Hi Folks!
We had a very productive, BUSY Relay meeting last Tuesday! I realize that this one may be
overwhelming with the amount of info! Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have
questions….
As usual, we began the meeting introducing ourselves to our new teams and reminding everyone
that
Relay for Life 2009 is May 30-31, 2009 at the Fauquier High School track!
The theme this year is Cancer Awareness!
We started our meeting with a scripted call to the ACS 1-800 number (1-800-ACS-2345)! This
was a way for us to hear what it is actually like to call the American Cancer Society! I know that
I’ve never had the opportunity to call myself, so this was particularly interesting to hear how it
goes. The woman who answered the phone wanted to pass on to all of us that the call was
scripted and that, in the case of a real call, she would have stayed on the phone with the caller as
long as it took. (Sometimes calls last up to 2 hours if that’s what a patient or caregiver needs.)
April contest results:
Our April team contest was to see which team sold the most Luminaria between March 11
(day after the last Team Captains’ meeting) and the April Team Captains’ meeting (April 14). We
had a very close contest, so we chose the top 3 winners:
1st place: Auburn Middle School
2nd place: FCMSC & Friends
3rd place: Warrenton Middle School
Congrats! The winners for this contest got to pick first choice for the Campsite Setup times
the day of Relay!! These times are your guaranteed gator access to get your stuff up to you
campsite location at Relay!
[On a side note, I realized that many of you didn’t realize that I cut off the contest prior to the
meeting and you had lumies to turn in at the meeting itself. I apologize for not making that
clearer, especially if that would have changed the contest results. We’ll do better next year, I
promise!! ]
We also presented four more Relay team members with Grand Club shirts! These are folks
who have raised at least $1000 for Relay for Life, individually, this year! Congrats to the
following:
Britt Massei (Team Jen):
Rachel Brigham (GUMC):
Elizabeth Newbern (Team Jen):
Cathy Blitz (GUMC):
$2960.00
$1225.00
$1074.61
$1000.00
Keep up the great work!!
Website stats (fauquierrelay.com, warrentonrelay.com):
1. As of the April meeting, there are now 54 teams online (up 6 from last month), over 670
participants (up about 150 from last month), and over $57k raised so far (up more than
$20k from last month!!)
2. Remember that fundraising emails are still going out twice a month, 1st and 15th (or close
to that!), so be sure to continue to forward those fundraiser details to me to post online for
you!! Remember that those emails are going out to all Relay participants, not just Team
Captains.
3. The Facebook donation link seems to be working well. Madeline updated us that it is
working!! We have had significant donations come in via the Facebook link!
Fundraising:
1. Corporate sponsorship update – Because you guys have been doing an AWESOME job
with corporate sponsorship, we’ve decided to extend the deadline until April 25th to get us
your final corporate sponsors! As long as we receive the money and paperwork by April
25 (and they are over $500), those sponsors will be guaranteed their location on the
participant shirt! Along those lines, PLEASE fill out the paperwork when you turn in a
sponsor to us! Often, that paperwork is the only way we are able to contact those sponsors
both to send them our thanks and to follow up with them for their logos, etc. And it is the
only way to guarantee that you and your team get credit for the sponsorship online!!! We
don’t want to lose track of a single donor – they are SO important to us and Relay!! We’ve
attached the packet of corporate sponsorship information to this email for ease.
2. Purple Army shirt results so far – Locally, we’ve raised almost $2000.00 with the Purple
Army t-shirts! Nationally, we’ve had over 1000 t-shirts ordered via Leading Edge, which
means an additional $15k to Relay nationally and an extra $500 to Fauquier County Relay
for designing and marketing the shirt!!
3. Kids Korner – Mindi and Melissa are still looking for teams to participate in Kids Korner this
year! There was a signup sheet at the meeting for interested teams. Feel free to email
Mindi directly if your team is interested….seanmindi@comcast.net. You are welcome to list
an activity that you’d like to sponsor or Mindi and Melissa will be able to suggest one for you
as well. Last year, Kids Korner brought in almost $1000 at the event, so this is definitely a
worthwhile undertaking! The teams that participate get to split the monetary credit equally
between them!
4. YARD SALE: This weekend, Saturday, April 25, Fauquier Fairgrounds,
Rain or Shine!!
a. Let me know immediately if you haven’t signed up for space and you’d like to
join us on Saturday!! Let me know how many 12’x12’ spaces you’ll need. If
we don’t know by Thursday that you are coming, there will NOT be space for
you there on Saturday!!
b. You will need to provide your own tables this year!
c.
We will be marking off spaces for each team signed up to participate prior to setup.
d. We will be in the building down to the left as you enter the Fairgrounds. (where the
chickens and bunnies are at the Fair!)
e. Setup has been opened up for Friday night!!! Debbie Cornwell will be at the Yard
Sale building site from 4 – 8 pm on Friday evening (April 24) for you to begin setting
up your goods.
f.
