Location: American Cancer Society Office
Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2014; 6:00-7:00
pm
I had been trying to get ‘One
Brick’ volunteers for our event, but it had not materialized due to lack of
initiative on all sides. Then I heard
that there had been significant interest from many organizations who wanted to
volunteer and so ‘ACS’ required
everyone to fill out a “Volunteer Application”
and send it in by August 31st.
Once they evaluated those, there would assign people to their
roles. I felt that it would be a
challenge to get ‘One Brick’ to do
this and so I informed them that we were all set as far as volunteers were
concerned. I arrived this evening and
chatted with Jesse who said that if there was a need to fill spots once all
assignments had been made, then perhaps they could request help from ‘One Brick’. I said that that would probably be too late
and we should just do with what we have. So much for me trying to get two organizations that I volunteer with to work together!
The conference room where we usually meet was arranged
differently this evening owing to an earlier meeting and so we were all sitting
at 3 separate tables. Carrie started by
posing a question, saying that now that the ‘Kick-off
Breakfast’ was done, what excited us the most. I was the first to go and said that while the
actual walk was something to look forward to; I was interested in seeing how
this team would work together over the next couple of months and make this
event better than last years…which had been pretty awesome. Others talked about how someone in their
family or a loved one was either diagnosed with breast cancer or was a “survivor” and so they were really
looking forward to the event itself.
Definitely nothing wrong with that.
 |
| Even dogs need protection from the sun! |
Next was the “Mission
Moment” with Katie, who reiterated the importance of skin protection during
summer months with 3 important things – wearing appropriate clothing, putting
on sunscreen and finally, wearing a hat.
Speaking of sunscreens, we learned that there are sunscreens designed
for dogs and why not. They are as
exposed as the rest of us. Le’Loni then
gave us the “Advocacy Moment” update
regarding a “National Action Plan” to
avoid Skin Cancer. We learned that on
July 25th, the “House”
passed a “Sunscreen Innovation Act”,
which would allow the ‘FDA’ to
evaluate new sun screen products. Looks
like things were moving in the right direction.
Carrie gave us the update on numbers and as compared to 61
teams and 150 participants at this time last year; we had 68 teams and 251
participants. She then talked about “Stride Sessions”, which are 4 workshops
for “Team Leaders” and even
individual participants, to come in and learn more about fundraising. Next a couple of ladies talked about a
fundraiser that they are a part of – “You've come a long way survivor”, which was a 20s themed party in the
suburbs. There were going to be
acknowledgements for “Caregivers” as
well, where you could nominate someone and they would be “surprised” at the gathering with someone giving them a
plaque. That was a fantastic idea since
its easy to forget that besides the patients, the toll on people who support them is sometimes equal to the suffering that they go through.
Next up were committee reports and first up were the same
ladies who were organizing the party and they talked about “Survivors & Caregivers” committee. They said that they had secured the massage
and manicure services as well as “hors
devours”. They said they were also
going to make “Hope-Faith-Love” rocks
to be handed to the “Survivor" and "Caregiver” visitors to the tent. Next
was “Entertainment & Activities”
and Katie had been busy planning the “Scavenger
Hunt”. She was going to have a word
search puzzle, where you had to go find key words by visiting all the tents. I said how about taking photographs of
various things at the event. Someone added,
“How about a photo with a survivor”
and that sounded like a great idea. Jesse
said that there was still no word on the “Flash
Mob”, though Carrie and her brother were designing a “Pink Jenga” game, where each block that was pulled out would have
an inspirational message. Some of the
other activities planned were “hair
extensions”, “face painting”, “tattoos”, “Photo booth” and potentially a
“costume contest”.
Next update was from “Advocacy”
and Le’Loni told us that the “Happy Hour”
event in July had led to 9 sign-ups, which wasn’t a lot. ‘ACS’
cannot call and invite politicians to the event, so it was up to other
committee members to do so. Plus we had
to be clear that the politicians could not use the event as a forum for
lobbying, neither could their supporters.
For example, if anyone showed up wearing a t-shirt supporting a
politician, we were to ask them to turn it inside out or leave. The rules were very stringent on that. Next we talked about “Promotions” and all of us got flyers to distribute. We could go to local businesses and ask if we
could put them out, though my plan was to do so at my office. Carrie talked about a women’s only Networking
event for “legal professionals” that ‘ACS’ is hosting soon and told us to
spread the word. Finally, there is
another Networking event on Monday 18th and unlike the ‘CAN’ event, it is free. Carrie requested some volunteers for that I
said that I would go help. We left after
a good meeting. 74 days to go.
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