I am a 27 year old housewife with two preschool aged children. Always believing that giving makes life worthwhile, I have spent my years trying to help others in whatever ways life presents before me.
At 16, I was a professional inline ramp skater who did work for Sea World in San Antonio, Pulse/ATM, Ruffles Potato Chips, Roces Skates, Extreme Clothing and Sports, Meatz Wheels, Just for Feet, and local conventions. I won 1997 NISS vert champion and also placed first in the ASA Pro Tour that same year. I have performed with Tony Hawk, Team Birdhouse, Matt Hoffman, and Ryan Dawes at X-Fest '97 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
During this same time period, I was also Advertising and Photo Editor for the school newspaper, on the track team, holding down a part-time job, Who's Who Among American High School Students (three years running), carrying an Advanced Placement workload with a 3.8 GPA, graduating with honors, and volunteering at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas (over 500 hours).
After high school, I wanted to do something to help as many people as I could. I contacted RAINN and offered to skate around America to raise donations for their charity. Such wonderful companies as JustforGirlsSports.com , Corrosion Technologies, and K2 Skates were helping to make it possible.
Here's an old article about it. Lady's Home Journal also did an article about it in June 2001, I believe it was.
I set out to do a preliminary skate from Dallas to Waco (about 100 miles). After being interviewed on a local radio station, I set out with one of their vans riding along behind me to keep me safe. Every local TV station turned out for the event. I was greeted in Waco 2 days later by a reporter from the Baylor University newspaper. It was a wonderful experience. The plan was to start out in early Spring of '02, leaving from Dallas and making a full circle around the U.S. that totaled approximately 10,000 miles.
It's unfortunate that shortly thereafter 9/11 happened and the plans fell through. I was married soon after and have spent my life being a bit more domestic and trying to figure out how I could once again help others on a broader scale, using the talents I've been given.
Since I have became more home-focused, I spent a lot of time searching for worthwhile charities in order to continue giving to others in whatever way I could. Even though many were supposedly reputable, I always wondered where exactly my dollars were going or who my time spent fundraising online was actually profiting.
Lifespan International began as an idea. It is a charity that allows its members to competitively fundraise for different causes and then decide publicly and democratically for what exempt purpose(s) the money should be spent. There are no employees of Lifespan (not even me). I simply want to make it possible for others to have a just, fair, public charity for the 21st century. Through this organization, we can establish a wonderful future for the generations to come and leave them a way to continue making it possible.
www.LifespanInternational.org
