Today’s post comes to us from Kim Yearry, TNT Corporate Team Captain for Partners Mortgage. Read on for more about how this remarkable company has come together to support cancer research and patient services… 

I am by no means a solitary person. I never go to the movies alone, I always run errands with friends, and my cubicle at Partners Mortgage is perfect for people watching. So when our CEO, Dan Trinidad, announced a company initiative last year for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training, I boarded the bandwagon. I wasn’t a runner, I was terrified of fundraising, and I thought electrolyte tabs were for hippies – but the idea of participating in an endurance event as a team sport brought out the social addict in me. Plus, good karma dictates you shouldn’t say no to an opportunity to make progress towards finding a cure for cancer.

Progress ended up being a huge understatement.  With two offices, 20 participating employees and friends, we raised over $100,000 in 2011 and funded a research grant at Cornell University, in honor of Mindy Trinidad who lost her battle with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). In true team spirit, we wore matching shirts on the plane to our event, took enough goofy photos at the hotel to embarrass ourselves on facebook for weeks, and still proudly sport purple throughout the year. We had reached what Dan once called the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), and we had done it together.
 
That could have been the end of it — one corporation, one season, one grant, one contribution to the cure. But it turns out that was just the beginning. We heard Dan was thinking bigger for 2012, but no one knew how big. You ever heard of the expression “Go Big or Go Home?” Dan’s vision made me consider retiring my running shoes and go into hibernation for a year. He announced that while $100,000 was great progress, there was still a ton of work to be done and more research to be funded. He laid down his goal for this year: a whopping $250,000.

For weeks we whispered it, tried to keep it a secret, and even pretended it didn’t exist. But, once those words spilled from our lips, we were committed…and we were terrified. Being in a tumultuous business for 23 years means you get very good at creatively adapting and overcoming challenges. Dan realized that if we were going to make true progress and attain a goal of a quarter of a million dollars, we weren’t going to do it alone. If one company could fund one researcher, what could 2 or 3 companies do?

Partners For A Cure has grown from Partners Mortgage alone, to include Wells Fargo and DCA Capital Partners. Soon after, the Fed Ex delivery guy for Partners Mortgage San Jose joined, followed by a lender partner, a title company, and a local manager of a designer purse store.
 
As of May 4thd of this year we have (80) teammates and $189,711.17 earned . .. And we aren’t done yet. The First Annual Partners For A Cure Golf Tournament will be held on May 24th at Cinnabar Hills in San Jose. In the true spirit of collaboration, Partners Mortgage will be joined by employees of our business partners, members of the local community, client advocates, and even some of our competition. You are invited to participate too!

This collaboration exists because a cure will not come from one researcher, one institution, one drug, or one company. No one will arrive at the day when no more lives are lost to blood, bone, or related cancers alone. We will get there together, and together can be defined as big as you want it to be. I used to think of together as a few of us chatting at my desk, a few of us working on a project, or a few of us running at the track. Now I think of together as more people than can fit in one room, one endurance event, or one company.

Together, we will continue in our journey for a cure. We will grow together, as big as we need to, until blood and bone cancers stop taking lives. Just imagine, not if, but WHEN a cure is found…how many of us will be there celebrating?  Together, we will find out.

For additional details about the First Annual Partners for a Cure Golf Tournament, visit http://svmb.golf.llsevent.org/. For information about getting your company invloved with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, email kimberlli.walker@lls.org.