The Relay Team Kick-Off meeting was tonight and I receive the Team Captain packet along with the 15 Team Member packets...will get those distributed asap. Wanted to pass along the information I learned tonight...

Plymouth County RFL is hosting their 2nd annual Dodgeball tournament on March 29 at the Le Mars High School. Time TBD. Teams consist of 6-10 people and are of all age groups. I'd like to have a "team mitchel" team, so please contact me if you care to participate. During the tournament, there will also be a "fundraising fair" where teams can have a bake/craft sale, or whatever we want to sell. I'm thinking this would a great opportunity for us to do our bake sale because it's indoor (sun won't be melting our baked goods) and it will free us up during the relay to enjoy other activities. Please plan on this bake sale fundraiser to be held on March 29 --- will be in contact to see how many of you will be able to participate and bake some goodies.

Team Mitchel 2008 Fundraisers are:

1. Can/Bottle Drive
2. Dodge Ball Tournament bake sale
3. Co-Ed softball game in Maurice (some time in May, details unknown at this point)
4. Individual Fundraising
5. Glow Sticks at Relay (hope to make this an annual fundraiser for us)

Other news includes the Relay date, which is June 6 @ 6 p.m., ending June 7 @ 7 a.m. The Relay will be at the high school track this year which will be a much better location! The theme for 2008 is "Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back." The board said they are planning many new, exciting events for the relay and I will pass those details along as I get them.

I'll be having Team Captain meetings regularly now and will update everyone on any news. For now, that's all I know. Hope everyone is having fun collecting cans and bottles!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Ready...Set...Go!!!

Most everyone should have their can drive packets now. Please let me know if you need anything else - more bags, flyers or anything else that might come up. I hope I wrote on everyone's form that the drive dates are from January 15 thru March 31. That doesn't mean you have to start immediately or end on March 31, just wanted to give some dates for everyone's reference so there aren't too many question marks. Will advertise our can drive when we prepare for the softball game this spring, try to have a trailer for people to bring their cans to eliminate any confusion.

Hope everyone is doing well and let the fundraising begin!

Things are coming along with the can drive. I have a packet w/ bags for each of you, just need to arrange how everyone is going to get theirs. As I'm thinking it will be hard to arrange to meet everyone at a certain time/place, I am planning to mail the packets with instructions for your own use and handling. I tried to explain everything carefully so questions will be minimal, but please let me know if anything isn't clear.

Happy fundraising!!!

More info on can drive

I have printed an info sheet on the can/bottle drive to give people who are asked to donate, will get that to you when I hand out bags. I picked up 50 bags yesterday and will get those out to everyone asap. I don't see a need to wait until March to begin that fundraiser, can start any time on that so will arrange with everyone, either by mail or in person, how I'll get the supplies to you. E-mail me if you have questions, otherwise will be in contact soon.

Hello Team and friends,
Hope your holidays were enjoyable and your new year has started off on the right foot.

I've done lots of contemplating on how to exceed last year's fundraising total for Team Mitchel of $2,270.00. Given the amount of time we had last year to fundraise and how great we did, I'd say we'll be able to far exceed that amount in '08.

I look at our Best Campsite trophy every day and it inspires me to think creatively on how to reach for the stars in 2008. I would like to organize the following events for 2008, the first of which will happen in March, then one in April or May since Relay is in June.
1) March: Can/Bottle Drive-we'll ask family, friends, co-workers and other contacts to donate their cans and bottles to our team for us to cash out and donate to ACS. We provide the large plastic bags to people we ask to donate ($.25 each at Le Mars can farm) to make it easier for them to donate. Could arrange to pick up bags from donees or if all of you are willing, have each of you take it upon yourselves to collect the full bags, cash them out then send the moneys to me to get a grand total on this fundraiser. There are details to this I need to sort out yet and I will keep you all posted as things develop and are finalized.
2) April/May: Softball game. We'll charge teams to join, will need to ask around to form teams. Will be held in Maurice across from Jed/Jeannie's house. Will also sell concessions and have a donation can. If you know of anyone that would be interested in participating and enjoys softball, man or woman, see if they'd be interested in forming a team. Would be nice to have 4-5 teams so we can do a tournament-style event. I plan to ask my co-workers, one of which used to coach softball and the other who has a very athletic family. Will need to determine how much teams will be charged yet, I'm thinking so much per team member, but these details will need to be hammered out yet.

These are my fundraising ideas. They are just in my head right now, but I hope to move forward with both ideas soon. If anyone has any ideas on fundraising opportunities, please share.

In researching Relay for Life and ACS, I have learned so much about the purpose of why we fundraise. We are raising the money to remember those we've lost, to honor and save those who fight cancer in their lives and to make cancer a disease of the past. The cause is close to our team's heart because of our loss in Mitchel, making it worth every effort we put forth to raise funds. I am so thankful for each of you on our team, thankful for your time and confidence in me.

I will be mapping out these fundraisers this weekend and will keep updating the blog so everyone can keep informed. I hope to see you all soon.

Shelly, Team Captain