We’ve started a virtual team, which basically means you can participate by just clicking a few clicks and donating some money. Even a small amount helps — it really does add up. And then you can walk up and down in your living room for a couple of miles, if you’re feeling left out of the whole walkathon thing.

In fact… you know what? If you take a walk up and down your living room as part of a “do it yourself” walkathon, and you videotape it and put it on the Internet, I will personally donate $50 to the FTB Light the Night team. $50 per video, capping out at $500. (I’ll also post links to the videos on my blog.)

Or else you can actually take part in the Light the Night walk in your own city: as part of a Foundation Beyond Belief team, or as part of some other team, or just on your own. You don’t have to be part of an official team to be part of the walk — you can just register as an individual, either online or at the event.

This means a fair amount to me. What with being a cancer survivor and all. Also, I’m the Foundation Beyond Belief International Team’s Honored Hero for 2013, which is a vaguely big deal. And since I’m the Honored Poobah, it seems right that I should take at least some of the “dares and forfeits” bullet.

So here goes.

If the Freethought Blogs team raises $1,000, I will dye all my hair purple and green for Skepticon. Right now I have genteel little green and purple streaks. If we raise $1,000, I will dye the whole shebang. I will basically hand myself over to my hairdresser, tell her “purple and green,” and let her have at it.

And for every $1,000 that the Freethought Blogs team raises over that, I will do some other dare or forfeit… chosen from a list of suggestions made by you sadistic bastards here in the comments. (When you’re considering your suggestions, please remember: I’m a cancer survivor. Which means that you have to feel sorry for me and be nice to me. 🙂 )

That’s not an outrageous goal, by the way. In 2012, the Foundation Beyond Belief raised $430,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Foundation… and that was the very first year they participated in this thing. It was the largest amount ever raised by a first year non-corporate team and the 4th largest amount raised by any team in the nation in 2012, including corporate teams. So that’s pretty cool. And $500,000 is totally do-able.

So sign up! Be an official part of the Freethought Blogs Light the Night team! Let’s make use of human beings’ evolutionary tendency towards tribalism and group loyalty, and turn it towards good! Go, team, go!

Here, by the way, are pics of the San Francisco Light the Night Walk. I’ve actually never done one of the fundraiser walkatony things before: I didn’t know what to expect, but it was actually pretty neat. And we got to walk on the grounds at the baseball park, which was cool.

Me at the starting line. Representing the godless community with my Secular Student Alliance Surly! (More after the jump.)

Me in the crowd. Thanks to the volunteer who took this shot! I was there on my own (I kind of signed up at the last minute), and I’m glad I got at least one shot of myself that wasn’t a weird fish-eye selfie.

There was a fireboat spouting firehoses in a pretty display for us, which was neat.

A nice crowd shot.

Volunteers cheering us on!

A really pretty crowd shot at twilight, on Lefty O’Doul Bridge.

The crowd on the ground at the ballpark. Neat!

Your truly on the grounds at the ballpark, with the iconic AT&T Park Gigantic Coke Bottle And Baseball Glove in the background. American culture is weird sometimes. But neat.

Again — the iconic Gigantic Coke Bottle And Baseball Glove. Kind of cool to be right underneath them.

Pretty night shot, with Bay Bridge.

A second pretty night shot, also with Bay Bridge.

And the finish line. Or the halfway point, for those who wanted to circle back to the ballpark for more festivities. My knees were starting to hurt, though, so I peeled off here. Chocolates were handed out, which was spiffy.

So once again — go, team, go! Freethought Blogs against cancer!