Last night was our relay event. Unfortunately, due to storms and even more to come , we had to cancel our relay event. We were able to have our opening ceremony, survivor lap, caregiver and team laps and then we had to move in for the rain. We gathered in the gym at the school and watched the lightning as it lit up the sky. After about 2 hours, we were supposed to have a break in the rains and lightening. We lined the track with luminaria (which we had kept sheltered for the pending rain) but mother nature did not let up. The rain on the bags (even though it was just a sprinkle) was enough weight to make the bags collapse and some were starting on fire. We had to can that idea too. Back into the gym everyone went (well, the troopers who stayed with us through it all) We did a little luminaria ceremony in the gym with the bagpipes, and the readings which were originally scheduled. No candles, no bags...but still the show went on..... the weather forecasts we were getting were telling us INTENSE rains, lightning and winds with the possibility of hail. The decision was made... we called the event for safety reasons.
But.... what do we do with all of these donations we had. Gift certificates, baskets to raffle....all of it?
We still CRUSHED our goal for the event. without even having a relay. But that small silver lining does not negate the HOURS and MONTHS we put into planning this event and the kindness of all the people who donated "stuff" and services to our event.
Hi Kristen, I chair the Relay For Life Of Mercer County in Ohio and we hold our relay by a lake. As you can imagine we have had all sorts of weather. Our relay was June 7th and 8th and the tornado sirens were going off on the 6th. Several teams lost their tents but thank God the 7th and 8th were good. We do not use bags for our luminarias for that very reason. When the bags get wet they can't be used again. We use milk jugs and it works perfectly. Yes, they are not as attractive as the bags but they are more durable. We put sand in them for weight and we use battery operated candles (votives) When it is dark no one can tell that the light isn't a real candle. When it rains we still walk outside and our luminarias still light up. We walk outside unless the sheriff comes out and tells us to take cover, which has happened. This is just an idea but it works for us. We use the luminaria stickers available from your staff partner. The downside is that they are alittle harder to decorate but they still do. Many people buy the balloons and attach to their luminaria. Well, good luck and hope 2009 is alot dryer than 2008. Brenda Severns
I think it would be nice if you could possibly use the gym again or maybe even try for the outside venue again for a couple hours and invite all the committees & teams who were scheduled to participate in the original relay and have a post relay wrap-up. Explain in an invitation that you are going to raffle the baskets and other things you had donated and you are going to contribute all the money made to your relay. You could even follow the theme of your relay and maybe have the teams contribute some food and just use the couple of hours to celebrate, remember & fight back as a whole group one more time! Good luck!
i would check to see if i could use them as a kind of incentive raffle. like anyone who raises $50 online in a week gets an entry (1 for each $50). then do this every week until they are used up. depending on how many people get in on it, you may want to offer 1 or 2 or even 3 each week. you could post it on your homepage what the drawing of the week prize will be (if doing more than one at a time, just put 1st drawn,2nd drawn, etc. so that you dont have to worry about people choosing what they want.)
another idea is to see if you can get a location donated to do a tricky tray with the items. some areas do require a seperate permit for this though. (loophole- double up with another group who is already doing an event. you can piggyback on their paperwork for the legalities. just specify that all proceeds from that section of room will be donated to the acs's rfl.)
I think a post-relay "party" is a great idea. Maybe tailgating for a few hours on a Saturday?
Our local Relay was this weekend, and we also had heavy rains and thunderstorms. We just moved it in the gym and the show went on. For luminaria, we used glow sticks. Participants walked laps around the gym floor, the DJ set up in a corner, teams camped out in the bleachers... It went really well despite the weather. We were able to head back out to the track Saturday morning and finish up with a beautiful day on Saturday. Don't let the weather stop you! It was surprising how understanding and cooperative all of our participants were. We ended up having a great Relay!
I would thank everyone who donated items and let them know that even though the items weren't raffled at Relay that you will be conducting a post-Relay raffle, party, fundraising event - whatever - and that all of the money raised from their generous donations will go to ACS. We had a similar situation at our Relay and after much debate (fighting among sisters!) we pre-sold a lot of raffle tickets for 2 days so that we could feel good about pulling tickets at the Relay even if we weren't able to sell any that night. (We had warning about the horrible weather.) The other choice was to sell tickets after the Relay and pull tickets at a pre-determined date. We've also been to raffle events set-up at restaurants and churches that raised a ton of money. The important thing is to let your donors know that their donations still raised a lot of money for you and that you didn't just give them a way for a few tickets or stick them in the closet for next year. Good Luck!
I think it would be nice if you could possibly use the gym again or maybe even try for the outside venue again for a couple hours and invite all the committees & teams who were scheduled to participate in the original relay and have a post relay wrap-up. Explain in an invitation that you are going to raffle the baskets and other things you had donated and you are going to contribute all the money made to your relay. You could even follow the theme of your relay and maybe have the teams contribute some food and just use the couple of hours to celebrate, remember & fight back as a whole group one more time! Good luck!
Joined: 2007-05-07