anatomy of a fund raiser

I got an idea from another team... The other team was doing a variation of the old pink flamingo attack (using only a single flamingo at a time...) and so, brainstorming on that idea, I decided to try this..

Lest anyone think that I am clever or anything... I stole the wording from their their poster (except of course where it talks about brooms and anything witch or Oz related) entirely from Jeffrey Simms' various web locations and their Karen's Kids flamingo drop, as you can see by visiting any of the links that I include throughout this post.

Because of the varying reactions that I received throughout the execution of this fund raising event, I thought I would spend the remainder of this week returning to this post and logging what exactly happens during the drops and what results from them. I think it might provide a learning experience for my team next year, should we decide to attempt this or anything like it again then.

So on with the show!!!!

Day one began on a beautiful and sunny day around here. We made up a very limited number of brooms and I had a list of people I planned to start with dropping them off. There was one family in particular that I knew I wanted to start with for various reasons. They are a kicka$$ fun couple. I laugh more when I see them than you can imagine. And this is funny in itself because their family-owned and operated business isn't one you would normally think of as having a lot of humor in it. Another reason is that these are just some of the most wonderfully kind-hearted and loving people in the world. They believe in the cause and they believe in those of us who work for it. They also have a huge base of people in their family who have been touched by cancer. So I knew they would want to play along. And finally? They love me, they love my kid, they love my whole entire family. All good things.

Recipient B chose herself. When she got wind of what I was doing she jumped in and claimed a broom for her own. She is NEVER one to be left out. She's the one on the playground as a child yelling, "I WANNA PLAY!" to her big brother when he's getting up a quick game of one-on-one and he just knows he's going to catch hell when he gets home if he doesn't let her.

Recipient C of the Cancer Sweep was in a neighboring town. I thought this would be a good way to infiltrate the next town over and start getting some additional visitors in for the Relay.

• So with my first drop... that didn't go badly. They had heard of the concept of the pink flamingo attacks before, so they knew the general idea. The call came in to me pretty quickly about picking it up and passing it on. And actually, the husband also had a good additional idea for me to put a Relay Yard sign along with the broom/hat to give a big boost of Relay promotion. I won't tell you the WHY of his reasoning, there is much humor involved... but it was a great idea and became part of the drop from that point on. They happened to pass it on to a great choice. Another older couple and the husband is a survivor - in fact we believe his is the LONGEST survivor in Hudson at 34 years having been diagnosed in 1973! (Recipient D)
  
• Recipient B... passed it to a friend of hers. She said she called ahead to warn her and explain the concept (three times!). Waited a long time for the call back and finally called B back to ask if her friend understood she was supposed to call me because let's face it, Relay is coming up fast and I don't have a lot of time to pass these around and make some donations! She called her friend and was told "I just don't know who to pass it on to! I've called all my neighbors and just can't find anyone!" ROFL! I went to pick up the goods and she still had a check for me. And I had PLENTY of others to deliver the broom to... (Recipient E)
  
• Recipient C wanted to send it back to my hometown where she had just the right couple. We were back into the older age group with her choice. This was my most uncomfortable drop so far. But I'm not finished yet, so I may be back to edit this one. I put things in their yard and was just driving away (literally IN my car and pulling away) when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. It was the man of the house flagging me down from the front door. I waved and backed up, pulling back into the driveway. I got out of my car to greet him. These are people I've known for over twenty years, but he didn't recognize me. He gruffly said, "What's all this?" and I began to explain that it was a Relay For Life fund raiser, but he interrupted and said, "Well come and tell my wife." So I began to follow him to the house where his wife was just coming out the door. It was an uncomfortable exchange with her, too. They were just very unpleasant people. *sigh* But they still ended up giving me a donation and passing it on (Recipient F)
• Recipient D - another "We just don't know who to send it to. So do you have any luminaria bags we can buy from you? We'll take three." So I sold them some bags and took it off to another of the people on my own list. (Recipient G)
• Recipient E - Someone YOUNGER. She called the next day and had someone else in the fund raising field. At this point I'm still waiting on a call from them because I only just delivered it last night for them.
  
• Recipient F - I never heard from. So after a couple of days, I picked it up quietly and took it away for another on my own list.
  
• Recipient G - Again, someone YOUNGER. She was out in the yard when I delivered and LOVED IT! Laughed her butt off. Said it was the best idea we've EVER had. I had to admit it wasn't my idea, but she didn't care. Said she couldn't wait to see the response from the person she was passing it to and gave me a BIG donation. :) It was a much needed boost after some not so hot drops.
  

More later when I have time.