Happy NYE!

Happy almost 2009 Everybody!

If you're anything like me, 2009 can't come fast enough. 2008 was a rough year for a lof of people. But 2009 is filled with promise!

It's early but its time to start planning for the 25^th anniversary of Relay For Life. http://www.tacomarelay.org/

This year's theme is back to the 80's. We are thinking Care Bears…..cuz beach babes care….more on that later.

If you are interested in joining the team, and haven't in the past- we are always in need of more team members. Especially this year since my energy will be split between the Beach Babes and the Leadership Team.

The website is up. Go to http://main.acsevents.org/goto/BeachBabes and register as a team member, if you haven't already. Please send this link to anyone you think might be interested in joining the team. If you are registering as a survivor- email me, the registration process is a little different.

The auction is planned for May 17^th this year. So mark your calendars.

Here is my question of the day- Do we want to sell the Valentine's Day Roses again this year? The candles seem to be an impossibility since the dollar tree stopped carrying our candles- unless someone has other suggestions.

Roses sold pretty well last year- so who's in? If we decide to go forward with them, I will send out the fliers and order forms sometime next week and some of us will have to get together to assemble them.

I am thinking our first team meeting will be sometime during the last week of January. I know schedules change from year to year so what day of the week works best for everyone? I am leaning towards Tuesday or Wednesday. Cloverleaf seemed to work well last year. Everyone can pick up their rose orders at the meeting.

The first "Teams" meeting is January 15^th at Mt. Tahoma High School in the library. Everyone is welcome. But given this will be the first meeting I will be leading with Team Development- you guys don't have to come- I understand =)

Get back to me with your meeting day preference. Have a safe and happy New Year!

Sarah Conlon

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Important Documents

Here are some documents you may be needing in the future. I will add more as we need them.

I just figured out how to do this, so hang in there with me.

Volunteer Sign-up Sheet

Auction Procurement Form

3-10-08 Meeting Notes

We will need to schedule another meeting in April. I am taking date suggestions so as many people can attend as possible.....should we maybe have a weekend meeting? I want to get your suggestions and input.

Hope to hear from you soon..........

Money:

If you have any money you need to turn in, please do it now….Candle money, Rose money, t-shirt money (goes in the envelope). Please write your size on the envelope with your name.

If you weren't at the meeting you will be responsible to turn your t-shirt money into me by March 28^th. I will be ordering them on April 1^st.

Fundraising letters. Should be sent by Mid- April We should all be sending 25-50 emails and letters. Emails can be sent through the website and people can donate directly to your page with a credit card. If you need help I can walk you through how to do it.

Email is quick and easy but the biggest fundraiser RFL has, is sending letters, snail mail. You can type a generic letter and mail them out or personalize each one. Either way works. I have many sample letters that I will email to the team.

Letters and emails should be sent in April to give people plenty of time to respond. Make sure to include a return stamped envelope.

Auction:

We are moving right along with the auction planning. We have several bands committed including Dr. Funk, Player's Club, Dance Factory. We are still working on a couple of really good bands.

Now that we have the bands booked and the times set. A graphic designer has agreed to design our poster for free and he will get started on it soon (a donation worth $900!).

We should have the poster completed and ready to be hung around April 1^st. We will get them printed then they need to be hung. Everywhere. I would like to hang them in every window and bulletin board we can. I plan on printing a ton. All team members will be receiving some to hang wherever they can.

At the auction we will have

-A survivor speaker. Dani Collins Tacoma RFL co-chair for 2006 & 2007. Her story is amazing, she will be fantastic.

-We will have a registration area for people to register to bid on the auction items.

-We will have a survivor recognition area. Our even chairs have agreed to donate all of the old survivor medals and t-shirts to our auction so that we have something we can give to the survivors who attend. They will also be able to register to attend Relay on the 30^th.

-At the survivor table (or somewhere near) it there will also be a table with pamphlets from ACS and information about Relay and the services ACS provides.

-In the room just past the dance floor, there is a bar near the bathroom that doesn't get used. We are going to have a little store located back there. Where we will be selling bracelets, our candles, our picture frames we made and some key chains and antenna balls. It is an opportunity for people to spend some money if they can't afford to bid on bigger items or can't stay to wait for tables to close. We want to give people plenty of chances to spend money. We will also be taking cash donations of course. =)

As you can see, we have a LOT going on. We need as much help as we can get.

