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.
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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!
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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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