My Efforts, So Far...

First some background:

My name is Jake. I know Ben, Jenny, and Dave through Beth and Collin, Ben's actual aunt and uncle. Collin and I were roommates for four years while attending Santa Clara University. I have known Ben since his birth. I was at Dave and Jenny's wedding. They are my family, and I am lucky enough to be considered part of their family as well. I am for all intents and purposes, Ben's uncle.

Some of you may be wondering where the name/motto "Ride With Clyde" comes from. This we owe to another of our friends, a young man by the name of Caleb. When Jenny was pregnant with Ben, but before Jenny and Dave knew they were having a boy, Caleb decided the baby was in fact a boy and named him Clyde. Many of us took to calling the baby Clyde and the nickname stuck after Ben's birth. So "Ride With Clyde" is our way of saying we support Ben and his family during his fight with cancer.

I live in California in the Bay Area. Because of obligations here this weekend, I am not currently able to be in Portland to help out. Instead, I'm finding ways to help from here. Today I spent the day on the phone with the IRS setting up a company to basically accept donations and profits from t-shirt sales (I'll get to that stuff shortly) and then at US Bank in Half Moon Bay setting up an account for said company. The company is named Ride With Clyde - Battling Cancer With Bennet Epperson. Its purpose is to raise funds to help cover costs incurred by Jenny and Dave during Bennet's fight that are not covered by health insurance. So far I have come up with a few ideas on how to raise these funds and will outline them now.

Fund raising efforts:

The first thing I came up with was the idea of t-shirts. So far I've come up with ten designs that in some way support Ben in his fight with cancer. Not only can you wear the shirts to show your support, but $5 of every purchase will go into the Ride With Clyde account. The rest of the purchase price covers the base price of the shirts on the cafepress.com's site. I make no profit off of these shirts. Each shirt has its own "shop" and the shops are as follows:

http://www.cafepress.com/IRWCDeluxe - I Ride With Clyde Deluxe
http://www.cafepress.com/IRWCH - I Ride With Clyde Hearts
http://www.cafepress.com/IRWC - I Ride With Clyde Basic
http://www.cafepress.com/BBGD - Benny's Buddies Go Ducks!
http://www.cafepress.com/BennysBuddies - Benny's Buddies Basic
http://www.cafepress.com/BSFightsCancer - Blue Steel Fights Cancer
http://www.cafepress.com/BEBS - Baby Epps Blue Steel
http://www.cafepress.com/EffCancer1 - F*CK Cancer!
http://www.cafepress.com/FECKCancer - FECK Cancer!
http://www.cafepress.com/HCEffU - Hey Cancer, F*CK You!

Please check them out, and if you like them, buy them. Your money will be going to a great cause. And if you have suggestions for other designs shoot them my way. If you want other color options of current designs let me know that as well. As Dave and Jenny are grads of UO, requests for Beaver colored items will be ignored. =)

The second idea I came up with was really this company and its accompanying bank account. I set it up so that people who want to can make straight donations to help support Ben, Jenny, and Dave. Information on how do make donations can be found to the left under Donate to Ride With Clyde! Donations of any amount are appreciated and accepted. Anything will help.

The third idea I had is an idea for an actual fundraiser and involves me personally. I'm not quite sure yet how I'm going to pull it off, but I'll outline my idea and again accept suggestions as to how to fine tune it. So, I have been growing my hair out for over a year. It is fairly long. In fact Ben's cousin Reagan likes to tell me, "Uncle Jake, you look like a girl!" She may be right, though I don't know a lot of girls with beards. Anyway, my plan is to shave my head to show support and solidarity for my nephew during his fight with cancer. I was thinking people could make donations/bids and suggestions for various hairstyles I could get on my way to finally shaving my head. And when I say I'll be shaving my head I mean with shaving cream and a razor, not clippers. I can post not only pictures here on the blog, but also suggestions for hairstyles which people can then vote on. I'm thinking we may also have an auction of some sort with the winning bidder getting to do the actual final shaving of my head. Logistically this may cause some problem as I am in the Bay Area. But I am willing to travel to wherever Ben is for the head shaving. I ask that the winning bidder be willing to do the same or at least designate someone in the area to do the shaving. I may also let multiple people do the shaving if we have numerous people bidding for the privilege. I do have one added condition, my blood will cost you a little extra, but not a lot. Which means, if during the final shaving you make me bleed, you will be charged a penalty (of a couple dollars). I think that it for this idea at this point. I set up a fundraising site here: http://www.crowdrise.com/RideWithClyde. I'm having a hard time getting it to work though, so I think I may run the fundraiser through this blog. Lastly, if there are any of you out there that would like to join me in shaving my head, speak up! We'll find a way to add your head shaving to the fund raising efforts!

Oh, just a quick update on Benny and everyone else at this point. As far as I know we're kind of in a holding pattern until Tuesday. While we know the tumor on his spine is cancerous, we won't know what kind of cancer we're dealing with until the pathology report comes back on Tuesday. I believe Jenny and Dave met with an oncologist today, though I'm not positive. I believe the introduction of an oncologist brings with it new tests to be done in hopes of helping determining what kind of cancer it is and possible courses of treatment.

I guess that's it from me. F*ck cancer! I ride with Clyde!

-Ben's Uncle Jake