Message #5 From Your Artful Mentor

Hi Team,

How about those Olympics, and the great hockey finale between host Canada and the USA? Congratulations to Canada for winning the gold, and to America for winning the silver. It has been an exciting two weeks! Now, although none of you are likely to win an Olympic medal, as far as I and other cancer survivors are concerned, you are all up there on that medal pedestal when it comes to curing cancers!

With this week’s message, I want to remind you first of a couple of important dates, so write them down! A week from Monday, March 8, is the fundraising clinic at Buffalo Wild Wings on Broad Street at 6:30. Just eight days later, March 16, is our silent auction at Blackfinns, also at 6:30 – although you will have to get there a bit earlier to get your stuff put out.

For the rest of this message, I am going to talk about some of the fundraising things I will do this week, what gets on the back burner for another week or so, and why. I’ll start with the things that I feel I really must do:

#1 – write my silent auction solicitation letter. I sent you an example of my letter for last year, and I will also use that one as a model. Why – because this is needed for action # 2.

#2 – start collecting items for the silent auction. I will go around to local restaurants, stores, and hotels, asking for donations. I will have my letter with me, ready to hand out and leave, with all of my contact information on it. Why – because the auction is only two weeks away, I don’t have items yet, and if I don’t have some items, my fundraising take for the event is pretty much guaranteed to be zero.

#3 – let people I know about the silent auction, probably by sending out an e-vite. I may also put up a poster or two at work. Why – I want tons of people to show up at this. It is not like I want to buy my own items, right?

#4 – start preparing for next Monday’s fundraising clinic. Why – because as a mentor, I am one of the presenters. Fortunately, you don’t need to put this one on your list, but do show up!

#5 – Get out my fourth fundraising solicitation and campaign update. Why – it has been two weeks since my last one. However, I may have to slip this a week, because I have other more pressing things to get done, mostly because of the silent auction. Usually I have at least the start of a note drafted by the weekend before I want to send it out, but so far, it is a blank piece of paper, so I am behind on it.

Now, what won’t I get to this week, and why? Well, in the maybe category was my campaign update, discussed above. And a definite no is writing my fundraising letter. Why – because the silent auction has a fixed date, and the letter does not. However, the letters are very important, and I am going to need to carve out some time by mid March. So I’d better not just forget about them, eh?

Be on the alert for information from the coaches this week. I know things somehow got fouled up last week, but I am sure they will get straightened out this week. All of you missed training Saturday, maybe because of the confusion, so I hope I will see all or most of you this week.

That is all from now – go get those great items for the auction, and mark your calendar with those dates!
GO TEAM!
Art