Tinkled Pink

Tinkled Pink is a unique, fun, affordable sponsorship opportunity for the 16th Annual Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure^®. For only $100, a business, school, team or individual can sponsor a port-a-potty at the Race.

This is a great way to advertise your organization with an opportunity to reach 46,000 racers, volunteers and supporters. Where else can you reach so many for so little?

You can visit the website for the registration form and to see a few of the past potties. The form includes guidelines and other information.

In case you missed them, here are a couple of fake potties decorated for the Team Captain Party.


















You can mention that I referred you. Diane and Katherine are giving a prize to the committee member that recruits the most Tinkled Pink Sponsors.


Have fun,
Jill

Three Miles of Men

Don't forget to recruit the guys in your life:

Three Miles of Men (3MOM) is gearing up for another successful year. To help keep participants and racers informed about all of the activities, as well as get the word out to others who have not previously been involved, 3MOM has joined the electronic age on both Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/3MilesOfMen

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Komen-for-the-Cure-Arkansas-3-MIles-of-Men/103721563041?ref

Follow all of the news and announcements related to 3MOM with one or both of these and encourage your guys to join too.

Also, Matt has contributed to the Race blog with a post about 3MOM.

If you have questions, let me know and I'll put you in contact with Matt Propst, 3MOM Chair.

On a personal note, is anyone out there?

Jill

Ropin' 4 a Cure

If you missed the Team Captain Party on Sunday, you missed one fired up lass. Danielle Smith is one motivated woman, and her focus right now is raising money for Because I Care.

Danielle took 3rd place in Because I Care in 2006, 2nd place in 2007 and 1st place in 2008 with over $8000 raised that year. Her goal this year is $20,000. Danielle does this in memory of her mother, Betty Smith, whom she lost to breast cancer

Ropin' 4 a Cure is Danielle's event and she has put her heart and soul into it. It has grown from a one day event to two full days and has grown so much that she hired a company to run it for her. She has companies calling her wanting to be sponsors. The ropers fight hard to win the two pink saddles and a horse trailer. This year, Danielle is requiring all of them to wear pink shirts to participate. Sounds like a fun event!














This year's Ropin' 4 a Cure will take place on Friday, August 7, and Saturday, August 8, at Smith Arena in Rose Bud, Arkansas. Books are open from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. with Rope at 9:00 a.m. They will have concessions but bring your own lawn chairs.

For more information, contact Danielle at smith.arena@yahoo.com.


Jill

Blast Off

Yikes, it's time to register. What do I do now?

The Team Captain Party has come and gone. Wow! It was great to see so many smiling faces yesterday! What was even better was seeing old friends, meeting new ones and finally putting faces with some names. We must have the greatest group around! You are all amazing! I hope you liked the new format.

Some of you are still asking, "What in the world do I do now?" It's all out there, but this might help a little.

1. Go to www.komenarkansas.org


2. Download the Team Captain Kit here (from above, click on Race for the Cure, Race Information and Team Information)


3. If your company is paying the registration, contact Jill at ar.rftc.teams3@gmail.com


4. Register (Form a Team)


5. Click on My Race Center, check everything out, set up your Because I Care page and ask friends and family to support you


6. Tell your team members to register (Join a Team) and set up their pages


7. Sit back and enjoy

If you happen to still be registering offline, you'll also need the spreadsheet. We're having a few technical difficulties with that, so you'll need to contact Jill at the present time for it.

Also for offline entries, the Team Entry Form is available by itself here.

For those who missed the party, you also missed the big announcement. We are the 4th largest race in the Komen series!

Well, I have pictures to share, but I'm having slideshow problems, so I'll post those later.

Thanks,
Jill

Organization Paying?

If your organization is planning to pay all or a portion of your team members’ registrations, your team can still register online.

Contact me at ar.rftc.teams3@gmail.com to set up a code for your team. Please include in the email (1) your name, (2) team name, (3) a phone number where I can contact you and (4) how the fees will be paid. If they will be paid by credit card, I will call you to obtain all of the pertinent information. If I need to contact someone else for this information, please include their name and phone number in the email as well and tell them to expect a call.

