There are only 9 days left to bid on the items in the silent auction! Haven't made your bid yet? No problem. The paper bidding sheets will be up on the wall at the gym until 7:00 pm on Tuesday, December 6th and online bidding is open on the website until 10:00 pm on Wednesday, December 7th. Already made your bid? Don't forget to check back. We have had several items receive multiple bids so yours may not still be the highest bid. No need to panic, you still have time to make a new bid! We have items to please just about everyone on your holiday shopping list in the item. There are brewery packages, museum packages, sports packages, children's activity packages, home packages, private lessons, and gymnast packages. The pictures above are just some of the items we have available. There are almost a dozen more posted on the gym wall and online.
Every effort is made to keep the paper bidding sheets and website bids synced in a timely manner but there may be an occasion or two when information on one or the other is not up to date. If that were to happen, the online bid takes will typically be accepted first. I think my favorite thing about this auction is that EVERY item was donated so 100% of ALL winning bid money will go to Unite for HER in American Gymnastics' Above & Beyond Challenge Donation for the Pink Invitational! Our goal for the auction is to raise $2000. Currently, the bids are up $1200 so I think we can do it. So, check out the auction at www.pinkfundraising.weebly.com/silent-auction and make your bid. Help us raise money for Unite for HER.
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The time has finally come and the Stick It to Breast Cancer Silent Auction is officially open for bidding! We currently have 39 items available to bid on and expect to add at least 2 more items before the end of the auction. There are two different ways bids can be made on items.
Online bidding is done through the Silent Auction page on the Pink Fundraising website. The Silent Auction page has directions as well as images of each auction item. There is a "Make Your Bid" form above the images of the auction items and another "Make Your Bid" form at the end of all the auction items. The form has a drop down menu with the item numbers to choose from and sends your bid to us instantly. This is the fastest way for your bid to be accepted. Paper bidding is done by signing up on the auction bidding sheets that are posted at the gym on the back wall near the door. These bid sheets will be checked nightly and the website will be updated according to the current bids written on the papers. Any new bids made online will also be added to the papers nightly. Bidding is open from now and will close for paper bidding (at the gym) at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, December 6th and online at 10:00 pm on Wednesday, December 7th. The most amazing part of this auction is that 100% of the money bid on items and collected will be donated to Unite for HER to support breast cancer patients. The reason for this is that EVERY item was donated to us for the auction. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone that donated items for us to list in the auction. The items have come from a variety of sources: restaurants, stores, museums, attractions/event sites, and individuals.
The donations we received to offer in the auction are the first step. For the next part, we need your help. There are many ways you can help make this auction a success for American Gymnastics and for Unite for HER.
While this is the announcement of the official opening of bidding, we did have a soft opening online. Through the soft opening of online bidding we already have $750 worth of bids on 15 of the 39 items. It's starting to get exciting!!!!! Those bidders are anxiously checking back to see if they have been outbid (three people already have been outbid for items they wanted). As always, thank you for taking the time to read this blog and for helping us continue on our 2017 Above & Beyond Challenge journey with the Pink Invitational and Unite for HER. I can't believe it is almost Halloween! Pink or Treat boxes are still available at the front desk if you would like to help raise money for breast cancer patients while you are trick or treating. After saying "trick or treat" and getting your candy, simply say "Pink or treat" and explain that American Gymnastics is raising money for Unite for HER and breast cancer patients and ask if they would like to make a donation. Any amount is helpful (cash, checks, coins). Return your donation to the gym after Halloween. Make sure your name is with your donation so we can thank you! Team gymnasts, your collection will count toward your family total and will put you in the running for the grand prize of a month of tuition paid by us or one of the two runner up prizes of a free private with the coach of your choice. Our first fundraising event after Halloween is a Dining for a Cause night at Chipotle Mexican Grill on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington. This fundraiser is happening on Friday, November 4th from 5 to 9 pm. Bring our flyer, mention it, or show it on your phone and Chipotle will donate 50% of your order total to Unite for HER. This is an AMAZING deal because most restaurants donate between 10 and 20% when they host fundraising events. A downloadable copy of our flyer is below.
