Fundraising galore

After Ben’s party, I knew I was going to hit the ground running with GS and Wine Opener fundraising. This is my first year throwing myself into fundraising and the planning committee and  it’s been going well.
Tuesday night and Thursday afternoon, I attended the opening of the new BJ’s Brewhouse restaurant in Arden Fair Mall. The CEO of BJ’s daughter has CF and they have always been actively involved in fundraising. For their grand opening week, BJ’s is giving 100% of proceeds to the CFF! People aren’t charged for their meal, they are only asked to donate. This is such a great opportunity to raise money for the CF Sacramento chapter and to raise awareness for CF.
All week we have a CF table set up near the front with flyers on our upcoming events, answers to questions about CF, a raffle and just tons of info. We thanked patrons as they walked out and put flyers on the tables.

I brought in a picture of Ben just to help give CF a face. It was also great to met another CF mom from our chapter.
I also realized that you have to be thick-skinned when you go out, publically fundraising because people can be downright rude. But I just let it roll off my back and was grateful to spend the day fundraising for my Little Man.
I have also decided to make Ben’s Brigade (our Great Strides Team) a national team. This means that our family and friends can walk under Ben’s Brigade in different cities during GS and all money they raise goes directly to our team. I’ve already set it up for Santa Rosa (Aunt Regina ) and for San Francisco. If anyone else is interested in walking in their local GS for Ben, please let me know.We love to have as many people as possible!
Committing to be a national team also means that I am committing to raising a greater amount of money. Last year, my goal was $5,000 and we were able to raise almost $6,500 so we did GREAT in my opinion. I have decided to set our team goal at $10,000 (gulp) this year. This was a big decision because I am not going to commit to a number that is impossible to reach. With a higher number like this, I’m going to have to go after corporate sponsors. Our director is giving me tips on approaching corporations and what to ask for. Of course, all of our walkers can also go out and raise as much money as possible too.
Working together, I know we can reach our goal!
So, if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been lately, I’ve been running after a VERY active two-year-old, keeping a clean house and committing a great deal of my time to the CF chapter. I have never been a part of something so fulfilling.