THANK YOU!!

To all My Friends for LIFE,

We had one awesome year...we raised between $26,000-$27,000 AND the totals are still rolling in!! We shattered the $200,000.00 mark and next year we WILL break a quarter of a million dollars---our "little team that could"! That's absolutely amazing and I couldn't do it without each of you. We have until August 1st before the 2010 Relay kicks off but please be thinking about folks that may want to be on the team in 2010. We will be having a team kick off in September.

Mom-Thanks for all your help last week getting ready and for all your help on site. You should be an honorary committee member. Also Dumpy is a lifesaver-thanks for sharing!

Bev-Thank you-Thank you for getting the cd's, team water, change, and helping things run smooth on site.

Steph-Thank you for your leadership onsite and your decorating...Best Campsite 2009!! Awesome job!

Rob-I could not do ANY of this without your support-all my love, thank you!

Jen H & Angie-The tee shirts were fantastic and sold very well, thank you!

The Pizza krewe-Christie, Adam, Cliff, Lars, Andy, Jen H & Kevin- Awesome job feeding the masses!! People love the pizzas and you guys did a great job, thank you!

Rachel, Kayla, Michele, Piper & Jared-great job walking the track selling crowns and glow sticks. You guys ROCK! You also stayed all night and were helping pack up till the bitter end, thank you!

Licha-you got there so early and stayed till the end. We hope you enjoyed FFL and look forward to having you with us next year! Thank you!

Laura-Your crowns and clips were beautiful, they really helped make the site look pretty and they sold very well. Great idea, great job and Thank you!

Mom Homer-Thank you for hanging with the kids, your job was one of the toughest and I appreciated you helping them have a great Relay experiance!

Kelli-Great job at the rock wall, I didn't get to see you much but I hope you had a great Relay! Thanks for taking all three shifts off site! :)

Brandon-Thank you for sitting with me at the info booth and for running the poker tournament-an extra $1,000 for FFL-way to go!

John-Thanks for keeping the co-chair duties running smooth so I could divide my time between chair and team. It's been an honor working with you this year. I hope you stay on FFL next year! :)

To the Friends that came out to support us, thank you! I got to see a couple of you, if only for a moment. Some of you I completely missed and for that I apologize. Next year I won't have to be off site at all and that is a wonderful feeling! I missed that aspect of Relay so much these past few years and I am already looking forward to next year.

I appreciate each and every one of you being on the team or supporting our team. If I forgot anyone, my sincere apologies. I cannot thank you enough for letting me lead you as well as supporting me while I was the co-chair. It has been a long road but now I can go back to being just Tracey. I truly believe the work we are doing is saving lives everyday and I would have been selfish to not step up and be chair. But--I know for a fact that FFL would not have survived these past two years without the strong backbone of team members like all of you. I'm already looking forward to next year and I hope each one of you is planning to return to the team as well.

Even though the tone will be a LOT more relaxed next year, we will still have a goal of $18,000...I fully believe we can do that! If you have any ideas for fundraising, please let me know. I think the auction is going by the wayside, but there should be plenty of opportunities out there. We will have the Fall and Spring garage sale and a bowling tournament is in the works. There have been rumors of a poker tournament or a 5K walk/run...we will just have to wait and see.

Thank you everyone for being a part of the 2009 Relay for Life team. As you know, "We are friends with HOPE, we are friends making a difference, we are Friends for LIFE".

Ready to Relay?

We only have three days to go...can you believe Relay is almost here!?!!

I have been working on getting a schedule together for the night of activities. We will be selling Papa Johns and Drinks. We will also have a sale table on site with the following items:
*All Are Our Heroes Cd's
*Princess Crowns
*Glow necklaces
*Friends for Life 2009 Tee Shirts
*Keeping Track Bead Necklaces

We are sponsoring a rock wall down in the KidZone area as well as selling the cd's and Keeping Tracks beads down at the main information booth for the ACS.

We have four fantastic opportunities to sell items and raise even more money in the fight against cancer. Granted, coming in as a Top Team is always a bonus :) It helps with the order of campsite selection for the following year so that we can keep our same spot. Don't forget to turn in any money that you may not have gotten in by team bank night. Stephanie is our on-site money person.

Just a few quick reminders:
* Label any items you bring from home, especially if you are leaving before Saturday morning.
*FFL shirts will be $9 if you pre-ordered, $10 on the track (pick up shirts the night of).
*I have everyone's 2009 Relay for Life participant shirt, they are labeled and will be at the track for pick up-look for the clear bin near the team sign in table on our site.
*Team picture will be taken at the campsite immediately following the team lap (first is Survivor lap, then Kids Walk Lap and then Team Lap).

Directions to the Park:
Coming from the south on I75, take the Windy Hill Rd exit and go west to Austell Rd. Turn right on Austell Rd and go to County Services Rd. Turn left on County Services Rd and go to Al Bishop Dr. Turn left on Al Bishop Dr

Coming from the north on I75, take the North Marietta Parkway exit and go west. The North Marietta Parkway becomes Powder Springs Rd. Continue to County Services Rd. Turn left on County Services Rd and go to Al Bishop Dr. Turn right on Al Bishop Dr.

