I guess I just assumed that hosting a spaghetti supper was as easy as making noodles, adding sauce, buying salad in bulk, and selling tickets ahead of time. I thought it was totally do-able and that me and a support team comprised of my two older sisters and mother could handle it together. I could not have been more wrong. Even though I logically had the supper planned out…I missed so many important details that needed to be accounted for. Somehow, though, everything just seemed to fall into place. My 4-H leader from years past had donated to my team and when I ran into her at a basketball game when I was selling tickets, she told me to stop by the 4-H meeting that was conveniently held the next morning to thank the club myself, and read the thank-you letter I had written them. After talking with my leader and other moms in the club the next morning, they suddenly volunteered to arrange desserts for the dinner. A few days later, my mom called me and told me that the same women (amazing women, might I add) called and volunteered to help coordinate the supper. It was so great hearing that there were people who actually WANTED to help out and did so just because they could. This group of women got together and brought tickets to town meetings, basketball games, local businesses, their own families, their friends, anyone and everyone who was reachable. They acted as my messengers just constantly spreading the word and letting everyone know what I was doing and how they could help. I often asked myself: why are they giving so much of their time to help me out? How can they be so generous? I still ask myself why. It seems like things seem to just have a way of always falling into place and I can’t exactly explain it. I guess you could say I’m a lucky girl, but I don’t even think that would do it justice; it’s something beyond luck.Each day for the last week our friends in the community have committed hours of work to helping me out in my quest to raise money, fight cancer, and cycle across the country. It’s funny the way things work out sometimes. In all, I’m learning soo many lessons unrelated to anything cycling. I guess, on this journey, I’m learning about life. My goal for hosting this spaghetti supper fundraiser was not to just raise money for cancer, but I wanted to actively engage the community in what I’m doing. Every year the Illini 4000 stays in my small town of 1200 people but less than a third of the community know what Illini 4000 is. I want people to see me and be able to connect to the cause…After tonight, I think I did a pretty fair job of that on top of reaching my fundraising goal and smelling like pasta. But, I owe all of the success of the fundraiser to my supportive friends in the community. I think there is something to be said about the strength of community and the bonds you create with people. I learned that in life you have to remember to smile a lot, do a lot for other people, and maintain all of the relationships that you create. You never know when you’ll need a hand, or five, and so I’m going to make sure that I’ve got five on hand when I need them : ) Thanks Clifton and Iroquois County. Tonight I learned what it means to have a home, it’s something more than a house and a family to come back to…it's neighbors who make dessert, pastors who donate their parish to you, relatives who surprise you, sisters who clean tables, and moms who stress out. Luck doesn’t even begin to describe it, and after commenting on how generous the volunteers were, one said to me: “Well, you know, people talk a lot about the bad, but there’s a whole lot of good still happening in these small communities.” He couldn’t have been more right. Here’s to the end of fundraising, and the beginning of the journey.