Friday, May 9, 2014

Relay For Life - Fundraising for kids, and why you should never underestimate them!

Wes, my son, tells this story time and again when people ask him how he got involved with Relay For Life.

"When I was 5, I was going with my mom to all of the Relay meetings and events ALL.  THE.  TIME.  One day, I asked her- how come there are never any kids doing Relay?  And she said, I don't know.  So I told my mom I wanted to start doing Relay on my own, and I was going to be the top fundraiser."

Guess what?  That next year- he was.  And, he continues to each year.  His fundraising total for this year is currently at $7,681.43.  He is 8 years old.

EIGHT.  YEARS. OLD.

But the truth is, when he originally asked me why aren't other kids Relaying, I really didn't know.  In fact, I had never even considered it.  Sure I included him in my plans, and he helped me all of the time with fundraising projects, but never in a million years would I have expected him to do what he has done!  So why is that?  Why are we forgetting about our future researchers, doctors, volunteers, and advocates?  I learned something very important.  KIDS CAN make a huge impact on your event, and can make a big difference.  Here is the other thing I learned.  If a 5, 6, 7, or 8 year old can do it- what the heck is my excuse?

I spend a lot of time writing about fundraiser that are great for kids.  You can read those here, and here.   Today I am going to share a few new ones we added this year that worked really well for us. 

All Fired Up!  For Relay For Life.
 Wes loves making stuff to sell to people.  From warm fuzzies to cookies, he is all over it.  But this year, Wes really wanted to do something that everyone could do together, and have fun at the same time.  While at a local paint your own pottery shop All Fired Up! I got to talking to the owner about any ideas she had (she regularly holds kids creativity camps at her store.) And then the most amazing thing happened, she offered to let the kids come paint pottery at her shop. I was so excited that day when I picked Wes up from school, that I couldn't even wait until we got to the car to tell him what Kelly had offered.  His eyes lit up, "EVERYONE can come?"  we went straight home and Wes went to work planning the event. 
Then something crazy happened.  So crazy that I still can't believe it!  Wes saw a commercial for Disney Friends For Change one afternoon, and came into the office. "We should be Friends For Change mom.  Those kids are doing good stuff like we are."  After a quick little Google search, I found a Disney Friends For Change grant program ran by Youth Service America that happened to coincide with our event- during Global Youth Service Day.  I told Wes he could apply for it, but it was very unlikely we would get picked, because SO many people apply for them.  Guess what?  He was awarded the grant to use for his project!

The cost to attend the creativity camp was only $5 per person, thanks to Kelly's generosity.  She provided everything from the pottery to the paint.  She also offered to make up the bid sheets, and let us start the auction at her location so we could get bids before Relay For Life.  Literally, all we had to do was show up the day of, and invite other kids to do the same! Kelly took the time to explain to the kids how to make their art come out extra special, and also asked each child why they Relayed.  She used that information for the bid sheets!



 
You know that Picasso quote that says, "Every child is an artist." - well, it's true.  What they made was amazing, and they had a blast!













We were very pleasantly surprised how well the auction went Relay night!  We were a bit worried only the parents would be bidding on their child's art, but that was not the case at all!




 Did I mention the we grown ups couldn't resist and painted items to?  You can see my husbands Cancer Man raccoon, and my tie dye plate below :)
 
I hope this is sparking some ideas for you.  You don't have to do pottery, you could do paintings on canvas, bird houses, ribbons, you name it!  In fact, if you have ever been to my house you know that one of my most prized possessions (and actually, it belongs to Wes not me) is a painting one of Wesley's best friends made of Cancer Man (forgive this picture- this was a picture of the Relay wall while I was getting ready to put up new awards!)
 
Speaking of painting.  In the fall we did something really cool and different.  We painted and sold pink pumpkins for breast cancer awareness!  A local farmer donated the pumpkins after he had pulled all of the ones he could sell- he had plenty of extras that would have just been plowed back into the field :)  Wes and I went to a local Sherwin Williams, and they donated the pink paint!








