Last year’s Crusade Against Cancer fundraiser was a lot of fun. I first want to thank everyone who volunteered and made it such a great event. It was my first experience setting up this type of event. I reached out to some businesses that have done a lot of these, and they told me that for the first year, fifty to seventy-five participants was a good turn-out. I’m proud to say we had 177 participants and we had a great time.
I have been working on putting together this year’s event. I want to make it bigger and better every year. Last year, we mainly used social media for the majority of our advertising, so this year I want up line up as many sponsors as I can so we can do much more including radio advertising. I am grateful for all the generosity and support I have already received from our community, and I’m confident I will get the support needed to make this a successful event.
One of the concepts I had for this year’s race was to get the five local High Schools involved. I decided to allow each school to enter 30 students for a registration fee of $250. Then we would have a trophy for the school with the best costumes. I want to make it a trophy that would travel year to year to the winning school so as to create a fun competition between each school.
This brings me to Coach Lee Toldson and Booster Club President Michele Kennedy at Thunder Ridge High School. In January, they held a cancer awareness fundraiser and generously donated a portion to the Foundation. When I met them at the school to get the check and thank them, I told them about my fundraiser and the idea I had for involving the High Schools. They both loved the idea and agreed to help me promote it with the other schools. They are both a great example of selflessness and generosity. I am proud that we have such great leaders and mentors for the youth in our community.
I have been in touch with Michele a few times since then to discuss how we could both help a couple of families that were dealing with cancer. The topic of the fundraiser came up, and I told her I would let her know when the registration was setup on the website. Then, Michele asked me “Can we only sign up 30 students?” I admit I hadn’t really thought about that. “Because I think we could get at least four groups that would want to enter,” she continued. “That would be fantastic,” I told her. I was so excited and told her I would let her know as soon as it was ready.
Okay, remember how my idea was to award the trophy to the school with the best costume? Well, last week Michele called to discuss the fundraiser and the trophy criteria. First, she suggested the trophy should go to the school that signed up the most students. Then she said we should do one trophy for Thunder Ridge, Hillcrest, and Bonneville, and another one for Skyline and Idaho Falls. “I think that would create a better competition,” she said. I told her that was a great idea and asked her if she would go with me to pick out the trophy. We also decided to have another trophy for the group with the best costumes.
I am looking forward to getting things put together for the fundraiser, and I’m know this is going to be a very successful event. I know this is something that makes my Angel Shannon happy also. I will always LOVE AND MISS YOU sweetheart.
Next week: TCI volunteer reward #1
P.S. Are any of you surprised someone had a much better idea than me? Yeah, me neither.