of cupcakes and relay for life

question:
how does someone who gave up sugary baked goods for lent come home with a dozen-ish pink ribbon cupcakes?

last week, spent an evening up at a team captain's meeting for the relay for life of kent. i love this event - second largest only behind tacoma in the state of washington. one of the two photos of mine that made it into the 2007 national calendar was from this event last year.

they asked me to come deliver the team captain pep talk near the end of the meeting. as i walked in, i ran the gauntlet of food vendors selling sugary goodness (see above) to benefit the relay, but the "i'm sorry, gave it up for lent" worked all the way through. i escaped without said sugary goodness.

some of the relay wisdom that i shared...

• be able to share the 'why' of why you relay
• don't say no for people. let them have the option of whether or not to give.
• a bit about judy phillips and her last days...and our reason to relay in '07
• and a few ideas about team, individual and online fundraising
• when people give you objections about donating, it's a good thing. it means that they want to know what the $$ benefits. know it, and know that every no leads you closer to a yes. (i love nick murray for this statement) and since you were wondering, this is what the funds raised by the american cancer society do.
• don't be afraid to set the bar high - after all, we're talking about curing cancer - not how to spend a friday night

but i did not share about team merrill, which is normally how i open, because it shares about why i relay. i didn't share it because i didn't have enough time.

after the meeting, i was getting ready to run the gauntlet. one of the cupcake ladies stopped me and asked me why i looked familiar...and then she remembered.

"you spoke last year at the team captain university for renton and kent! i know you! you formed a team because your friend passed away from brain cancer..."

and she told me the whole story of my team.

guess who didn't take no for an answer? guess who overcame my objections? guess who knew why i relayed?

answer:
the cupcake lady.

and the reason why i came home with sugary pink goodness in the form of relay cupcakes.

heading up to skagit valley tomorrow - speaking to the relay team captains up in that area for the same thing...except i get 45 whole minutes. poor people... :)

oh, and by the way, you really should check which team is on top right now. it is a good thing.