Salutations to my FOTO-rific friends,
My name is Joe Dise and I’ll try to keep this essay short and check off all the boxes on your rubric. Who am I? I’m just some guy who ended up choosing the wrong THON org *gasp* my freshman year I joined EMS THON(the wrong org) and it took me another year to end up in the right org just like you all. It was a tough year for FOTO and numbers were down, but I just realized how different the process was for FOTO. There was so much more compassion, enthusiasm, sincerity, fun, and an appropriate scope of what we are coming together here for. That is why I knew FOTO was right for me, and I hope that you all will be able to continue to perpetuate these qualities in the years to come.
It took me pretty much the first year to get comfortable in FOTO and that was probably because I was too hesitant to jump in to the events. Once I did it felt like home real quick, even if I had to hear way too much about Delco even though everybody knows Bucks county brings the best members. I got pretty good at losing assassins, but one thing I never lost was a basketball 1 on 1 with Cade or Bryson. Another FOTO achievement of mine was winning the highly sought after prestige of being the “most Mormon”. I really hope FOTO Trivia is still operating at the high standard I tried to establish for it. There is no other org I would rather do method acting for or photobomb other org’s stories for(FOTO has the best creative content in all of THON easily). I was able to be on the board for a quick stint and danced last year and would encourage new members to set a goal of attempting to do one or both of these in your time here. Even just trying is going to bring you closer to this org. Also take every chance you get to see our amazing families and talk to them about their journey’s to get to this point of celebration with FOTO.
With all this being said, don’t blink. Start putting effort into FOTO and I guarantee it will give it right back to you. This philanthropy is really centered around one thing and it isn’t your total at the end of the year, it’s caring for people. This means providing for the physical needs of our families through fundraising, yes, but it is also just as much about providing for the emotional and relational health of those incorporated into the network of pain that cancer creates. Remember this when you are out there advocating for the mission of THON and FOTO. Remember your impact on those around you, people come and go but the memories made with them last forever.
Keep doing great things my friends,
Joe Dise
P.S. here is a pic of my brother representing to hype you up after that