Our second annual Turkey Shoot will run from November 1st to the 11th. Gymnasts will have a Turkey Shoot form with 16 sections through the center of a turkey. Each section is available for a donation of $5. The donor's name is written in each section they donate $5 for then when the turkey is full (by Nov 11th) the gymnast returns the form and donations to the gym. When all the forms have been turned in, we will work with the gymnasts to throw a dart at their Turkey Shoot form. The name of the donor that gets hit by the dart will will a 12-15 pound turkey. Turkeys will be available for pick up prior to Thanksgiving. Next, we have your solution to how/when to get your holiday shopping done! Parents' Night Out is happening on Saturday, November 26th from 6 to 10 pm. Bring the kids to American Gymnastics for a fun night of pizza, drinks, dessert, crafts, Open Gym, and a holiday movie. While the kids enjoy their time in the gym, you can enjoy a child free evening to yourself. You could go out to dinner (someplace with no kids menu maybe), go shopping, see a movie, or just enjoy a quiet evening to yourself. The possibilities are endless! For just $25 per child ($20 for siblings), these 4 hours can be yours and you get the added benefit of helping out a great cause because all of the proceeds will be going to Unite for HER as part of the Above & Beyond Challenge donation from American Gymnastics at the Pink Invitational. It's cheaper than a babysitter and your donation will help Unite for HER provide services for breast cancer patients. Sign up at the front desk by November 19th so we can plan our volunteers and food accordingly. There will also be a November Bake Sale/Previously Loved Leo Sale but the date has not be determined yet. The events page will be updated when the date has been selected.
Our Stick It to Breast Cancer Silent Auction is having a "soft opening". We are currently accepting bids online (click on the Silent Auction tab above). In mid-November, we will be posting silent auction bid pages for each item in the gym for people to write in their bids. Bids from the papers will be updated daily (except for Wednesday & Sunday, the only days I am not at the gym and days when we are away at meets) on to the website. We already have bids on 9 items. There are over 30 items to bid on. Stop by and check them out. Many make excellent holiday gifts. The bidding ends at 10 pm on December 7th. I'd like to take a minute to thank everyone who has been supporting us in our fundraising efforts this year. Without you, we would not have been able to raise the $3900 we already have or the rest of our donation that is yet to be collected. It's Wednesday and as my youngest daughter told me tonight, it is time to do a blog post. We have been moving along with our Pink/Unite for HER fundraising efforts and have now raised $3,759.43 for this year's Above & Beyond Challenge. We have many more fundraising events planned between now and January so hopefully, we will be able to beat last year's donation of over $9,000. Recently, we had a dining for a cause event at Texas Roadhouse in Waterbury where the Donis family hosted the event and raised $85 collecting donation at a table in the lobby as well as receiving $40 from Texas Roadhouse (10% of all the sales brought in by the Donis family that evening). We have also been busy working on getting our Stick It to Breast Cancer Silent Auction ready. Item descriptions, values, and starting bid values have been added to the website. More pictures (and more items) will be added between now and the final night of the auction (December 7, 5-10 pm). There are also a few things coming up in October. This Saturday, October 15th, we will be having our second bake sale and previously loved leotard sale at the gym between 9 am and 3 pm. At this bake/leo sale, we will also be holding a raffle for a booklet of vouchers for the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Manchester. Each booklet contains vouchers for up to 48 admissions to the comedy club. We will also have Pink or Treat boxes available for pick up. (I will explain Pink or Treat in a moment.) In addition to previously loved leotards, delicious baked goods, Pink or Treat boxes, and a fantastic raffle, there will also be a special guest there. Our special guest is Tracey Staehle, a stylist with Cabi. A portion of all of Tracey's Cabi sales will go to our Unite for HER donation. Thank you to Jamie Scarlett for setting up this special opportunity. Our next event after the bake sale/leo sale is Pink or Treat. The idea for this fundraiser came to me when I was thinking back to my childhood Halloweens and coming home from school with the Unicef box to bring with me while I was trick or treating. We would collect change from our neighbors in the Unicef boxes while we were out and about collecting candy for ourselves then return the boxes of coins to school where they would then be sent on to Unicef. Pink or Treat is just like that except our trick or treaters will use a small pink take-out box with a breast cancer ribbon window to collect donations from their neighbors while they are out. After Halloween, the collections will be returned to the gym and the money will be added to our Above & Beyond Challenge donation for Unite for HER. You can read the flyer below for more information. The ghost is carrying one of our cute Pink or Treat collection boxes. Pink or Treat brings us to the end of October and it brings me to the end of this blog post! Thanks for reading!
