Location: Hilton Hotel
Date: Monday, August 04, 2014; 6:15-8:30 am
Another year had gone by and once
again it was time for another ‘Making Strides Kick-Off Breakfast’. The
location for this year was different though – ‘Hilton Chicago’. Carrie had
sent an email to the committee members asking if we could volunteer and if so,
we were required to arrive at 6:15 am to help with registration. She said it was a formal affair and so had
requested us to wear “business attire”,
which should also be pink. Now, as much
as I would love to rock a pink suit, it not justified for just one event a
year. So I wore my jacket and tie
and arrived at the hotel just after 6:15 am.
I saw that Ted was wearing a nice pink tie and maybe that's something that I should add to
my wardrobe for occasions such as these.
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| The Registration table |
Carrie was setting up the
registration tables and the first task was to put our ‘Making Strides’ table cloths on them. After that I went about placing nametags,
marker pens and other such paraphernalia that folks at registration usually
require. My fellow committee member
Katie arrived and we took over one of the tables. We had a script in front of us and which
included us welcoming the guests to the event, asking for their name and
checking against the provided list. If
the name was on the list, we were to scratch it off using a pink marker. If not, then we were to request them to fill
out a small registration form. If the
letters “TL” appeared in front of
their name, then they were a “Team
Leader” and we were to give them a kit to help in their fundraising
efforts. Finally, we were to ask if this
was the first time they had been to this event and if they replied in the
affirmative, we were to give them pink neon name tags, else plain white
ones. The newcomers would definitely be
noticed wearing that bright hot pink label.
 |
| We had a lot of attendees |
Carrie wanted us to practice on
each other and as we did so, I found my name on the list and scratched it
off. It also said that I was a “TL”, though me starting a team was
probably not going to happen. Although
the ballroom was only going to open at 7 am, people had already started
arriving. Katie and I started welcoming
them and went through our entire script as planned. There were several people whose name was not
on the list and who had to fill out the form.
A few told us that they had been called multiple times and were a bit
miffed because of that. Katie and I
discussed our progress this year and we both were in agreement that Carrie had
done a fantastic job as a leader. The
program got underway at 7:30 am, though people were still coming in. We were supposed to go inside, though it was clear that they needed some people waiting outside to
greet the latecomers. Katie and I had
been sitting at the corner table and now moved towards the center so that
people coming in could see us. We could
hear the speeches and it seemed like Ted was giving a rousing and passionate
opening address. As we waited outside,
Katie told me that she had read recently that the youngest breast cancer
survivor was 3 months old…3 months! This
definitely puts into perspective everything that we were trying to accomplish
today and throughout the year leading up to the walk.
It was getting close to 8:15 am
and Katie had to leave for work. It
seemed that all of our visitors had arrived and so I went inside to get some
coffee. Ted was taking about the
importance of joining ‘CAN – Cancer
Awareness Network’ – in fact I had attended one of their fund raiser events
last week. Ted was urging people to sign
up and even renewed his own membership on the spot. Everyone who contributes $20, get a special
commemorative pin and Carrie insisted that one of the volunteers go up to the
stage to hand Ted his pin. When no one
moved, she grabbed a pin and did it herself.
Ted’s speech had done its job and I could see many hands go up as people
did indeed join. Ted talked about loving
his job, but waiting for a day when he is not needed and someone would take
away this job and eliminate his position.
He said that his entire team feels this way and seeing their work ethic
and passion, I believe him. I left to
get to work and it had been a successful morning, though we still have a lot of
planning left to do over the next couple of months.
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