I STRUCK GOLD!!

Ok, maybe not gold...but it was a successful fundraising day;-)


Our picture with the newspaper went ok. It was really windy and cold and we were in our CF t-shirts. I'm kinda afraid of what it's going to look like. I knew I should have put my hair in a pony! ;) Oh well. What matter most is the words that's going to be said in the article. Getting awareness out about CF is the most important thing. I can't wait to read it! The photographer didn't say when it was going to be in the paper, and we don't ever get the paper, so if someone sees it let me know!! I'd like to buy one for Lil' Chris' scrapbook:) Jack, Alma's son was there, and Mary and I held a pic of our CF kids. I think it is going to be really cute!!


Afterwards, I went to tons of places to try to get donations, sponsors, and/or coupons for raffles. I didn't get any huge sponsors or donations, but I was able to get a lot of coupons and gift certificates for our raffle the day of the walk!! I tried to get a huge sponsor from the Cleveland Clinic, but they already are at their max for this year. She took my info and hopefully they can next year. I asked her when I should contact them again for next years walk and she said the end of this year. I will definitely do that, b/c that would be huge for us!! They currently are sponsoring Relay for Life, which is Great!! They display a huge 4 or 6 foot banner I think at all 3 or 4 locations! I told her that we do 4 foot banners as well! I really hope we can get them on board.


I went to our pediatricians office to see how the Pin-ups were doing and THEY WEREN'T DOING THEM!! I was SO disappointed:( One girl said they couldn't collect money or something like that. Oh well. I thought that our dr. had asked that day I was there if they could do them and they said yes, but I guess not. Anyways, I left a sponsor form for our dr, so hopefully she will donate. I also left a sponsor form at my OB's office. She was the one who delivered Lil' Chris and she was there when we found out that we were both carriers and she was the one who tried to get us to go to counseling before Lil' Chris was born. Hopefully she will donate, she is such a sweet lady. Both dr's are very sweet and wouldn't surprise me if they donated or came and actually walked!!

One of the many places I went into was Family Pools & Spas. Don't ask me why, something made me...fate, I guess. As I started to tell them about CF, the manager stopped me and said we already do that! As she was bringing me to the counter to show me, I thought maybe it was for something else. But low and behold...it was for CF!! I was FLOORED!! I couldn't believe they were doing Pin-ups for CF in my town and I didn't know about it! I don't think any of the CF moms in this area knew about it!! Not only that, but a percentage of the BioGuard products sold goes to CF!! She told me that ALL their stores do this!! How exciting for CF!!


Anyway she went on to tell me that Emily(who started this foundation) was diagnosed with CF at age 9. She was reading some Babysitter Club books at the time and one in particular stuck with her. It was about a girl who raised money for local hospitals by biking. Anyway, Emily thought she could do this for her disease! So that is when she started getting pledges for laps. She is a great swimmer. Her original goal was $3,000, but instead raised $60,000!! Since then, she has raised 1.3 million dollars!!! She started a non-profit organization called Splashforcf.org and also teamed up with the CFF and started Lapsforcf.org. Check them out and join! She has some great videos and pics on there. Click here for Emily's story. I can't believe all that she has done and she is only 16 years old...AMAZING!! This is something that I would LOVE to do for Lil' Chris!! Here is a pic of their donation jar and a stack of their Pin-ups.



Ok, back to all the coupons and things I got for raffles:

1. Papa Johns is going to donate 5 pizza's for the day of our walk. They open at 11, so she said they could bring them between 11 & 12. I'm hoping this can just be our second round of hot pizza's or something. She also said she is going to try to throw in a couple more if she can;-)
2. Gary's Liquor Store is going to talk to their water vendor to see if they can donate water bottles for the walk. I have to call him back on Friday.
3. Wal-Mart said they don't do gift cards or anything anymore, but we could do a fundraiser outside their front doors to raise money...kinda like they do for girl scout cookies. Also, she gave me a paper to fill out to possibly get approved for a grant, maybe $1,000!!! I'm going to fill that out and get it back to her soon. Pray we get this grant!!
4. Both Burger King(by Taco Bell) and Quiznos said that they were out of coupons and that they would give me a call when they get more.
5. Lowe's gave me a fax number to send a letterhead with my request. The lady who I needed to talk to was too busy:(
6. Tractor Supply & Co. gave me a picnic basket, a t-shirt, 2 measuring cups, a tape measure, and 4 hats to give away in the raffle!! Yea!! It's always the places you least expect that give stuff...lol:)
7. Taco Bell gave 6 "2 free items of choice" coupons
8. Pizza Hut gave 2 "1 free large pan/item" coupons (we might have to use them for the walk if we can't find any other food donors;)
9. Red Lobster gave 4 $5 gift certificates
10. Buffalo Wild Wings gave 4 "6 free wings" coupons and 3 $5 gift certificates!!
11. Tumbleweed gave a $20 gift card!! YEA!!

So altogether, I got $55.00 worth of gift certificates, 12 coupons to give out as raffle prizes, a picnic basket full of stuff to give away as a raffle, and 5 pizza's donated for our walk!! Not bad for a couple of hours work;-)

Special thanks to Daniel's dad for setting up our picture with the local newspaper, and for getting 50 lbs of fruit donated for our walk!! He gets my "WAY TO GO" award!!! Great Job!!

M

PS. BTW, I went to our local CiCi's and THANK GOD the good manager was there!! He found the Pin-ups and he got the flyer off of the community board and he said that they would start doing them TODAY!! It was really my own fault for not giving them to him directly in the first place. But I didn't really think it was that hard to say "Hey some girl dropped these off". Oh well. Lesson learned.