First Wave of Fasters

Hi all!

We have officially rolled out recruitment for Mount Sinai students to fast. A copy of the email is pasted below for those of you that are interested in some trends about the Fastathon. Students, if you would like to sign up, you can do so here.

Here are the list of fasters we have thus far...

Ammar Siddiqui
Andrew Chow
Bertille Gaigbe-Togbe
Brett Weinstock
Chloe Ciccariello
David Chiang
Eduardo Contijoch
Elisa Nabel
Emily Sorg
Evan Tschirhart
Hari Shankar
Jason Gruener
Jeremy Price
Jonathan Jimenez
Katie Legare
Kevin Hoffman
Laura Veras
Lauren Peters
Marie Hennelly
Matthew Spinelli
Michael Daniel
Michael Pan
Michael Richter
Miguel A Yaport
Nate Raines
Neeraja Konuthula
Noa Simchoni
Peter Goff
Rachel Sennett
Radeyah Hack
Ranjan Upadhyay
Rehema Kutua
Sarah Motley
Tahsin Khan
Tim Cashman
Wei He
Zach Lorsch


That's 38 fasters, which means we only need 92 more to reach our goal of 130 fasters! Remember, for some donors, they are pledging $1 or $2 per faster we get, so that would mean if we get 130 fasters and we get $20 total in pledges, that's $2600 donated to EHHOP! If you would like to sign up, you can do so here.

Thanks to the donors below for agreeing to give...

Dr. Karen Zier - $100 (5X Giver)
Dr. Andrew Chow - $1/faster (5X Giver)
Dr. Jeffrey Tornheim - $2/faster (3X Giver)
Dr. Jessica Zeidman - $2/faster (2X Giver)
Timothy Cashman - $50 (2X Giver)
Kayla Ringelheim - $10
Jacqui Rabkin - $20
Michael Cannon and Denise Field - $75
Michael and Maxine Mantell - $100
Gail Povar and Larry Bachorik - $144
Anonymous - $150

This puts us at $5079, which is 50% of our goal!

Thanks so much for those of you that have signed up and/or given! We're almost there!

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If you would like to give, please email mr.fastathon@gmail.com for more details or see our post here. If you would like to participate (Sinai students only), sign up here. For a brief history of the Fastathon, check out our post from 2007. Thanks so much!

2012 Fastathon - Second Update!

Hi all!

We are steadily going towards our goal! After 3 days of emailing we have added several more donors to the list and will roll out with recruiting fasters starting next week. Stay tuned for that email!

Below are the list of donors who have generously offered to support EHHOP and our Fastathon:

Dr. Sara Bradley and Jeffrey R. Grieb - $2/faster (5X givers)

Zahra Ghiassi-Nejad and Ali Bastani - $200 (3X givers)
John and Georgia Bancroft - $100 (3X givers)

Dr. Rosanne Leipzig - $250
Dr. Diane Meier - $100
Anonymous - $50
Anonymous - $250

This brings our total to $3810, or 38.1% of our goal!

Thanks to all for giving!

For more information about giving, see our "Want to Give?" post. For more information about the Fastathon, see our post from 2007. Have questions? Email us!

Thanks so much!

Want to Give?

For those of you that would like to give, I have attached the instructions below. They will also be pasted on the sidebar for future reference. 100% of your donations go directly to the clinic, which goes on to fund patient services, such as medications, specialty appointments, and charity care services.

This year, we are trying to use online donations directly to Mount Sinai. You can make your donation via credit card online at www.eastharlemhealth.org:

1. click on the “ways to give” tab on the left
2. follow the directions and please be sure to designate "EHHOP" for your donation
3. email mr.fastathon@gmail.com when you have done so as well as the amount given so that I can keep track for bookkeeping purposes

If you would prefer to send a check, please make the check payable to “Mount Sinai School of Medicine” with “EHHOP” in the memo line. You can mail the check to:

David Chiang
50 E 98th St
Apt 8J1
New York, NY 10029

As before, email mr.fastathon@gmail.com so that we know to expect your check.

Thank you for your generosity and support!

2012 Fastathon - First Update!

Hi all,

The 2012 Fastathon is steadily underway, and we have an enthusiastic group of donors. The Fastathon Organizing Committee has spent the last two evenings working to email Sinai faculty, staff, friends, and family to raise vital funds for EHHOP's operations in the East Harlem Community. Two quick notes:

1. This year, we have an ambitious goal of raising $10,000, which only covers 1/4 of EHHOP's operating budget!
2. This year, we also have an ambitious goal of recruiting 130 student fasters. Recruitment begins in earnest next week, so stay tuned!

And now for the donor roll! The following people have responded and pledged to support our cause:

Dr. David Thomas - $2/faster (6X giver)
Dean David Muller - $1/faster (6X giver)
Drs. Yasmin Meah and Peter Gliatto - $300 (6X giver)

Dr. Roberto Posada - $1/faster (5X giver)

Ann-Gel Palermo - $25 (4X giver)
Dr. Leslie Kerr - $50 (4X giver)
Dr. Patricia Bloom - $50 (4X giver)
Dr. David Bechofer - $20 (4X giver)
Dr. Steve and Erica Itzkowitz - $50 (4X giver)

Noa Simchoni - $50 (3X giver)

David Chiang - $50
Dr. Jonathan Arend - $25
Kathleen Davis - $100
Dr. Joanne Stone - $2/faster
Karen Jerome - $100
Anonymous - $1000

Thanks to all the above for their prompt generosity!

We are currently at $2600, which is 26% of our target ($10,000).

The list of donors will continue to grow, and you can follow it and our progress on the right of this blog. In addition, next week, we will begin recruiting student fasters, and we hope to hit 130!

Thanks again and please contact mr.fastathon@gmail.com if you are interested in donating and/or fasting or if you have questions about EHHOP or the Fastathon!

7th Annual Fastathon!

Welcome to the official blog for Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Fastathon 2012, which will take place September 19, 2012. This annual event was started 7 years ago by two medical students, Mubashar Khan and Faraaz Shah, as a way to tie the Muslim tradition of Ramadan (where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for one month) with community service and supporting EHHOP's mission of providing healthcare to those in the East Harlem community. The Fastathon itself has two components:

1) students pledge to fast from dawn to dusk
2) sponsors pledge an amount per faster (or flat sum) to donate.

All proceeds are donated to the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP) to fund medications, social work, and referrals for EHHOP patients. Since 2004, EHHOP has provided no cost primary care for over 600 uninsured residents of East Harlem.

The last six Fastathons have raised over $30,000 for EHHOP. For this year's 7th Annual Fastathon, we have set 130 fasting participants as our recruitment goal and $10,000 as our fundraising goal. These are both ambitious goals, but with the collective effort of the Sinai community, we fully anticipate achieving both. Last year, we set a goal of $7500 and reached $9777, so $10,000 should be doable with your help!

You can see the success of Fastathon 2011 and learn more about the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership. Feel free to direct any questions to mr.fastathon@gmail.com.

2012 Fastathon Planning Committee:
Alexandra Bachorik, MS II
Timothy Cashman, MSTPIV
David Chiang, MSTP IV
Rajan Dang, MS II