We need help setting up the morning of the auction. We will have tables to pick up, balloons to fill. Signs, banners and decorations to hang. And Auction items to transport, display and organize.

During the auction we need LOTS of help.

-Adam has agreed to take money at the door.

-We will need 1 or 2 people to work the registration table and the survivor area.

-We will need someone to work our little store area.

-And we will need 2-3 people to help watch the auction tables. We don't want any of our valuable auction items to "walk away" before the tables close and winners are announced.

-When the tables close, our "registration area" will become a crazy and hectic cashier area. We will need several people to assist in closing people out and getting the items to the right people. During the registration process and cashing out, we want to minimize the effects of lines as much as possible. We don't want to leave people with a bad taste in their mouths at the end of the night. That is what they will remember and we want them to come back next year.

Now, I don't think it will be necessary to have one person assigned to one spot for the entire night, I want the team to enjoy themselves too, but if you can all pick 2 or 3 things you will be willing to help with, I will try to draw up a tentative schedule. We can kind of rotate.

All team members will be wearing their team shirts, so we will be easily recognized in the event that people have questions.

Team members should pick 2-3 things you want to do and what hours you will be available to help at the auction.

Some of the spots are already filled, but email me your choices and we will make it work.

A captain's Plea

Thank you to everyone who attended our latest meeting. I will be sending the meeting minutes and the forms I promised later this week.

On a more personal note. I just wanted to remind everyone that we are 68 days away from the auction. And 81 days away from Relay. 68 DAYS?!

Autumn and I (and a select few team members) have been working non-stop to make this auction and our team this year the best it has been. We have both made sacrifices financially and in our work and personal lives because we believe in the cause that we are fighting for.

We have both lost loved ones and have watched our friends and family suffer from this disease that has no bias, no regard for age, gender or race. It has no sense of timing or being just. It has taken things, people and experiences from our lives we can never get back.

I am not asking for sympathy or to be thanked. We both do this because we love it and have some inexplicable obligation to participate and be successful. And we are no different than thousands of other people in Tacoma who have been touched by cancer.

But I am hoping that THIS year, above all others our team is in this fight with us.

We currently have 14 registered team members. We have a couple who are not registered and a few people who cannot commit to the team, but want to participate during Relay and want to come walk laps.

Last night I scheduled a mandatory team meeting. Of the 14 registered team members. 6 came to the meeting. (including the 2 captains)…….. 6.

I know, everyone has lives outside of team functions, I don't dispute that, or make judgments. I just want to confirm that everyone is onboard.

Autumn & I cannot do this alone and before the posters get printed and hung, and the press packets are sent out I need to know we will have the help we need. I need confirmation that team members WILL be available May 18^th (the day of the auction) and (at least some part of the day on) May 30^th (Relay For Life).

When discussing the auction, we concluded we need about 18-20 people to make the auction run smoothly and to make sure every aspect is covered (details in the meeting minutes to follow). 18-20 people would make sure that it is a great and fun night for everyone involved. More hands make for lighter work. I am hoping we will have all the support we need to make this event a success. But if we do not, that decision must be reached before we are in too deep to cancel.

20 people is more than we have team members, so we may need to recruit friends and family to help out for a few hours on Auction day. If we can't convince more people to help us out, we will probably be able to make everything run smoothly as long as every team member will be there to assist.

So please, let me know to what extent you plan on being involved in our team. So I can plan accordingly.

And thanks again to those team members who have already contributed so much to our team. You know who you are. We appreciate your commitment. I plan on celebrating with A Beach Babes Beach Party when all the work is finished, we deserve it.

P.S. If you know someone who would like to participate at any level, I will be happy to send them an invitation to join our team, just send me their email address.

Meeting 1-23-08

1-23-08 Meeting Wrap-up

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting. Those of you, who were unable to attend, please contact me about when we can meet so you can take the paperwork and V-day chocolate rose samples.

I got an email today Liz has had about 10 orders for roses already. WAY TO GO LIZ!

