For 6 years now, I have supported a program called Team in Training (TNT), an endurance sports program dedicated to training athletes for endurance events such as 1/2 marathons, marathons, triathlons and century rides while raising money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Many people are affected by cancer everyday. I am an athlete in excellent health and like to make it my mission each year to do a race in honor of such an amazing cause… cancer research. Without the support of individuals like yourself, the countless lives that have been saved and will be saved wouldn’t be possible. If you ask a stranger on the street if they know anybody affected by cancer, nearly all can say yes.

I have made it my mission to reach out and touch other people’s lives by raising awareness of how they can help support not just my cause, but the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Beginning the second week of January and ending the last weekend in March, I will travel around Manhattan to high traffic places like Times Square, Central Park, Columbus Circle and even Shake Shack in my wetsuit asking complete strangers to donate $1 to the my fundraising mission to help fund cancer research in an effort to help find a cure, in exchange for a photograph with me… in my wetsuit.

When I’m not in my wetsuit, I am a graphic designer residing in Brooklyn and am actively seeking work. The Wetsuit Project is an idea I had one day during a long cold run on the Manhattan Bridge while trying to think of a unique way to fundraise without relying too heavily on friends and family and not asking for large donations. Through my experience in the advertising world, as both a designer and copywriter, I devised a plan to pick the craziest thing I owned [my wetsuit] and walk around NYC asking total strangers for just $1 to pose with me. Through smart and quirky copywriting, video spots, effective branding, an amazing support system of friends [willing to endure my art direction for photo taking] and my willingness to walk around in the cold only wearing a wetsuit, I had devised the perfect project to help fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Being able to touch hundreds of people each week by helping to create an awareness for how they can help support and fund cancer research has thus far been a result of effective messaging and branding. My hopes of course will be to inspire others who fundraise, to not be afraid to go after a crazy small idea as anything is possible and everybody always has $1 in their pocket to donate.

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Thank you!
:miriam