You may be wondering why I chose to title this blog post "Sweet 16". It could be because I bought and ate one of Tina Palmieri's delicious Oreo Pops that she made and sent to the gym to sell as a fundraiser for our Pink/Unite for HER donation. It's not. It could be because by the time we finish September, there will have been 16 fundraisers ranging from lemonade stands to a bus trip for our Pink/Unite for HER donation. It's not. It could be because we are already at 16% of our goal and it's only September. That's it! We have raised $3,251.12 so far and that is not counting what was raised in the PLUMraiser and whatever we raise at tomorrow's Dining for a Cause event at The Ninety-Nine Restaurant in Glastonbury. I'm guessing that we will be very close to $4,000 when those events are totaled and added in. Thank you to everyone who is helping us on this journey with Pink and Unite for HER. We appreciate everything from donations to volunteering at events. It is great to see so many additional families from the gym joining the fundraising this year.
Please continue to support us. Like and share our Facebook page, Stick It to Breast Cancer, if you haven't yet. Like and share our blog posts. Participate in fundraising events with us. Host your own fundraising events. Donate through and/or share our crowd funding link at YouCaring. Every little thing helps. Everyone eats dinner right? Why not let your dinner help others! Join us for dinner this Wednesday, September 28th between 5 and 8 pm at The Ninety-Nine Restaurant in Glastonbury and 15% of your total bill will be donated as part of the American Gymnastics Pink Above & Beyond Challenge donation to Unite for HER. Not only is it delicious, it's so easy. All you need to do is bring the flyer that is available below, give it to your server and place your order. The restaurant will take care of the rest. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your meal knowing that you are helping breast cancer patients through Unite for HER.
Don't forget to bring some extra cash too. The Hong family will have a table set up in the lobby with hand-stamped aluminum cuff bracelets that are available for donations to Unite for HER. Some examples of the bracelets are shown below. Dining for a Cause is a win/win event. You get a delicious meal and a night off from cooking & dishes while Unite for HER gets 15% of your total bill from The Ninety-Nine Restaurant. We appreciate Ninety-Nine letting us host this event at their Glastonbury restaurant and we hope to see many people there with our flyer participating in this easy fundraiser.
