Dear Thyroid^TM

There are only 40 days left before the Relay for Life!  Can you believe it?  We are still the number one team with a $1,000 lead over second place!  Our team is furiously working away to get ready for the big day.

First, I want to say how great it is to watch the Oscars and see commercials to raise awareness for cervical cancer.  It is so important to raise awareness for all cancers – not just the pink one.

Second, a major thanks and virtual standing ovation go out to Angel McMellin for all of her hard work on our bake sale.  Not only did she bake enough to feed the entire hospital, but she ran our event at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center and raised $320 for our team!   And thank you again to our supporter, Kim Thompson, who donated her own baked goods to help us in our fundraising efforts.

Saturday’s team meeting was a fun lunch event and we covered a LOT of information.  Thank you to All American Coin & Jewelry Company (www.aacoinco.com) for sponsoring our lunch.  Those crab cakes definitely got the creative ideas flowing!

If Bitching Was a Cure for Cancer, I'd be in Remission

Important Information For Team Members…

In order to get an official Relay for Life participant shirt, you MUST raise $100 by March 10, 2010!

Again, if you haven’t all ready, I encourage our team members to log in to their participant centers on the ACS website and start updating their personal pages for donations.   There is also an application on facebook that will help you with meeting your $100 personal goals.  Both of these tools will provide donators with official receipts from the American Cancer Society.

Please check your email for an important update on team and individual fundraising incentives provided by the American Cancer Society.

Online Fundraiser Update…

Our online fundraiser is going strong thanks to our wonderful ladies at Dear Thyroid.  We are encouraging the Dear Thyroid community to form fundraising teams to help us in our goal for the American Cancer Society.  The first team to raise $3,000 wins TEN free “Invisible No More” bracelets; the first team to raise $1,500.00 wins FIVE free bracelets; the first team to raise $750.00 wins THREE free bracelets; and the first team to raise $500.00 wins TWO free bracelets.  For more information, contact me or visit us at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wings2010.  The contest ends March 16^th!

As always, thanks to our supportors and our team members for their tireless fundraising efforts.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

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The heat is on!  There are only 54 days left until the Relay for Life at Johns Hopkins University.  We are 60% of the way to our goal with a  total of $2,991.00.  Who is going to be the person to break the $3,000.00 mark?  Will it be you?

Again, if you haven’t all ready, I encourage our team members to log in to their participant centers on the ACS website and start updating their personal pages for donations.   There is also an application on facebook that will help you with meeting your $100 personal goals.  Both of these tools will provide donators with official receipts from the American Cancer Society.

We have a lot of exciting things happening the first week of March!

Thursday, March 4^th from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., we are holding our own bake sale at Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 N Caroline Street, Baltimore, MD.  We need food donations and volunteers to help us run our booth.  You do not have to be a team member to help us, our supporters are just as important as our relayers.  Please contact Angel (angelmcmellin@live.com) or myself (chrisp730@yahoo.com) if you want to help.

Friday, March 5^th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., there is a relay wide fundraiser at Johns Hopkins University.  We need volunteers and fundraising ideas.  If you are interested or want more information, please contact me at chrisp730@yahoo.com.

Saturday, March 6^th at 11:30 a.m. we have a team meeting at M&S Grill, 201 E Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD.  This is an open meeting, so if you have joined team Wings of Hope yet please join us.

We are currently holding two online fundraisers:  The first contest is all thanks to our wonderful friends and supporters at Dear Thyroid.  We are encouraging the Dear Thyroid community to form fundraising teams to help us in our goal for the American Cancer Society.  The first team to raise $3,000 wins TEN free “Invisible No More” bracelets; the first team to raise $1,500.00 wins FIVE free bracelets; the first team to raise $750.00 wins THREE free bracelets; and the first team to raise $500.00 wins TWO free bracelets.  For more information, contact me or visit us at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wings2010.  The contest ends March 16^th!

Our second online fundraiser is to reward one lucky team member.  The first team member to raise $500 between February 7^th and February 28^th wins a $25 Macy’s Gift Card.  Will it be Jennifer Bridge, Rachel Markus or Samantha Kidwell?  Go to http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wings2010 and donate in honor of your favorite team member today!

We would like to welcome our newest team member:  Melissa Lorenzo.  Welcome to the team!

As always, we would like to thank the generous souls who donated to Wings of Hope this week:  Danielle Collins, Elena Primost, Robyn Goode, Karen Welsh-Mulachy, and Lisa Hensley.

It is crunch time.  We need the support of everyone:  our team members, our supporters, and our communities to ensure our success.  As you can see, there are numerous opportunities to support Wings of Hope, so send us an email today!