Here is the meeting in a nutshell….OK, it's not a nutshell, but read it anyway =)

Fundraisers:

First of all, we are not doing the Jail N Bail thing…..It will take too much time and resources and I would rather focus on our other fundraisers.

V-Day roses: Everyone took a dozen roses home with an order form and collection envelope. We will be selling these until Feb. 8th. If you were NOT at the meeting <ahem.....Ed, Katie, Kirsten, Kaydee, Sommer. Missy> Please let me know when we can meet up so you can pick up your stuff.

Please complete the order form at the time the order is placed. Money can be collected at the time the order is placed or at the time of delivery. Use your best judgment. If you think the person will be forgetful, take the money upfront. If you know you can track them down to take their flowers and pay up, go ahead. The prices are

$2 for a single stem
6 For $6 or $8 with a vase.
12 for $10 or $12 with a vase
Add $2 for the vase.

However, we decided to negotiate a little on the price, we WILL take $10 for a dozen roses in a vase.....compromise people, but PLEASE don't give them away too cheap my fingers can't take it! And it's a good cause.

All orders MUST be turned in to me via Email or fax by Friday February 8^th at noon.
Additional orders can be taken until noon on Sunday February 10^th, but only by phone. 253-970-1670

This will be our seed money for our BIG fundraiser. We will need a little cash flow to make the auction run smoothly, so please sell your asses off! Checks should be made payable to the American Cancer Society.

We also need help assembling all of the flowers the weekend of Feb 9^th & 10^th. If you have orders taken before then, please send them to me as you get them, that way I can get a head start. Liz, Sonja, Danyal and Autumn volunteered to come over and help, but we need more.

We will have a team Meeting February 11^th. Short sweet and to the point. People will pick up their flowers from me that night (at my house) if you cannot make it that night, you will need to arrange another time to pick them up from me. You will be responsible for collecting the money and the flowers and delivering them to your friends and family before or on Valentine's Day.

Now….on to our auction. I don't know about everybody else, but we are excited about this! We are having so much fun planning this and it's going to be a great time.

Sommer is working on booking the bands. The music will be fabulous and will be broad enough to appeal to anyone and everyone. We are aiming for a certain kind of band that draws a slightly older (and therefore more affluent crowd) but everyone will enjoy it. I will let everyone know the lineup when it is official.

In the meantime, everyone should be trying to procure items. Everyone took procurement packets home with them. Everyone should bring one into the restaurant every time you go out to eat. Or when you go to get your hair done, or when you take your child shopping. It works especially well if the stores know you are a regular there, if you spend money there already.

Everyone will bring a DVD and a bottle of wine for our collection. The earlier I get those, the better, we will have to state a retail value on the item description.

All donations need to be collected by April 25^th at the very latest. We can take anything we get now; I have room to store most items. They must be accompanied by the donation form you have in your packets. Please bring ALL items directly to me or Autumn, we need to keep an accurate list of donors and donated items.

Did you hear about the contest? The team member who brings in the MOST items for the auction will win a $50 gift card. And the person who brings in the ONE item with the HIGHEST retail value will also win a gift card!

OTHER AUCTION ITEMS:

SURVIVORS
Along with band and team members who are survivors, we will be inviting all the survivors we know. We will have a special table set up to greet survivors as them come in. Relay is giving us all of their old survivor t-shirts and medals to hand out to survivors who attend. It will be a way to recognize them, thank them for attending and a way to recognize that survivors are all around us, every day, thanks to organizations like ACS.

They will have the option to register as a survivor for Relay if they aren't already. So please invite every cancer survivor you know….even if you don't know them. We have booked an AMAZING survivor speaker. Dani Collins is a VP at Columbia Bank, she was our RFL co-chair for the past 2 years and is a 5 time cancer survivor, with 3 different types of cancers, and her story is amazing and will definitely inspire people to open their hearts (and wallets) to our cause.

DECORATIONS:
We are going to decorate in purple and white. ACS has agreed to let us borrow a lot of the Relay decorations they use every year and banners and signs. We are going to use Luminaria as table centerpieces. All team members will be decorating Luminaria bags in honor or in memory of people who have survived or passed from cancer. These will be on every table at the Swiss with battery operated tea lights in them. You can decorate them now, or take them home with you and return them to me at another team meeting.