What an awesome day of fundraising we had this past Saturday. In the morning, we held a bake sale and "previously loved" leotard sale. With delicious baked goods from Tina Palmieri, Sophie Gessman, Patty Perrotti, and the Paparazzo family plus a lot of "previously loved" leotards from the girls at American Gymnastics, we raised $355.31. Why the odd amount of change? That would be the loose change from Krista Paparazzo's wallet! Then, as if $355 in one day wasn't enough, we went on to raise $825 more through the bus trip to Mohegan Sun. A group of 39 people embarked on a Kelley coach bus headed to Mohegan Sun at 6 pm. While on the bus, there were several raffles held. Prizes included a case of beer, a couple bottles of wine, a bottle of vodka with some light up martini glasses and more. There was also a 50/50 raffle. The winner of that raffle won $75! After arriving at Mohegan Sun, the travelers branched off to do their own things then met back up for the return ride at midnight leaving the casino at 12:30. It was fantastic evening out having fun and raising money for Unite for HER. With the two events on Saturday, we raised $1,180.31. That brings our current grand total to $2396.86! We are off to a great start. There are many great things planned for the months ahead. Check back to our events page often to see which things you would like to participate in with us. We have a couple fundraisers that are ending very soon. The PlumRaiser ends on Monday so if you are in the market for a new leotard, head to PlumPracticewear.com and remember to enter AMGTC in the discount code box to have $5 from the purchase of any full priced leo donated to American Gymnastics. Another fundraiser that is coming to an end soon is our American Gymnastics 2017 Above & Beyond Challenge shirt sale which ends on Tuesday. Our final event for September is a Dining for A Cause evening at The 99 Restaurant in Glastonbury from 5-9 pm on September 28th. Come out, have dinner or drinks with friends and 15% of your total check will be donated by the restaurant to Unite for Her. Just print and bring the flyer below and give it to your server. The rest is done by the restaurant. The Hong family will also be set up in the lobby of the restaurant collecting donations and selling hand stamped aluminum bracelets for Unite for HER. Stop in and say hello if you are in the area. Share the flyer with others to increase the restaurant's donation.
Are you trying to figure out what cookies, cake pops, and leos have to do with each other? Well, that's an easy one to answer. This Saturday (September 17) from 9 am to 3 pm, there will be a bake sale and "previously loved" leotard sale at American Gymnastics.
There will be cookies, chocolates, beautiful cake pops, and other freshly made treats available. Have a snack or bring home dessert for later. Our "previously loved" leos are available for a donation of just $5. Where else can you pick up a leo for practice for that little? We have "previously loved" leotards in all sizes available. We will also have a few brand new leotards for sale. The brand new leos will cost a bit more. All donations for baked goods and leos will be donated to Unite for HER as part of American Gymnastics collection for the Above & Beyond Challenge. The Pink/Unite for Her committee is doing our best this year to minimize the percentage of our contribution to the Above & Beyond Challenge that is directly from American Gymnastics families. The majority of the fundraisers we are running this year are activity based such as the Mohegan Sun bus trip, Pink or Treat, Dining for a Cause evenings, and Parent's Night Out. This year, we are adding a silent auction to our fundraising events. Silent auctions can be run in many ways. They can be held in person with the items on display and people write their bids on a paper near the item. At the end of the auction period, the person with the highest bid wins the auction, pays the amount they bid and is the proud new owner of the item. We do not have a space big enough to display our auction items here at American Gymnastics so we are going to run ours slightly differently. Our silent auction will be held online on our Pink Fundraising website. Bidders will use the form on the Silent Auction page to send their time-stamped bids to the fundraising committee who will be busy updating the current bids on the items. Just like the live/in-person silent auction, at the end of the auction period, the person who submitted the highest bid wins the auction and becomes the new owner of the item.
Another way that our auction is different from others you may have participated in previously is in the acquisition of our auction items. Many times, auction items for team fundraising events come from the families. This could be done in different ways like asking people to make and donate things, asking different groups within the team to work together to make themed baskets, or asking people to donate money or gift cards for committees to purchase items to be auctioned. In keeping with our efforts to minimize the gymnastic team families monetary contributions for these fundraisers, we have reached out to the community to donate items for our auction. The response has been simply amazing! So far, we have donations from a variety of places. We have items ranging from clothing to 1 year museum memberships. I have been totally overwhelmed with the support we are receiving in our quest to raise money for Unite for HER. Check out this list of our current donors:
I can't wait to see what other positive responses we get from reaching out to the community! We have several requests out that are under consideration. In November, the committee will be putting donated items together into groups/baskets. At that time, we will update the Silent Auction website with pictures, descriptions and starting bids. The bidding will take place on Wednesday, December 7, 2016 from 5-10 pm. It should be a very exciting night.
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AuthorJennifer Hong is a parent of two gymnasts at American Gymnastics and a co-chairperson for the Above & Beyond Challenge fundraising committee. Archives
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