Next up is an oldie but a goodie.  What kid doesn't LOVE to sell lemonade?  I mean, you would think it would have been the first thing that popped into my mind for a fundraiser, but it wasn't!  We had the honor of getting to go help out a new Relay friend with one this year.  The kids had a blast! This stand was set up at a craft show (which also benefited Relay For Life) but the boys are planning on taking this act on the road this summer to 4th of July festivals, and Main Street, Weatherford :)



Not to get too off track, but there is another benefit to having your kids join Relay For Life, ESPECIALLY if they have lost someone they love to cancer.  Kids who have been there are really really good about supporting other kids who have been through the same thing.

Now, when all else fails, and your kiddo wakes up one Saturday morning and declares, "I'm going to hit my $6,000 somehow today."  You can always pull this trick out of the bag (let's face it- it's hard to say no to an adorable kid!)


The moral of the story?  While you are making plans for your next Relay, don't leave out your littlest Relayers!  They can make a huge impact on your event, and may even be able to teach you a thing or two, or $22,015.


Coming up next- I didn't forget about your tweens and teens!  I know of an ENTIRE Relay ran by youth-subscribe to get notified so I can tell you all about it!

Monday, April 28, 2014

Relay For Life Campsite Decorating and On Site Fundraiser Ideas

Hello Relay friends!  Relay For Life of Custer County has another GREAT year in the books ($132,000 event total!), and I am excited to share all of the awesome ideas from this years event!  Over the next few weeks I will be sharing them with you- but I want to start with everyone's favorite (according to my stats!) DECORATING and onsite fundraisers! To check out last years decorating, go here.

First things first- this years theme was Lights, Camera, CURE!  Life on the purple carpet.  Each team picked a movie, and we made sure there were no duplicates.  The teams were all really excited about this theme, because it could be so diverse.  Everyone really went all out!  If you are doing a movie theme, you can look here for theme ideas.

My team, The Mighty Misfits, went with a super hero theme- Super Heroes Unite to Finish The Fight! It fit us perfect since Cancer Man is on our team, and we have a lot of kiddos who Relay with us.  We all had a great time putting costumes together for the event.


 For our area, we used a plastic Starry Night Scene Setters roll to create stars behind our city scene.  This stuff couldn't be easier to work with- we just used magnets to attach it to our canopy!  We even had enough left over to cover the top of our pop up by taping it in place.  For the buildings, we used boxes covered with silver wrapping paper, and black vinyl to create the windows. 


On the other side I used a king sized sheet that I cut holes in and zip tied to the canopy (If I would have realized how easy the scene setter was, I would have used it for this side to!) Cancer Man brought his car (with working lights and steering wheel!) and we also put Cancer Man's purple phone booth to the side.  We made the phone booth by cutting a water heater box, and painting it purple. 


 One thing I didn't realize ahead of time is how much the adults would like the kids props!  If I could do it over again, I would have def. gone with a refrigerator box for the phone booth, so that the adults could fit to! 


 Next up we have the Etc. Shop's team- these ladies always do something really fun with decor, and the whole team gets involved!  This year they went with Willy Wonka- Wishing and Working at a cure factory!  It was complete with a candy bar for their onsite fundraiser!  These girls do something really neat with their canopy- they cover it with plastic table cloths!









 Next up we have the girls from IBC Bank!  This team is headed up by a set of sisters who REALLY know how to bring a movie theme to life!  Check out this Land Before Time decor!
 How cool is this!?  They used a projector to get the image on cardboard, and then traced and cut them out.  Then they painted them!  I can only imagine the amount of time that went into this.  Cathy told me they had been working on them since Christmas!
Then there is this little bit of brilliant.  To stand them up, they taped the cardboard to PVC pipe that was attached to weighted boxes! 
 
 They had a fun onsite fundraiser of S'mores!  They used little burners like caterers use to roast the marshmallows!

Last but not least is an idea for all of you salon owners out there.  Kadillac Barbies went all out by bringing the salon to Relay!  For a donation of $10 or more you could get an updo, or a massage!  They also offered Pantene Beautiful Lengths cuts- where girls with 7" or more to donate could get a cut and donate their hair on the spot!  For those of you that aren't familiar with this, Pantene makes high quality human hair wigs that they give to ACS for free for cancer patients!  






 Like what you see?  Be sure to subscribe for more awesome Relay ideas from a 20K plus TC!