Thanks,
Jill

Online Registration

If you have registered online in the past, it may be a little crazy this year. Please bear with us and be patient. We will help you and your team members through the problems.

Several of us have been busy as little bees this year cleaning up the online database to get it ready for a conversion that recently took place. The database has been “under construction” since the 2005 Race and one or two people have signed up anew each year so that they had up to four profiles. And one or two more registered friends, neighbors and family all under the same email address.

For the conversion to take place, we had to try to get it down so that there was only one of each person, and each and every participant had to have a unique email address. We had to make some hasty decisions as to whether Jane Doe at this address in 2005 was the same Jane Doe at that address in 2007; was Joe Smith born on this date the same as Joseph Smith born on the same date; or was Janice Brown at this address with no birth date the same as Jan Brown at the same address. If we determined that they were the same person, we merged their records together so they would only have one profile.

Because of the lack of information on some and the fact that it was humans working on this project, there is the possibility that some people got merged incorrectly and we now have at the wrong address, wrong birthday or completely merged with another person.

And because everyone had to have a unique email address, we had to make some up. Again, we sometimes had to make a guess as to the true owner of the email.

Oh, and many user names and all passwords were changed with the conversion.

Because of all of this, it is going to be a little difficult for some people to retrieve their user name and password. In some cases, you will be able to have them emailed to you. Please try this avenue first. Go to www.komenarkansas.org and click on Sign In. Scroll down and you will see Email me My Password and Email me My User Name.

If this does not work, please email ar.rftc.teams3@gmail.com. We will work with you to obtain your user name and password and those of your team members.

Once you have accessed your account, please review the information to make sure that everything is correct before registering.

We apologize for this inconvenience. Believe me, we weren’t happy about everything, but it will be wonderful when it is all said and done. And it is a one time event.

Thanks for understanding,
Jill

p.s. In case you haven't received the email I sent this afternoon, the website is active, the Team Captain Kit is available under Team Information, and registration is open. Hope to see you Sunday!

Race Committee Meeting #5

The 5th meeting of the Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure took place on Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

93 days to RACE DAY!

Ellen announced that Jimmie Lou Fisher, former Arkansas State Treasurer, is serving as Honorary Chair for our 2009 Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure. Jimmie Lou is a recent breast cancer survivor and is undergoing treatment.

Sherrye McBryde announced that we have a new website this year designed through National. We are one of ten pilot affiliates. It should be active, hopefully, tomorrow: www.komenarkansas.org. Sherrye also demonstrated to the committee how easy it is to design your personal Because I Care page and communicate with your friends to ask them to support you once you have registered for the Race online. One small kink in the process can be adding photos to your page; they can only be 200kb in size. You can go to www.shrinkpictures.com and create a smaller image of your photo for this purpose.

Our honored guests today were Caroline Cline and her sister Elizabeth. Caroline is the winner of the 2009 Kids for the Cure art contest. Her design will be featured on the KFTC t-shirts this year. (I’ll post the design in the next few days. It will be announced Friday on Channel 7’s Good Morning Arkansas at 9:00 a.m.)

Mary-Margaret reported that we are channeling our inner teenager and pumping up for the Team Captain Party on Sunday at the Hayes Center in North Little Rock from 2:00 to 4:00. Everyone was encouraged to put on their active wear and head for the center for a great time. It will be interesting to see the creativity of some of the booths. Sounds like there are going to be some yummy booths in addition to Papa John’s Pizza. She kind of reminded us that “it’s MY RACE to win.”

Susan Talley Brown reported that the Team Captain Kit is being finalized and is now available online. The buttons are in and you can get yours at the party on Sunday. The team captain gift has been ordered – and you are going to love them.

Volunteers are needed to help people register at the Arkansas Travelers game on August 21, 22 and 23. We are planning a Volunteer Round-up Party on September 10 at the warehouse instead of an after-race Volunteer Thank You Party.