STORE:
We are also going to have an area where people can purchase and decorate their Luminaria at the Swiss, our centerpieces and pictures of the luminaria ceremony will help to sell these. WE will also be selling our candles, picture frames and bracelets.

As you can see, we will have a LOT going on at the Auction. We need help. WE need every team member to be there and we need to recruit additional help.

HELP!!!!!! Please recruit your friends. Maybe I will throw in another prize for the person who recruits the most helpers.

I think that sums it up, you know how to get in touch with me if you need me. Attached are some of the forms you will need to procure donations for the auction, we will send out flyers for the V-day Roses when we get those completed.

FIRST RELAY FOR LIFE TEAMS MEETING NEXT THURSDAY!!!

Team,
Here is the info about our first team meeting. This Thursday. I would love to get as many team members as possible to go. I will be going, if anyone needs a ride or wants to carpool, let me know.

Sarah Conlon

> From: monicanames@hotmail.com
> To:
> Subject: FIRST RELAY FOR LIFE TEAMS MEETING NEXT THURSDAY!!!
> Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 03:05:36 +0000
>
>
> HAPPY NEW YEAR FABULOUS RELAY CAPTAINS!!!
>
> Our first Teams meeting is Thursday, January 10th from 6:00pm to 7:00pm in the 2nd Floor Library at Mt. Tahoma High School. Teams can turn in money at that time if they wish. For more info contact Teams@tacomarelay.org
>
> Please make sure that you invite your whole team or at least have someone represent your team to get the information to everyone. We look forward to seeing your next Thursday.
>
> Have a great weekend.
>
>
> Monica Names
> Team Development Co-Chair
> Relay for Life 2008 Tacoma
>
> Celebrate...Remember....Fight Back!
> To donate http://main.acsevents.org/goto/monicanames
>

Mark your Calendars!!!

Hello team!
Mark Your Calendars for Sunday May 18th! We met with Bob, the owner of the Swiss last night and got approval to have our Silent Auction at The Swiss in Tacoma HOORAY!!

We have decided that we are NOT going to have the Jail N Bail this year. We dont want to spread ourselves too thin or burn anyody out, and since the auction has the potential to bring in thousands of dollars, we decided to focus our attention on that one event. So anyone who signed up to help with the Jail N Bail, you are now on the Silent Auction Committee. We need EVERY team members help with this.

We need a name for the event, I would like something clever and fun that is not 'relay for life silent auction'....suggestions?

Sommer is working on setting a band lineup, and until we have a few more confirmations, we do not have a starting time (if we have more bands, we may need to start earlier).

What every team member should do:
Talk to your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors etc. Find out if anyone has any goods or services to donate.
I will be creating procurement letters and forms this weekend, I will email those out for everyone to use.
Please think about asking any vendors you deal with regularly, or clients, even your own comapny..... places close to your work or home that you frequent, Local shops or stores you patronize. Most people will be willing to give something. All you have to do is ask.

Here are some suggestions:
Gold Courses- Tee times/cart rentals/ restaurant gift certs or even golf clubs from the pro-shop
Spas/Hair/Nail salons
Art Galleries/Local Artists
House keeping services/accounting services/babysitting services
Movie baskets with DVDs or tickets
Theater/show tickets
Music Lessons
Stores may donate bicycles, jewelry, toys
Landscaping services
Homemade items, quilts, blankets, paintings etc
Restaurants
Travel Agents
Friend with Timeshares or vacation homes can donate a week at their place.

Think about the people you know, see what you can come up with. The sooner we start procuring the better. we need ample time to make sure we have enough items to raise the money.
Remember to tell people that they will be mentioned and advertised as a donor. We will be issuing a press release to the News Tribune and any other paper we can think of, so its essentially free advertising. And a tax deduction.

All team members should also plan on asking EVERYONE they know to attend. It will be fun regardless of whether or not they want to buy things in the auction. We will have a $10 donation cover charge, so if we get 300 people, thats $3000! just from the door!

So let me know who you are planning on asking for donations and I will create letters for thos companies, We have information packets to distribute as well.

Any event name suggestions? We will be working on posters in the next 2 weeks or so.

Sarah Conlon

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