Relay For Life Kickoff... Total Success!

On Tuesday, November 17, my Public Relations and Administration class was finally able to see all of our hard work pay off.

This entire semester, we have been planning the Baldwin County Relay For Life Kickoff (I previously wrote a blog about the pitching experience). Luckily, we were given the theme by the national Relay For Life Committee: "The official sponsor of birthdays," and one of the groups in our class came up with the winning slogan: "Celebrate a memory." It seemed like everything was going to be simple. The hardest part was already done. However, as the event grew closer, so did my blood pressure!

I got out of class that Tuesday afternoon around 1:45. We had all decided as a class to meet at Northside Baptist Church (where the event was being held) by 2. As I was walking out of the library, I see Dr. Miller... She wasn't happy. We only had about three dozen cupcakes donated for an expected 100 people. Somehow Dr. Miller was able to find enough uniced cupcakes at a local grocery store to calm all of our nerves. If it wasn't for her running around like a chicken with her head cutoff, our event would have been unsuccessful (considering the cupckes were key to the ceremony).

What I expected to be the biggest problem turned out to be the least of our worries. The Baldwin County Relay For Life committee did not give us a budget... Nada. How in the world could they expect us to put on an event for over 100 people without a dime? Lucky for us, Brooke Brookins was in our class. She was able to get 100 hamburgers and hotdogs, chips, cookies and a helium tank donated to the event. Other members of the "Food Commitee" were able to get donations from local businesses in the Milledgeville area. There was so much food left over, the entire class was able to make a plate once the event was over and take a plate home for later (and we still had to throw some away). The buffet consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs, baked beans, coleslaw, chips and cookies... The perfect birthday meal.



The menu went perfectly with the theme of the Kickoff, as did the decorations. We made centerpieces of wrapped presents (in Relay colors of course) for the tables that were covered with white and black tablecloths. There were also oversized wrapped presents spaced out on the walls and on the floor throughout the room. Purple candy was sprinkled on the tables, a balloon arch at the door, a banner with the theme on it, and my duty... The candles. For my group's pitch at the beginning of the semester, I came up with the idea of making 27 large candles to signify the years that Relay For Life has been raising money for the American Cancer Society. The committee loved the idea and decided to incorporate the candles into the Kickoff. Professors from the university (including Dr. Miller) and other fellow classmates donated posterboard and art supplies to make the candles the talk of the event. The Give Center even decided to keep them for a later event!

Andrea Lowery and Keri Allgood made nearly everyone in the fellowhip hall cry during the survivor slideshow. They worked extra hard to make the slideshow meaningful through the music, quotes and pictures. Their hard work made the team captains see the importance of their fundraising for ACS.

Beth Benton and I were on the "Media Team" for the event. Beth wrote press releases that were published in local newspapers while I wrote PSAs for the two major radio stations in Milledgeville. I also came up with the idea to advertise the event via pizza boxes. I distributed nearly 1,000 flyers to restaurants who had pizza to go. These restaurants taped the flyers on the front of the boxes for the community to see. Between the newspapers, radio stations and pizza boxes, we had somewhere around 100 team captains from the Milledgeville area to show up for the Kickoff.

Overall, this experience taught me a lot. It first and foremost showed me the importance of handling stress. Staying calm throughout the planning and execution of an event is key. If one person is stressed, it seems to rub off on everyone. It is also extremely important to be connected to the community. Had the class not been connected to the community, it would have been impossible to put on such a successful event without a budget. Lastly, it is important to delegate authority. Lyric, Cara and Kara did an amazing job at assigning different tasks to everyone in the class. Everyone stayed busy before, during and after the event to help everything run smoothly. I was the most amazed by how long it took us to clean up the entire fellowship hall... 30 minutes! We all worked hard together and had an extremely successful event! The community is excited about the upcoming Relay For Life, and that was our job. Great job PR Admin!

~Tori Cantrell~