Communications has been getting media requests already and it is 93 days until the race. The race blog is now active: http://komenarkansasblog.com.

The Press Conference is scheduled for August 12 at 10:30 a.m. at War Memorial Stadium on the field in the south end zone. Donna said she will keep it short but exciting. It might be a little noisy at the beginning – what surprise has Donna cooked up for us?

Fit for the Cure is set for kick-off on Labor Day at 6:30 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium on the field. The program will be for six weeks on Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30. This is for everyone who wants to prepare for the Race whether they plan to run, walk or walk quickly. Volunteers are needed as leaders. Tbyrd promises to have someone there to help make that happen (whatever that is) for those participating. The only way to register for the Fitness Program is to register online and pick the Fitness Program from the options on that page. It is limited to 500 participants!! Register early.

Pasta Party will be selling tickets at the Team Captain Party. The Pasta Party will be at Dickey-Stephens Park this year.

Three Miles of Men has been contacted by other affiliates wanting to learn what we’re doing. For the first time, we have an Honorary Three Miles of Men Chair, Anthony Lucas, former Arkansas Razorback and NFL player. He will attend the Press Conference, Pasta Party, Tailgate Party and who knows what else.

Tinkled Pink has their fliers ready. The form is available on the website. This sponsorship is a lot of bang for the buck at $100 to decorate a porta-potty that will be seen by MANY people.

Put a Fork in It has secured 34 restaurants to participate so far. The restaurants will be listed on the website. These restaurants will give Komen 10% of the gross sales of race day. So, go eat after the race at those restaurants.

The Pink Martini Party is shaping up for September 12 at the home of Chip and Cindy Murphy. Tickets are $75. They will have a live auction and live music. Dress is casual chic.

Sponsorship Committee has outdone themselves. Great job!

Ellen, our fearless Chair, celebrated the 8 year anniversary of her diagnosis of Inflammatory Breast Cancer last Friday with a haircut. As she came out of the salon, she was greeted by her friend Mary Ellen, her mom, her daughters and I’m not sure who else. Mary Ellen uses the same hair dresser and, in honor of Ellen’s 8 years, also got a haircut and donated 8 inches to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths.

The next meeting is Wednesday, August 19.

Thanks,
Jill

Komen Captains

It's been a while since I mentioned our social network, Komen Captains (click here for previous post), and wanted to remind you to join if you haven't already. I think activity will pick up next week after the Team Captain Party.

We've also made a change in regards to joining Komen Captains. For some reason, some of the invitations that I have sent out for people to join have not been received. That is not good. With this change, you no longer have to receive an invitation to join. Just go to www.komencaptains.com and sign up.

While signing up, you will be required to provide a photo for your profile. I was running a test using a computer that didn't have a photo on it, so I wanted you to be forewarned.

After I approve your request to join, an email will be sent notifying you of the approval and that you can now access the network.

My apologies to those who have tried to join and been unable to do so. I hope this will take care of the problem.


Also, if you have any questions or issues that you think I need to cover here or would like to put your 2 cents worth in, please let me know.

Thanks for all of your support,
Jill

Kids for the Cure

You don’t have to be a grown-up to participate in the Race or to raise money to end breast cancer. Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure^® has added a new participation event this year, Kids for the Cure^®.

Kids aged 12 and under are encouraged to register. Children who register as Kids for the Cure^® will have their very own youth sized t-shirts. However, only 3000 shirts will be ordered, so kids need to register early.

The winning design of a recent art contest will be the artwork for the 2009 Kids for the Cure^® Race shirt! Channel 7 will announce the winner of this contest on Good Morning Arkansas on Friday, July 17, at 9:00 a.m.

In order to receive one of the T-shirts, children MUST be registered in the Kids for the Cure^® program.

Funds from the Race for the Cure® are used to help eliminate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease and are used for education, screening, treatment and research programs.


