less instant food.  Many of these chemicals, including sweeteners in diet sodas, have been proven to worsen our health and increase cancer risks, yet so many of us think avoiding sugar is a good idea.  Sugar, in moderation, is not bad.

Think about what you’re eating, drinking and using on your body.  Our bodies are designed to absorb the things we eat to fuel us.  When unnatural things arrive the body stores it and, as more and more research is finding, cancer feeds off of them.

Live healthier.  Going all vegan tomorrow will help but may not be a realistic goal.

We’re almost halfway to September.  Resolve to live healthier by cutting out colored soda, all diet soda, milk, yogurt and cheese to start (pizza is good).  Your body will thank you and you’ll have more time to spend with your family in the end.

Not to mention you’ll look better in your kilt in September.

Stay healthy and let’s kick cancer in it’s balls.

• How did you first hear of KTKC?
  From Justin and Kelly leading up to EMSWorld last year.
• What motivated you to want to join the Kilted Army and be a State Rep?
  I like doing weird things. And wearing a kilt is weird.
• Have you been personally touched by cancer in any form and would you like to share your story?
  My grandfather, the patriarch of the Davis clan, had prostate cancer. It was caught early and he was treated. He lived many years
• What are your personal goals for the Kilted Month vis-a-vis KTKC?
  I started out doing it to raise money, but it seems more just raising awareness that is happening.
• What, if anything, would you ask us to do better or differently?
  This probably isn’t going to be a popular comment, but I don’t like the tshirts. The image is just too embarrassing to wear. Some more subtle like the dark shirt with a collar Justin was wearing at EMS world last year would be nice.  Also think the website could be improved, but I’ve already articulate those things.

As you’ll see from the most recent map, we have roughly 18 states left to give a “tealover” or a “kiltover” if you prefer, if you’re signed up but didn’t let us know what state, please get back to us and help fill in those greys – if you’re not signed up and want to help teal the nation for Prostate cancer – please get in touch.

Lets see if we can’t get the entire nation looking a pleasant shade of teal in the next week?

Well, this is it! The 1st of September will be here tomorrow and our Kilted Army is amassed and ready to raise awareness and funds. We have lofty goals this year! Last year, we raised a bit over $12,000. This year, we want to destroy last year’s amount.

With your help, we want to raise $50,000. Feel free to copy this link to our donations page and plaster it over every social media outlet you have.  If you have a personal story or personal connection to male-specific cancers, we’d love it if you’d contact us and share.  Along those lines, we want to take in as many Kilted photos as we can, so go to our home page and upload them via the upload option at the bottom of the page.

We’ll be representing Kilted to Kick Cancer at the Scottish Highland Games in Pleasanton, CA this weekend.  If you happen to be in the area, come find us!  We’ll be camping and you won’t miss the 8′ KTKC banner!  Come by and say hi.  We’ll have shirts for sale and we’d love to get a photo!

On behalf of Justin Schorr (@theHappyMedic), Alex Simpson (@unkilted), Kelly Grayson (@ambodriver), and myself (@motorcop1), I want to, once again, welcome you to Kilted to Kick Cancer 2012 and thank you for your dedication, commitment, and willingness to Kilt Up and Get Checked!

Cheers…

Your purchase goes to help fund prostate cancer research! You get to support our cause. More importantly, you get a bitchin’ shirt that will be the catalyst of conversations that may end up saving a life.

Why are you still reading this? Giddy up – go and buy!

EPISODE 21

Right now this is the coverage we have – some states have multiple people and there’s a few signups that didn’t specify where they were from. If you don’t see your state repped, Contact Us and let us know.  Lets see if we can’t turn the whole US into a glorious sea of teal by the end of September!