Local School Hung Up over Fundraising

Principal Kevin Suchinski and the Hickory Creek Middle School in Frankfort, IL had a real hang up about raising funds for CFF this year, as you can see.  Mr. Suchinski promised the school that he would hang on the wall an entire day if they raised $5000 this year in their own walk at the school for CFF.  Colin's mother and father (Trisha and Chris) also promised to arrange for ice cream for the winning grade level.  After a successful May 23rd walk, on May 29th, Mr. Suchinski, Chris and Trisha Walsh all kept their promises to the school.  While Mr. Suchinski was stuck to the wall in the main foyer of the school, Colin's grandmother helped serve ice cream to 250 sixth graders.  Local newspapers covered the event and Mr. Suchinski's hope is that the online donations will continue to come in once the story runs this weekend.  

 

This all started four years ago when Colin's cousin Ashley attended Hickory Creek.  Her teacher at the time wanted to get the students involved in some social awareness and fundraising campaign and a paper Ashley had written on cf was the perfect springboard.  So, starting four years ago, when Colin was one, Trisha Walsh, along with Colin and his twin Megan, have given presentations to the school on what cf is and is not and have pumped up the school for their walk.  Since then, the walk has become a school-wide event and Principal Suchinski is now ready to push the concept to the rest of the school district and Colin and his family plan to be there to help.

 

This year, the school has raised about $4000 and money continues to come in.

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more about "2008 HCMS New", posted with vodpod

Fund Raising Dos and Don'ts

Fund Raising Dos and Don'ts from wisebread.com
by Nora Dunn

Update on Poker, Museum, Walks, Wine

I am finding it hard to keep up on this blog.  I spend most of my free time actually working on the events that I should be promoting or discussing here instead of promoting and discussing.  I am thinking about spinning off the "Cure CF now" portion and finding someone that just wants to CF blog and allowing them use of the name and space.  It would be of much more value to people.

Update on Poker/Casino:  The 2008 Horseshoe Casino Casino Chicago was held on April 18 at the Marriott Michigan Avenue.  The night was amazing and went without any bumps.  The entire committee did a great job and the volunteers were amazing.  The room itself wasn't overly decorated, but for the first time in 4 years, we actually had space for everyone instead of trying to cram into an area 3/4 the size of what we needed.  We really went big on blackjack, craps, and roulette this year and I am interested in seeing how it did compared to the poker side of the room.  The final winner of the night was from Bears player Jerry Azumah. 
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more about "2008 CFH New", posted with vodpod

Update on Night at the Museum:  Trisha and Kirsten did an amazing job on museum.  It brought in about $11k this year.  The evening was great for kids with the museum wide open for them to play in and kid-centric raffles just for them.  The silent auction did well too.  It's a lot of work, but one of the few kid-friendly events for CFF.

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more about "2008 NATM New", posted with vodpod

Update on Walks: We hit 2 walks and a walk party this weekend.  Overall, not bad.  The CFF staff works like crazy to put these together and in general people are happy.  The Orland Park walk had great weather and a good turnout.  Unscientific guesses put the attendance a little lower than previous years.  The Chicago walk was a bit colder and the guess on attendance was also that it was a little lower.  I talked to a number of families and participants and there is still a LOT we can do to make the walks better.  I'll end up talking to the CFF staff on what we can do to make it better and better.

Wine: Finally, it is off the ground.  We had our first committee meeting in early May and 20 people attended.   20 people!  That's a whole lot of people wanting to help us make a great event.  We have booked the venue, Tessa's in Naperville, for November 8.  We already have the sommelier scheduled to fly in the night before and attend the event.  In addition, we have a live auction package of a trip to Sonoma, a private plane ride around the area, hotel, and a tour of some of the winerys.  This should be huge.  We are trying to figure out now what a VIP ticket for the event will consist of, what it will cost the purchaser, and what it will cost us to make it happen (free hopefully).  Stay tuned.