June 2013 RELAY FOR LIFE OF THE WHITE BEAR LAKE AREA Relay BIG with the World s Longest Ice Cream Sundae Attempt Thursday, June 20, the coolest event of the summer will be taking place in downtown White Bear Lake. That night, hundreds of sponsors and volunteers will be assembling a 1,000 long ice cream sundae (three city blocks!), well over 300 longer than the current Guinness record holder. (Late breaking news! Former Governor Arne Carlson will be on hand to judge the Sundae, while Relay team member Mike Gengler will be placing the crowning cherry on top!) Your help is needed! You still have time to volunteer to assist the creation of the sundae. Go to the official Sundae website, www.worldrecordsundae.com and click on the Volunteer button. Make plans NOW to attend. The website itself is a work of art, cleverly mixing information about the event along with a Candyland -like ribbon of squares representing the 100 ten-foot-long sections of the Sundae. Hover over the colorful squares to see a list of the many White Bear Lake area sponsors names each a generous $100 sponsor. Visit the site for all the event details. Registration Deadline June 21 Don t delay! Register now to make sure you receive a T-shirt for Relay. Our Relay needs to submit its T-shirt order by June 21, and the only way to ensure that you will have a Relay T-shirt is to be registered on the Relay site. (When registering, please provide your T-shirt size.) While efforts will be made to accommodate anyone who registers after that date, any extras will be handed out on a first come, first served basis. Contact Kim Wilcox if you have any questions or concerns about the registration process at kkwilcox@comcast.net. June Calendar of Upcoming Events 17 Team Meeting Redeemer 7 pm 20 World s Longest Ice Cream Sundae Challenge Downtown WBL - 5:30pm Set Up; 7:15-7:30pm Build and Eat 21 Team Registration Deadline July 1 Printed Relay Program Deadline. Any team sponsor names or campsite fundraising activities that are not known by this date are not guaranteed to be in the program. 22 Silent Auction items due. 25 All Raffle tickets, sold and unsold, must be turned in by the night prior to Relay. 26 RELAY FOR LIFE!
Relay BIG 100 Hours-$100 Challenge To celebrate the American Cancer Society s 100 th Birthday, Relay For Life of White Bear Lake Area is making some noise against cancer with our 100 Hours-100 Dollars Challenge! It s the perfect way for us to help the American Cancer Society meet the biggest challenge yet making this cancer s last century. The goal is to personally raise $100 during a 100-hour period starting Monday, June 24 at 12:00 a.m. running until 4:00 a.m. Friday, June 28. For every $100 raised online during the allotted time, you will receive an entry into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card! Use Facebook or email or both! Facebook Awesome Graphics! A Facebook timeline cover photo (shown at top of this column) will be emailed to all Relay participants early the week of June 17, as well as a profile badge (below). Update your personal page to let friends and family know you re looking for support. Link to Your Relay Page. Post a link to your personal Relay fundraising page to make it easy for supporters to make online donations. Email Website Emails. Log on to the Relay website, and go to the My Dashboard tab. Use the preformatted email we ve set-up that can be sent to family and friends. Share your personal story and the e-mail will include a link to your personal Relay donation page.
Our Relay: By The Numbers Shooting for $250,000! As of Sunday, June 16, 2013 Celebrate Ceremony Speaker Reuel Johnson, ACS This year, we welcome Reuel Johnson as the keynote speaker at our 6:30 p.m. Celebrate ceremony. Reuel has served as the staff leader of the Relay For Life Business Unit with the American Cancer Society since its inception in 1996. Most recently, as the national vice president for Relay For Life, Reuel has provided the vision and leadership that has turned the Relay event into a worldwide phenomenon raising more than $1 million per day and transforming the Society's community presence by putting more volunteer and staff boots on the ground than any other voluntary health organization in the world. Under his leadership, Relay For Life was formally established as the Society s first-ever signature activity. It grew from a $27,000, 24-hour awareness and fundraising event founded by Dr. Gordy Klatt, a volunteer leader from Tacoma, Washington, into a nearly $5 billion global movement to fight cancer. "Reuel had a twinkle in his eyes when he visited the original event in Tacoma in the early 90s with a number of other executive vice presidents," said Klatt. "He recognized at that time the potential of this event from the worldwide perspective." "Relay is not even an event, really," he often says. "It's an experience. If you don't believe it, ask any survivor who walks the Survivors Lap amid cheers, noise makers, and hand clapping; ask a caregiver who lost his loved one as he kneels in front of the luminaria in remembrance and listens to bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace ; ask a teenager from one of the participating high schools who has worked for months raising money and helping design and build an on-site façade that depicts perhaps a bridge to a cure or a fun game that raises money." Reuel will be retiring from ACS in late August this year after 40 years of service, so we are especially honored to be one of, if not the last, Relay For Life groups that Reuel will address.
Retrospective: Manitou Days Grande Parade / Bark For Life June 14, 2013 The Manitou Days Grande Parade was a huge success! As in previous years, our Relay For Life was a prominent entry, with colorful Celebrate.Remember.Fight Back. sail flags, a decorated float, buckets of candy and many willing Relay volunteers to walk the parade route. This is an exciting annual event for downtown White Bear Lake and our Relay, in particular, and this year was no different. New this year was the addition of over a dozen friendly, well-behaved canines in our first ever Bark For Life event. Bark For Life is an offshoot of Relay For Life, that recognizes and celebrates canine companionship for those battling cancer. It also is a way to recognize that not only we two-legged animals suffer from cancer many pets do, as well. Research supported by the American Cancer Society into the causes and treatments for cancer benefit our four-legged friends, as well! See the pictures below for a sample of the fun the participants had. The dogs were a HUGE hit with the parade watchers, especially young children. While not expected to be a big fundraiser, the Bark For Life portion of the parade event netted over $200 from entrance fees! That s one way to take a bite out of cancer! Many thanks to Jeff and Cheryl Simmons and their family for coordinating the parade participation for our Relay group again this year. And a hearty thanks to Lauren and Dylan Ballantine for their efforts leading our first ever Bark event. Thanks as well to the Bark sponsors Lulu & Luigi s, Chuck and Don s, and the Paws Animal Hospital.