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