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

Written by: Wings of Hope Week 9 Update

There are only 76 days left until the Relay for Life at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland!  After nine weeks, we are still the number one team with $2,276.00 raised.  However, Team SASH is quickly closing in on us with $2,029.43 raised.

I encourage our team members to log in to their participant centers on the ACS website and start updating their personal pages for donations.   There is also an application on facebook that will help you with meeting your $100 personal goals.  Both of these tools will provide donators with official receipts from the American Cancer Society.

We have some exciting news this week:  Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center has agreed to give us the space required to host a bake sale for our team and the event!  The date is still to be determined, but we are hoping for early March.  Angel McMellin has been absolutely amazing in getting this event organized and we couldn’t be prouder of her efforts.  She will need help with running the event and also with producing baked goods.  So dust off your mixing bowls, break out your recipe books, and email her at angelmcmellin@live.com to volunteer.

Be on the lookout for a special update once we have finalized the date and time for our bake sale.

Please keep Jennifer Bridge in your prayers and thoughts this week.  On Tuesday, February 2^nd, she will be receiving her latest test results from her endocrinologist.  We are confident that she is still in remission and has successfully kicked cancer’s @$$, but waiting for that appointment is still nerve wracking.  Good luck, Jennifer!

We shouldn’t have to live like this.  When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you live blood test to blood test, ultrasound to ultrasound.  And even after the cancer is gone, and you’re told you’re in remission, you still live with the fear of reoccurrence every round of testing.  Life is hard and stressful enough without living with constant fear of the cancer reoccurring or forming a secondary cancer.

So please, help us find a cure for cancer and put a stop to our fears.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

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Have you heard?  Dear Thyroid and Wings of Hope are giving away 10 FREE “Invisible No More” Dear Thyroid Awareness Bands!

That’s right!  Dear Thyroid and Wings of Hope have teamed up to hold a fundraising contest for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life on April 16, 2010 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Be a part of our team as we find a cure for cancer by entering for your chance to win up to ten FREE Dear Thyroid bracelets and helping us meet our fundraising goal of $5,000.00.

First Place: The first person or team to raise $3,000.00 by March 16^th wins 10 Dear Thyroid bracelets.

Second Place: The first person or team to raise $1,500.00 by March 16^th wins 5 Dear Thyroid bracelets.

Third Place: The first person or team to raise $750.00 by March 16^th wins 3 Dear Thyroid bracelets.

Fourth Place: The first person or team to raise $500.00 by March 16^th wins  Dear Thyroid bracelets.

How To Enter:

• Make your tax-deductible donation online at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/wings2010
• Click “Donate To Our Team”
• Under “Recognition Name”, enter your name, your team name (if applicable) and your email address.
• Winners will be notified via email on March 20, 2010.

Wings of Hope Week 8 Update

1/17/10 – 1/24/10

Can you believe it’s been two months since we started Wings of Hope?  I certainly can’t.  What’s even more unbelievable to me is how well we are doing.  After eight weeks, we are still the number one team out of 72 with $2,226.00 raised for the American Cancer Society.  We have reached 45% of our goal and are responsible for 5.5% of all the money raised for the April 16^th event.

We would like to thank Joyce Cole, an employee at Johns Hopkins Hospital for her generous donation last week.  Joyce and I have never actually met, but she was the person responsible for my out-of-state patient scheduling when we first found my tumor in August 2008.  She took amazing care of me via the telephone and e-mail during my treatment program.

I’d like to recap our amazing team members for our relay event:  Co-Captain Jennifer Bridge, Lynne & Larry Bridge, Christina Colley, Mary DiMaggio, Jennifer Engesser, Brian Ferrina, Darren Johnson, Rachel Markus, and Angel McMellin.

Angel is still looking for a location to host our bake sale, so if you have any suggestions, please contact her.

We will be having a team meeting on Saturday, March 6^th at 11:30 a.m. with the restaurant to be determined.

It’s not too late to join our team or to help us in reaching our goals.  So if you are interested in finding out more about what you can do for Wings of Hope and the American Cancer Society, please contact myself or Jennifer Bridge.

And as always, thanks to our thylicious sisters at Dear Thyroid for their continued support promoting our team.

FYI—Please feel free to join the thyroid cancer conversation Chris and her teammates are having on the forums.  For all the juicy details about Wings of Hope’s fundraising efforts, log into Facebook.

Until next week,

Wings of Hope

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Please visit Chris’s team page and donate what you can. Every penny counts and is tremendously appreciated. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email Chris.

Thank you!!!