Coming from West Cobb, take Powder Springs Rd to Callaway Rd. Turn right on Callaway Rd.

Thank you everyone! I look forward to seeing you soon! :):) !

February 19th Meeting Recap

Hi Friends!

I would like to thank everyone that came out to the meeting tonight. Our team is taking shape and we have some really good ideas. Here are some important highlights:

1) We are working on the FFL tee shirt design for 2009. It will not have FFL on it so that we can sell some on site. I will email a picture out when we finalize everything. Thank you to Angie and Stephanie for taking this on. We will let you know how much they cost as soon as we can. These shirts are optional but most team members chose to get one to wear the night of Relay.

2) The silent auction is on Monday March 16th from 6-8 pm at Piedmont Church off Piedmont road and Canton road in Marietta. Food will be provided and there will be a free will donation to get in the door. We need items to be donated so please try and find something to contribute. The more items we have to bid on, the more money that comes in to Cobb Relay. Our team gets credit for whatever items we bring in...any questions please ask.

3)The Spring Garage Sale will be the 17th & 18th of April at the Homer House. We have our luminary decorating team meeting that week, so please bring any items you have to the Homer House that night or some time before the 15th. This is usually one of our biggest fundraisers. Please make sure that the items are in fairly good condition. A good once over with a rag will help me tremendously with pricing and organizing all of the items to make sure the sale goes as smoothly as possible.

4) This year, in order to receive a tee shirt from Cobb Relay, you must raise at least $100. They are still doing the $1,000 club shirts if you are able to raise that much individually. Other incentives are available starting st $250 or you can forgo a prize with the money saved going back to Relay.

5) Cobb Relay as a raffle this year for a credit of $30,000 towards a new or used car from Hayes automotive. Tickets are $5 each and I have those if you would like to sell them. Please let me know and I will get them to you. This is a GREAT way to meet your $100 goal--take them to work, the gym or your church.

6) For on site this year we will again be doing Papa John's pizza and cold drinks. I will try to get Monster to sponsor us as well. We will have our "Keeping Track" beads and we are going to try a couple new things. First is butterfly headbands and second is butterfly pens. These may be used as give aways for the kids walk portion of our on site fund raising.

7) There are three options this year for tribute items. In Honor or In Memory of those who have fought cancer, of all ages. A-Traditional White Luminary bags for a donation of $10 each. B-Sponsor a Butterfly for the Butterfly Release for $25 and also receive a gold luminary to personalize for the Luminary Ceremony. C-A Candle Sponsorship to be lit at the main stage during the Luminary Ceremony for $100. Loved one's picture will be displayed on an LED screen during the Luminary Ceremony.This is a great opportunity to raise money for your goal as well as CELEBRATE and REMEMBER those who have fought so hard against this awful disease.

As most of you know, we have had a matching donor for the past few years. As a team we are entirely grateful for every penny we have received to go towards Relay. This year we are on our own so we need to work extra hard to Fight Back. I usually set our team goal at half what we did the year before in case we had no matching. This year I would REALLY love it if we could raise $18,000---in 5 years we have raised $182,000 in the fight against cancer, I would love to see FFL go above $200,000. Not bad for a few friends and family members!!

Thank you all for your commitment to Fight Back! See you at the Silent Auction on the 16th of March or the next Friends for LIFE meeting on the 15th of April. As always, please call or email with any questions, comments or concerns.

Tracey, Christie and Stephanie

Friends for LIFE Captains

2009 Relay Season Dates

Steering Committee Dates (if you're on committee)
Monday March 30th 5:30 at Wellstar
Monday April 20th 5:30 at Wellstar
Thursday April 30th BANK NIGHT at the Cobb EMC building
Tuesday May 5th at Jim Miller Park

Team Captains meetings (all team members are invited to attend)
Monday April 13th at 5:30 Sedalia Park Elementary

Friends for LIFE Meeting (all team members are encouraged to attend)
Luminary Decorating:Wednesday April 15th 6:00 Tracey's house BRING GARAGE SALE ITEMS and Luminary Names

Silent Auction
Monday March 16th at Piedmont Church (corner of Piedmont and Canton Roads in Marietta) from 6-8 pm

Garage Sale
Friday and Saturday April 17th and 18th from 8 am -3 pm

A few important details:
*The ACS is requiring that the $100 goal be met by each participant before receiving their tee shirt.
*This year individuals have the opportunity to purchase space in the program like an advertiser would do.
*As a transition from Kids Walk to Relay we will have a butterfly release (If someone does sponsor a butterfly (for $25 each) they will receive a special gold luminary bag for the campsite for the Relay Luminary Ceremony to be held later in the evening)
*As far as team fundraisers; we have the silent auction, the Spring garage sale, Papa Johns the night of and some sort of fundraiser for the Kids Walk (6 pm Friday night)