Do more: A word from the publisher who’s proud to be pink

Is it fair to ask a superintendent to actually do more? Is there even enough time in the day to cram in one more thing? ¶ You have pressure coming at you from all sides: your boss, the members, the board, your staff, and most important, your family. Your wife and kids or significant other would surely understand, right? They would all understand in this case. ¶ But wait — I’m not arguing for you to do more on your course. Rather off your course.

Do more with your kids and loved ones. Do more with your friends and co-workers. No one ever knows when the doctor will say those fateful words and we’ll wish we would have done more. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind.

My world is entirely different today than it was two years ago. Two years ago, my mom was not sick, and I was given the greatest gift I could ever dream of, a baby girl we named Natalie. So I’m doing more every second of every day. Taking care of myself is an easy one, but I still want to do more.

The one word we have all come to know and loathe is cancer. We have all known someone who has succumbed to this terrible disease. It affects everyone. Most of all, it steals from us — our grandparents, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and even children. We all do what we can, right? We all give what we can, whether it’s our time or money or our tears.

But I am asking you to do more in the fight against cancer. If each of us commits to one more hour, one more dollar, to run a race, anything… it would make a difference.

On a grassroots level, you have all heard about the Wee One Foundation, and probably even read about it in our October 2014 issue when we profiled Matt Henkel, superintendent at PrairieView GC in Byron, Ill., and how the organization came to his aide when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. You can help your grass-growing brothers and sisters by helping out the Wee One Foundation by visiting weeone.org. There are a lot of you out there and collectively we can make a difference.

You may have noticed the pink on our cover this month, as well as on our October 2014 cover. Come October you tend to see a lot of pink. You see it on football and baseball fields, T-shirts, billboards, everywhere. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Golfdom is not the only magazine in our company with a pink cover this month — all of our magazines have a pink cover. Last year we decided as a company that we can do more. North Coast Media, parent company of Golfdom, along with our sister publications (Landscape Management, Athletic Turf, Pit & Quarry, Pest Management Professional, GPS World, Geospatial Solutions, LP Gas and Portable Plants & Equipment) donated a portion of our revenue during October to cancer research. It was almost $10,000, and we hope to do more this year.

We are trying to do more, and I hope we can inspire you, too.

Cancer hit my family hard this past year. My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. She had a brain tumor removed. It was the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with in my life, and I’m not the one who’s sick. She’s doing great; she’s stronger than I could ever imagine. She’s not out of the woods, but she’s strong and she has a great family supporting her. The best doctors in the world don’t hurt either.

For my mom and the many people who are battling cancer, I will do more, and I hope you will too.