OK, I can’t emphasize enough that you need to get your team to register ONLINE and register early once registration opens. If kids sign up for this using the offline forms, it’s a pretty good bet that they will miss out on this. There will ONLY be 3000 shirts ordered and there will NOT be another order and there are no shirt substitutions. It will also be hard to exchange sizes – you can’t until race space opens and then only if they are available. Sizes will be issued as requested while that size lasts. Once a size is gone, we will go to the next size. Let me say again, when all 3000 Kids for the Cure^® shirts are gone, they are gone; there is no reorder or substitution.

I have a feeling that questions are going to come up regarding children 5 and under (who normally do not pay). Children 5 and under still do not have to pay, BUT they do NOT receive a t-shirt. If you want a Kids for the Cure^® shirt for a child 5 or under, they must be registered for Kids for the Cure^® and pay the entry fee.

Please remember that these shirts are Youth sizes Small, Medium and Large.

Thanks,
Jill

Team T-shirts

Some of you have started plans on your team t-shirt, so I thought it might be a good time to go ahead and get this information out to you.

Over the years, many of you have asked what criteria we use in judging the t-shirts. It's probably not the answer you want, but we do not have any set criteria. It's basically what appeals to most of our judges. The judges vary from year to year. It could be committee members or other volunteers. I know, I'm not much help. Sorry.

I thought photos of last year's winners might spur you on. I was unable to obtain photos, but the team captains did provide me with graphics of their designs. Please remember that these are in no special order. We select three winners, not first, second and third. Also, remember that the theme last year was This One's for the Girls.

This first one was Arkansas Federal Credit Union. I missed most of the shirts last year but absolutely loved this one. No, I didn't judge.


Stephens.

















And USPS.











And here's the information regarding the submission of your t-shirt:

Show your Team Spirit and promote your organization by creating a Team T-shirt. It is up to each team to create their own t-shirt design and have their shirts printed. These are NOT provided by Komen. And it is NOT a requirement.

Three awards will be presented for the Best Team T-shirts. This is not a first, second, third place; just three awards, period.

Please have an extra shirt printed to submit for judging. Team T-shirts must be received no later than Friday, October 9. They can be submitted with your Team Packet; mailed to the Komen Office at 904 Autumn Road, Suite 500, Little Rock, AR 72211; delivered to the office Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; or delivered to the Race Space at Pleasant Ridge Town Center during operating hours.

T-shirts will be displayed at the Race Space and at the Pasta Party (weather permitting). Awards will be presented at the Pasta Party.

DOs and DON'Ts
-Team t-shirts CANNOT use the Race logo.
-Team t-shirts CANNOT be pink except those to be worn by survivors.
-Teams can use a pink ribbon but NOT the ribbon used in the Komen logo.
-Teams can use the phrase Susan G. Komen Arkansas Race for the Cure^® as long as it appears exactly as written here (including the ® symbol).

Happy designing,
Jill

Why?

Why would my team members want to register ONline?

1) It's quick and easy.

2) Race t-shirt and bib will be mailed directly to the participant at the address they use when they register.

3) T-shirts should be received sooner than those for OFFline team registrants. (Although shipping does not begin until about the first of September, ONline registrations are processed pretty much in the order that they are received. We will not begin processing OFFline teams until after the middle of September.)

4) Chances are better to get the correct size t-shirt as processing begins for ONline first.

5) Your team member can register for Train for the Cure at the same time. (This is limited to the first 500 who register.)

6) If a child is interested in registering for Kids for the Cure, they have a better chance by registering ONline early. (There will only be 3000 Kids for the Cure t-shirts available.)


Why do I want my team members to register ONline?

1) For all of the above reasons.

2) Easier on you. Once they have registered, you can pretty much sit back and relax other than arranging for a team t-shirt or any special events or treats if applicable.


Remember that the Team Captain Party is Sunday, July 19, and ONline registration should open the same day. Even if your team registered ONline last year, you will need to register yourself and set your team up so that your team members can join the team. Personal information carries over from year to year but team information does not.

Thanks,
Jill