When I found out the date of the Merced Relay for Life it was a short 5 weeks away.  I immediately began making phone calls and giving what probably sounded like a sales pitch to my family and friends.  I wanted to make sure I would be able to convince enough people to join my team before paying the registration fee and committing to the event.

When I called one friend I felt a bit of resistance from him.  He made the mistake of telling his wife and she contacted me directly a few days later.  I had them both!  She thought it sounded like a great idea and was enthusiastic from the beginning.  My friend however was the opposite, but because I hooked her I had him.  They both really enjoyed the event and will be part of my future teams.

As I was putting together my team I had no intention of asking my mother to join.  I did ask her to help me fundraise.  She agreed and then asked if she could participate.  I told her no because I needed her to help me fundraise.  The next day I realized how selfish I was being and called her to let her know she could walk and be a member of the team.  Within 24 hours of her joining the team she raised over $500.  She went on to raise the most money for the team and was one my greatest assets the day of the event.

There was no discussion about naming the team.  When I registered the team I had to quickly think of a name.  Because my vision was a team of family and friends I named our team "Friends & Family."  This would be the theme of our team.  The majority of members on my team belong to a close-knit circle that comes together for birthday parties and Sunday afternoon barbeques.  We even had a barbeque the weekend before the event to discuss what we were doing.  Of course, we really did not get much accomplished that day.

There really is not much more to how I put my team together.