If you choose to set up Friday night, please know that this is not secure space!!
The building is not locked overnight, so anything you leave is not secure! I would
hold off on anything except yard sale items Friday night!!
g. Debbie Cornwell will be at the Fairgrounds on Saturday morning at 6 am to allow
you back in to set up! The sale opens at 8 am sharp!
h. Spaces are approximate! Please be nice and accommodate the teams near you!
5. Paint the Town Purple! a. We are going to spend the whole month of May painting the town purple!! This
means: GET THE WORD OUT about Relay!!
b. We have purple bows again this year! Feel free to take them to local businesses
and ask them to hang them up somewhere in support of Relay for the month of May!
c. You are welcome to try to sell the bows as a fundraiser as well!
6. Luminaria a. Deadline for Luminaria orders, including tiki torches and bags is May 16th!!
b. Bags may be purchased at the event from 5 pm until 10 pm that evening. No tikis
will be sold at the event!!
c.
Ceramic lumies may be purchase through yard sale! After that, they will no longer be
sold!!!
Logistics:
1. T-shirt Guarantee deadline – has come and gone! As long as you were a
registered participant by April 20, you
will receive the t-shirt you specified when you
registered. We will certainly be ordering MANY extras, but we have no way
of knowing all
of the correct sizes for all of the participants who will register between now and Relay.
2. May Bank Nights!! – Every Tuesday night in May from 6:30 – 8 pm will be Bank
nights for Relay!! The only bank night that will be in the hospital conference room
will be the one that corresponds to our regular Team Captains’ meeting (May 12 th ).
All other bank nights will be at my home! Bank nights are opportunities to turn in any
money you’ve collected (hopefully LOTS!) as we get close to the Relay event. Also,
you will be able to pick up any materials you need and get questions answered. We
will send out email reminders before each bank night to remind you of both location
and times!
a. The final bank night will include t-shirt and bracelet pickups!
b. Please remember to “change your change”!! It saves us lots of time when
counting money if it’s mostly bills!
c.
Remember that, as we get closer to the event, the money increases
exponentially. There are only a few of us entering donations on the website.
Please be patient with us as we get all of your data entered!!
3. 12-hour Walkers – This is a new program for us this year! These special people
will be walking from 7 pm until 7 am – ALL NIGHT LONG!! (They will get 10
minutes per hour for bathroom and eating breaks.)
a. Recognition includes a special tie-dye participant shirt, breaking the ribbon at
7 am after the 12 hours, and recognition in the program.
b. Let us know if you are interested!
c.
Use the opportunity to do some special fundraising! (Like sponsorships for
laps walked, etc.)
4. If you haven’t signed up for your campsite location yet, let us know!!! We are
getting full!! 
5. Campsite setup signups! – We are trying a new procedure this year to alleviate the
crowding in the parking lot and problems with the gators.
a. You can sign up for a designated time-slot to have access to a gator to get
your stuff up to the track. These time slots are in 30 minute intervals on
Saturday from 10 am until 4 pm. This is your gator guarantee! If you come
outside of your time slot, you are NOT guaranteed a gator!
b. After 4 pm, the gators are going to be used only for entertainment and for
participants who are unable to walk from the parking area.
c.
This is simply a time for you to get your stuff up to your campsite location!
Don’t feel like you have to spend the whole day there if your time slot is
early. Just get your stuff up there and then come back to set up later if you’d
like! 
d. Line up for the gators will be down where the activity buses pick up kids for
sports. (We’ll have signs.) This area is much more accessible and wider for
more traffic!
6. Security personnel – We are asked again this year for some of the men to act as
security for us at the event (in shifts). They are simply a presence to deter any
problems. This worked great last year!! Please let us know if you have men on your
team (or your husbands!) who might be willing to help us in this capacity. The more
volunteers we have, the shorter the shifts! 
7. Registration procedures – Again, we’ve made some changes! For everyone’s
safety, we are going to require bracelets on EVERY participant this year!
a. Purple bracelets will be provided for each team for the number of team
members they have registered. You will pick these up when you get your tshirts on the final bank night!
b. All others who come to participate will need to register as they arrive, sign a
waiver, and get a RED bracelet to signify a participant without a team
affiliation.
c.
The only folks who will be asked to leave at curfew (midnight) are minors
without a team affiliation (RED bracelet) or an adult chaperone (18 years).
All others may spend the night with us as long as they have a bracelet.
The next (and final) Team Captains’ meeting is Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm in
Hospital Conference room Sycamore A&B!
May Bank nights are as follows: May 5, 12, 19, and 26th! Watch your email
for time and location reminders!
Thanks,
Carole and Jen