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.
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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
November 2016
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