Since I got my LiveStrong yellow wristband, I’ve been confused about the fundraising goal of the campaign. Some websites say the goal is $5 million, others say it’s $6 million. Thanks to an interview Lance Armstrong gave to CyclingNews earlier this week, I now have an answer. Here’s what Lance Armstrong says about the campaign {emphasis added by me to point out the relevant information}:
Our web guy at the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Randall Macon started probably eighteen months ago creating the content for the Livestrong program and it was a long time before we launched it and it’s not even fully launched yet. Livestrong is a division of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, with a separate website (www.Livestrong.Org) that’s a resource center for cancer survivors, family members of cancer survivors, anybody with questions. We want this place to be the place that people go, like they’re diagnosed, they go to the doctor, they get the bad news, they come home and they go to Livestrong.Org, just to try to find answers to their questions, to try and find support from fellow cancer survivors, people who’ve been through what they’ve been through or what they’re going to go through. It will be our flagship program over time.
So what happened was Nike came along, heard about it and loved the idea and came to us with the offer of making five million of these yellow wristbands [with Livestrong on them] and selling them for a dollar and giving the proceeds, which is five million dollars, to the LAF.
But to kick it off, [Nike] donated a million {dollars}, so you’re talking about six {million}. Last I heard, they’d blown through the five million, I think and are considering making more. And the great thing about a company like Nike, outside of the fact that they actually did it, is that they’ve got famous athletes all over the world, that they say ‘hey another one of your fellow Nike guys has this going on, and will you wear this’… I mean, to pick up L’Equipe (cover page) the other day and to see Thierry Henry, the French soccer hero, who quite frankly I’ve never watched in my life, running on the practice field before Euro2004 with a yellow wristband on, man, it’s amazing!
So, there you have it– $5 million dollars raised from sales of LiveStrong wristbands, with Nike kicking in $1 million of its own. If you want to get involved, visit WearYellow.com.
Update: If you are looking for places to buy a LiveStrong Yellow Wristband, please consult these Operation Gadget articles: