What a great and fun fund raising idea!!!  The Oscars are going to be televised on February 27th.  Invite a few or a lot of friends over and host a fun Oscar party.  There are many ways you can do this to raise money for Relay.  You can charge each person "admission"....you provide as much or as little food as you like.  Popcorn and sodas will do, or you can have more!  Ask your team members to each make one appetizer to spread out the cost and the time involved.  Click here for a link to a party planning page from the Academy of Arts and Sciences.  This will give you so many great ideas and also a form you can download and print that is an Oscar Ballot.  You can have people pay to participate and the winner takes home half the money and half goes to Relay (or who knows, they might be generous and donate their half, too).  There are forms for Oscar Bingo too - they are really fun.  Again, you could charge money to play Bingo....a lot of good party ideas on this link.  Just a thought....since the Oscars are on a Sunday night and go quite late, you could record the show and have the party on another night!  That way you can set the time and fast forward through the commercials. You might not be able to do the Oscar ballots, but you could sure still play Bingo.  If you did the party later, send out a ballot as an invitation and ask people, before the awards are televised to pick their winners!  Announce who won the contest at your party!  And the Oscar goes to..........!!!

The kick off meeting for Relay is just around the corner!  Now is a perfect time to start forming your team.  You need a minimum of eight people to form a team.  I have had a team with as many as 21 people....too many!  Find a number that works for you and a group that you can get together to decide what you are going to do for Relay.  Do not be afraid to ask people to join your team.....the worst that can happen?  They say no and you look elsewhere.  Ask your friends...co-workers....neighbors.....friends at church.....people you are in class with...  Are you in a club?  See if your club would like to have a team.  Then...formulate your plan on how you are going to raise your money for Relay.  The first time I ever went to a Relay meeting it was in March.  The meetings started in January and I wandered into a March meeting seven years ago and fell in love with Relay.  You can do as much or as little as you want.....it is all about working together to find a cure!  Good luck, happy fund raising and Let's Get Ready to RELAY!!!!

I know that Newtown is pretty "over" the snow....but it is January and there may be more to come!  How about shoveling for donations?  You never know if you don't ask.  Make up some fliers and put them in your neighbor's mailboxes...or send out emails.....just be sure that you are letting them know what you are doing.  Also, remember one of my favorite "good ideas"....the use of the words minimum donation.  You can say you will shovel a sidewalk for a minimum donation of $15, but they can certainly donate more!  Remember, too that a person does not have to give you cash or even write you a check, they can go directly online to your personal web page and put on a tax deductible donation on their credit card.  Happy shoveling!

There are 152 days left until Relay....if you save $1.00 a day from now until then.....well, you would have $150.00 towards a CURE!!!  If you can't do a dollar a day, remember to just throw all of your change in a bank or a can and you will be surprised at how much you will have when it comes time to count it and put it on your site.  Challenge your family members or co-workers and see who can come up with the most change...this change could make a BIG change in someone's life!  Happy New Year!!!