The Countdown to Relay: Thurston Joys

We had our last team captain's meeting tonight.

It had the most people of a final TC meeting that I've ever been to...it was awesome.

Things that rocked?

• At the beginning of the meeting, they handed out the event programs so we could look through them and ask questions. So incredibly helpful.
• Also at the beginning, they handed out the team accounting showing where every team stood in terms of fundraising. For the competitive people, we all got lost in the details of how we were doing versus everyone else.
• At the end of the meeting, they handed you a full list of every single donation your team has received since you registered as a team. It denoted the date received, who it was credited to, amount, and how it was received (online donation or offline check/cash). Every single donation. I was almost in tears with joy. I didn't think it was possible to be so detailed and accurate...but Dawn Gadwa rocked it. With the exception of 5 matching gift forms that I had turned in directly to ACS in May and one online donation that was received today -- every single penny was accounted for. Being the type-A personality that works with finances every day, I could not have been happier.
• At the end, they assigned tentsites (talk about motivating your captains to not miss a meeting!) and handed out the event tees that your team ordered. Exceptional detail to managing costs and keeping the meeting flowing.

It was so fun.

Jonathan and I decided to bring Lap Beads to Thurston County this year. Let it be known that this is not our original idea. We are absolutely copying the Beach Babes, led by Sarah Conlon and Danyal Henderson, team captains from Tacoma.

When I was at the University of Nevada's Relay in April, I was chatting with the chair from the Reno/Sparks Relay, and she was telling me all about starting the lap beads at her event this year. My first words? "You should really talk to Sarah..."

She cut me off. "Sarah Conlon? Oh, we email back and forth through www.relayforlife.org and it was her idea that inspired me!"

I loved seeing the reach of one team from Tacoma. Sarah's willingness to share the idea and teach others defines the spirit of Relay. She provided detailed instructions on how to do it at an event and the American Cancer Society published it on the Society Link for Relayers across the nation to learn from. The forums on www.relayforlife.org are filled with ideas and help that started with her assistance.

Sarah, thank you! Your spirit will be felt down in Thurston this year! :)