5,000 miles driven. Over 15 newspaper articles written, four nightly news segments aired, and two radio interviews broadcast. theGSF's first official fundraiser. Over $44,000 raised. 

What started as a personal journey to introduce Gwendolyn to her 104-year-old great-grandfather in the summer of 2009, quickly turned into an opportunity for SMA. Knowing 5,000 miles would be crossed over a month, passing thousands of people with stops all along the way, theGSF created "Sponsor-A-Mile" to help generate awareness and funding toward the SMA cause. Those 5,000 miles were driven in a decal laden RV from California to Mississippi to California, and press from across the country got behind the story helping to increase awareness of this brutal disease. 

End result. Mountains of timeless memories. $44,000 raised for theGSF. Tons of awareness spread across the country. Mission accomplished indeed.

A few of our more notable press pieces from this trip:

• Santa Barbara News-Press --> STRONG BOND: COUPLE HITS ROAD TO FIGHT DISEASE THAT’S KILLING THEIR DAUGHTER
• The Vicksburg Post --> RACE AGAINST TIME: GRANDFATHER, ILL GREAT-GRANDCHILD SET FOR FIRST MEETING
• The Independent --> STRONG FAMILY TAKES TO THE ROAD
• The Vicksburg Post --> GREAT-GRANDFATHER, TERMINALLY ILL BABY MEET
• Palestine Herald-Press --> JOURNEY FOR A CURE
• Valley Morning Star --> FAMILY ON 5,000-MILE JOURNEY TO RAISE AWARENESS OF BABY’S ILLNESS
• KEYT-3 (ABC) --> InFocus Feature

To read more about this special trip see "related blog posts" below or view all the Sponsor-A-Mile posts here including Where On The Road is Gwendolyn.