Fundraiser for Ronni Gordon.

My colleague and friend Ronni Gordon has been fighting leukemia for a while now. She's quite stoic, and her blogs and articles about her illness, her remissions, her setbacks, and her recoveries are both blunt and inspirational.

I've known Ronni since the mid 1980s, when I was the publicist for a local regional theatre (and she was the features reporter assigned to cover it). I was an arts and features reporter for another media source, and we became friends as we went to cover shows and catch coffees.

It's been a tough summer for Ronni. She got laid-off from the Springfield Republican, and along with the absence of a paycheck was the news that her health benefits were now history. She's a single mom with three kids in school.

A fundraiser has been planned to give Ronni a needed hand. The August 18 request is below:

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August 18, 2009
 
Dear Friends, Neighbors and local Business owners,
 
How would you feel if you were battling leukemia for almost 6 years and you recently became unemployed?  You were about to lose your health insurance and you had three children, one still in high school.  As a single mother, Ronni Gordon of So Hadley, is faced with these issues.
 
I am writing to you with a plea for help.  We are putting together a fundraiser in her honor.  It’s scheduled for Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 6pm to midnight, at the Holyoke Country Club, near the Delaney House in Holyoke. There will be a buffet, music and dancing.  We are also planning on doing a raffle. This is where you come in.  We would like you to donate something of interest to raffle off.  We’d appreciate any assistance that you can offer, whether it be a monetary donation, an interesting raffle item or a gift certificate of some sort. Perhaps this would be the perfect way to thank your employees and give them each a ticket to the event.
 
All gifts will be acknowledged with a card next to the donation unless requested otherwise.
 
If you are interested in attending the party, the price is $20.00 per ticket and you can obtain tickets by contacting either myself or Pat Holtz. I can be reached by my cell phone-335-2377.  Pat can be reached at home-533-2534.  You can also get tickets at my place of business, which is Ahimsa Yoga Center, So Hadley in the Village Commons.   We are shooting for a deadline date of October 16th.
 
We ask that you take some time to consider how you might help make this event more successful.  It’s in times like these that it’s important to join forces to help someone in need. Let’s make this a powerful and successful community outpouring of support.
 
Thank you,
Erin Kelly
Ahimsa Yoga Center
123 Homestead Avenue, Holyoke, MA 01040
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Hope everyone can help.

Here's an article Ronni wrote for the New York Times about her battle:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03LIVES.html?n=Top%2FNews%2FHealth%2FDiseases%2C%20Conditions%2C%20and%20Health%20Topics%2FLeukemia

Here's Ronni's blog with ongoing recaps of her ups and downs.

http://www.runnerwrites.blogspot.com/