JUMP FOR THE CAUSE 2002
Final Newsletter

October 24, 2002.

Greetings, my sisters and brothers.

Wow. What a week. To paraphrase Charles Dickens, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". It amazed me and empowered me to see that you, the JFTC team, both on the ground and in the air, could overcome such a potentially devastating loss as that of our dear sister Shannon, and go on to make a record in honor of her while raising almost $400,000 towards City of Hope.. I am so proud of you all.

I have some special THANK YOU'S that I unfortunately omitted during the closing ceremonies. First and foremost, my beloved Plane Captains, without whom the record would not and could not have happened.

A plane   Jan Meyer and, when Jan was moved into another slot, Wendy Smith aided by Jessie Farrington.. "A!! NO SINGING"
B plane   Ginger Kulhman, who aided me greatly in setting up the plane captain infrastructure prior to the event. The signing of the non-song was great!
C plane   Carolyn Clay. The queen had to deal with the worst exit visibility of a tail gate on a tail gate. That's why she was there and she and her team handled it like a pro.
D plane   Lara Eisenberg and Mary Farwell. These ladies had the double duty of not only handling the largest plane, but also handling me, who was absent for many debriefs and team meetings. My hat is off to them.
E plane   Linda Hardesty. The "E" plane gals had the most songs and visual aids and, arguably, had the most fun! eeeeeeeeeeeee!
F plane   Ellen Monsees. Songs, dedication and many smiles marked the ladies of this plane, along with a memorable tequila and champagne ceremony after the event!
G plane   Lisa Walker. What can I say about our G-string gals! Thanks to them I was wearing pink thong underwear on the actual record jump. You were so good that I think you need a spanking.

I have had many ladies ask for Fred Strunk's mail address to send condolences cards (Shannon's mate). I am sure that they would be appreciated. Fred contacted me after Shannon's memorial service on Sunday to once again offer congratulations to the women of JFTC who continued to jump in honor of Shannon. The link below will take you to the page on the JFTC site that has Shannon's home address.

http://www.jumpforthecause.com/shannon.htm

Kudo's to the men and women who were not on the record jump, who greeted us with smiles and words of encouragement each and every time we jumped. They bared their souls (and in several cases, most of their bodies) to help lift our spirits and keep our energy strong. Also Roger Ponce who came out to organize the support jumps and keep them in the air whenever possible.

Jason Russell, who organized and orchestrated the support jumping team, and posted multiple daily updates on the JFTC website which can be read at http://www.jumpforthecause.com/jason.htm. We look forward to seeing Jason in the air next big way event we do. Lisa Briggs also posted daily updates which can be read on her website at http://www.skybytch.com/jftc%20updates.htm

Richard Seymour, our unfailing and unflappable event coordinator, who has been with the JFTC team since early 1999 and will be working on this event, finalizing details, until 2003 at least. He is the backbone of this event, and his partner, Doug Spesert, kept the website up to date despite my maddening flurry of changes and additions.

Thanks to Jen Parker, and all the other volunteers who spent their time making sure we had water, food, and anything else we needed. They kept our "army" on it's legs.

Jill Scheidel, who jumped, even as her 3 year old, Dmitri, was injured, while handling 100% of the manifests, and coordinating the sponsorship and donations.

Janet Lundquist who did the artwork for both our lovely t-shirts and the 2002 logo and authored the lovely "Friends in Flight" program which brought many persons closer to our event.

Nesta (nasty) Chapman who kept hearts light and hugs coming throughout the event with her "Stickers of the day" and raffles raising even more money.

Perris Valley Skydiving for hosting our event (we'll discuss prepayment of the weather bill next time around) along with Jack Gramley, who's untiring words were "what can I do for you". Melanie and Pat Conatser, along with their wonderful parents Ben and Diane, for offering us the dropzone to help JFTC.

The pilots, lead by Chief pilot Rob Caster, who put us on the airport 100% of our jumps (I was just pretending that I had something to do with it, it was all them).

The camera crew, led by Brad Hood, who not only documented our record jumps, but truly became part of each aircraft team. They are busy now working on the edited video of the event and on posting additional photo information on the JFTC site. Videos should be sent out by Thanksgiving, photo information will be posted earlier. Remember as we rest, their job is escalating, so please give them some room!

Tony Domenico, who designed our beautiful formation and formulated the break off plan that kept everyone safe and happy.

My beautiful and talented Mallory, who is not only a wonderful and gifted performer, but is also the best partner one could hope for and even more important to me, my friend.

I know that I am missing many more people. I do not lessen your participation or our gratitude, I'm just running out of time and words in this letter. I appreciate everything you have done, and look forward to more of the same in the future. By the way, you folks cannot only skydive like pros, you PARTY like pro's. I'm impressed!

And lastly (honest!). THANK YOU!! each and everyone of you, for making this the absolute BEST event I have ever had the honor and privilege to participate in. I absorb energy and strength from those who surround me, and what you saw from me was a reflection of you. No more, no less. Thank you for allowing me to be my best, it could not have happened without you.

Blue skies, pink suits, world records, world peace and health for all. See you in 2005 (or so Mallory threatens me).

love
kate

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