If you have a local Applebee's restaurant  check with them about holding an All-U-Can Eat Pancake Breakfast.  The details are:  Applebee's provides the pancakes, coffee, juice & soft drinks.  You provide the manpower to wait and bus tables.  They provide a master ticket form for you to use to make copies.  You sell the tickets in advance.  Your Relay keeps 100%--Applebee's keeps nothing.  Cool, huh?

They also coordinate a Dine Out Nite for Relay within week before or week after your fundraising breakfast.  On  that certain night (Monday through Thursday is the choice) they will donate 15% to Relay from their lunch and dinner sales.  The patrons have to bring in the flyer in order for your Relay to get the 15%, though.  (They provide the master for the flyer also.)

I only found out about this very recently and called our local Applebee's the other day.  If I had known earlier I would have set it up for this year and hired a Santa Claus as well for the kids who come to the breakfast.  Our Applebee's is booked up for these fundraisers about a year out and I've already reserved a date for us next December.  You might want to contact them asap to see if they have any dates open this season in your area.  Good Luck!

Shelley Moran, Fundraising Development Chair, Relay For Life of Warrick County

The church I attend always does a basketball tournment between the months of January and March. It always is a good fundraiser. We usually charge a entry fee for the teams ,general admission,and sale drinks,snack,etc.

________,
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! Thank you for your letter. I have been looking at my list of Naughty and Nice boys and girls and see that you’re at the top of the Nice list, and so is your Sister / Brother. I also hear from your teacher ________ that you’ve also been doing well in school. I’m very proud of you for being such a good boy/girl.

Rudolph and I are looking forward to visiting your home in ________(city) on Christmas Eve. The elves have been very busy this year making toys for children all around the world, and I know that you would really like me to bring you a _______(child’s wish). I will do my best. Santa has many children who ask for toys each year, and I always try to bring something you’ll like. My favorite part of Christmas is just being able to make so many kids happy and share the gifts the elves have worked on all year because sharing is what makes Christmas so special.

________(City) is one of my first stops this year, so be sure to go to bed early because my magic only works when everyone is asleep. And don’t forget to leave out some cookies and milk for me and some carrots for the reindeer! We work up quite an appetite delivering so many toys all around the world.

Santa

My work has done Santa letters. They have the parents fill out a form with the child’s Name, age, Christmas wish, and address. They then have a typed up letter that they will just add the child’s info into and then mail out a letter so it appears in the mail like it came from the north pole. I think they usually charge about $3.00.

Example:

Dear

We are doing a gift wrapping fundraiser at a local mall.  The mall provides all the needed materials (gift wrap, tape, ribbon, etc) along with the table, chairs and space to wrap.  We put out information about Relay so people know where the $$ will be going, and ask for donations.  People were very generous last year when I did this. 

If you have the chain bookstore Borders in you area, they offer this as well.

Happy wrapping!

~ Laura