Melissa Brown-Grieco is a Westchester, NY resident and animal-lover who has graciously decided to fund-raise for Animal Nation by competing in an Ironman race on July 24th, 2011.

Here is a note from Melissa:

 I participated in my first triathlon in August 2009 - a month before my 41st birthday. For several years prior, I had watched and cheered from the sidelines as my husband John became an increasingly accomplished and committed triathlete. John's contagious enthusiasm for the sport helped allay my self-doubt and hesitations and I finally decided to train for and sign up for the Greenwich Cup Sprint Triathlon. After swimming through seaweed and jellyfish and braving a torrential downpour on the bike, I was hooked. I loved it!

Two years later, and having successfully completed a Half Ironman last summer, I am now busy training for Ironman Lake Placid on July 24th, 2011. An Ironman race is the longest and toughest triathlon and consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run for a total distance of 140.6 miles for which racers are allowed a maximum of 17 hours to complete. My training plan is grueling and time consuming but so far I am relishing the journey and having lots of fun training with my fellow Rye Y Tri Club members.

I want the race to mean more than just a personal achievement so have decided to fund-raise for Rye-based Animal Nation: www.animalnation.org. Jill Doornick and the Animal Nation volunteers are wonderfully compassionate and dedicated individuals who help rehabilitate injured wildlife and find loving homes for abandoned, surrendered and abused pets. As an ardent rescue person and animal lover myself, I am excited about helping raise money for this worthy cause. I have set a lofty goal of $14,060.00 as that figure is 100x the 140.6 miles that I will be racing on 7/24/11, a commitment to my putting forth 100% to accomplish this task. I'll need lots of help in reaching this number so please contribute whatever  you can! Also, Wine at Five on Purchase Street will be helping my fund-raising effort by donating a portion of every sale of every wine in the store that has an animal motif on the label - no matter how obscure - if you can find an animal on the front or back, they'll donate to www.animalnation.org. Cheers and thank you for helping Rye's fine feathered and furry residents!

If you would like to donate towards Melissa's goal, please visit our PayPal page here:

http://animalnation.org/site/donations 

Please send money as a "Personal Transfer" by selecting the Second Tab (rather than a "Purchase")  to avoid PayPal fees being taken out of the donation.

Be sure to include: "Melissa Brown-Grieco" in the comments section when making your donation.