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“Show Me Da Money”: CHICAGO Walk Team High Award Winner

At 2 a.m. on Friday, August 22, while most of Chicago was asleep, a group of high school students were on a mission: to find as many teammates and raise as much funds as possible for the 2008 Chicago Partnership Walk on Sunday. Fueled by a late night snack from their parents, the teens were busy designing posters and t-shirt and making some last minute calls. 

Team-High Award Winner, “Show Me Da Money,” was actually a last minute addition to the Chicago Walk, when a group of seven youngsters— Ethan and Amber Gillani, Zaanish and Zeeshan Pirani, Ryan and Adam Merchant, and Sheena Hussain— decided a few days before the Walk that forming a Walk team would be a great way to make a difference in the lives of others. 

With only a few days until the Walk, the team quickly got to work, going through their phone contacts and handing out pamphlets door-to-door to inform potential team members and sponsors about the Walk and its reach.  They extended their efforts to the larger community and were able to create a diverse group of team mates. Their fundraising and team-building strategy was simple: if someone registered for the team and collected money, they would receive a free team t-shirt, which proved to be a great incentive. 

With 134 team members on Walk Day, Show Me Da Money had more team members than any other Chicago Walk team and greatly surpassed its initial goal of 30 people. Furthermore, by creating shirts together and wearing them on Walk day, the team was able to maintain team spirit and energy despite its size. In the future, team leaders said that they would consider extending beyond t-shirts to team fundraisers as a way to collect contributions for the Walk. 

When asked if they would consider forming a team again in 2009, the team leaders unanimously stated “in a heart beat!”  Despite the hard work and sacrifice of sleep required to win the Team-High Award, the team leaders declare that it was all worth it. “Walking under the ‘bean’ in Millenium Park and seeing the reflection of our team in their shirts and the other walkers and volunteers was the most amazing experience,” they declared.