FUNdraising Friday!!

**First, a couple of team fundraisers!**

1. Tomorrow, 5/5 from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Yard Sale for Team "This One's For You".  1165 Plymouth Street (Rte 106) East Bridgewater, MA.
2. From now through Relay - Cookbooks by Team Mace - "The cookbook consists of 135 recipes from members of Team Mace and their friends and families. We are selling them for $8.00 each. I will bring some to the next team captain's meeting, and we will also have them on-site the day of Relay."  You can post on the Facebook site or here, and we will put you in contact with team captain Karen Arrighi.

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Maybe you've already hit your goal, or maybe you haven't even started.  Here are some easy ideas you can implement this month.  And remember, May is Skin Cancer Awareness month - if you're outdoors, make sure you protect your skin!

 
Get Healthy!
Roughly one-third of cancer deaths can be linked to poor diet, physical inactivity and carrying excess weight, so we want to offer some healthy alternatives to traditional bake sales. At the office, host a Relay Salad Potluck. One day a week you bring the greens and the healthy dressings and invite everyone in the office to bring one topping of their choice.  Give them healthy suggestions like fruit, nuts, fresh cut veggies, chick peas, or grilled chicken.  Because this is a fundraiser for your Relay For Life team, ask for a suggested donation equal to a lunch out. When you attend your community Little League tournament or your son or daughter's soccer game, bring along some healthy snacks!  Bottled water, all-natural fruit juice boxes, fruits that are easy to eat on the go like apples and bananas, and granola bars are all healthy snack options for little athletes and their fans!  And don't forget Relay!  As an on-site fundraiser, host a make-your-own trail mix station. Have big containers of everyone's trail mix favorites - dried fruits, nuts, pretzels, and yes, even some M&M's - and let donors fill their own baggie with their favorite mix!  "Mock-tails" - Club Soda and real fruit juices - is another good fundraiser. To learn more about good nutrition, take this quiz.
 
Squeegee Day
Everyone likes a clean windshield. Get a team to do a squeegee day at a  local drive-thru. Have one person at the beginning of the drive-thru ask the person in the car if they would like their windshield washed in return for a donation to Relay For Life. If they say yes, a volunteer places a Relay flyer under their windshield wiper. When the driver gets to the next drive-thru window, a team of two washes their windshield - after handing the donor the Relay information - and thanks them for their support.

Change Makes a lot of Cents
Tying into the theme of ACS as The Official Sponsor of Birthdays, one company team held a month-long competition between departments to see who could collect the most loose change in an empty birthday gift bag. The winning team/department received decorated cupcakes. The slogans for this fundraiser were “We might just find a cure for cancer right in your pocket!” and “Change makes a lot of cents.” Take this idea one step further and ask your neighbors to find the cure in their pockets!  Another team sent notes to all their neighbors asking them to gather all their loose change from their pockets, cars, and households and have it ready for pick up on a certain day.  (ETA - you could even run this as Penny Wars between departments or school years!)

It's Show Time
Set up your big-screen TV in the back yard (or put up a sheet and borrow a projector) and host a neighborhood movie night, charging a fee for admission and concessions. Or, make it a date night for parents, charging $20 to drop off their kids for a movie and pizza. You also could ask the local firehouse to set up a screen with a family-friendly feature and throw a tour of the firehouse in for an extra $5.  (ETA - some Olympic-themed movies - Chariots of Fire, Cool Runnings, Murderball, Miracle, and The Cutting Edge.)
 
Relay Rewards
Did you know that your local Relay For Life provides recognition and incentive programs for teams and team members? It's true. Each year thousands of participants from across the New England Division work tirelessly to fight back by raising funds through Relay For Life to help the American Cancer Society save lives and create a world with more birthdays. And, to show our appreciation for all the time and energy our volunteers invest in the fight against cancer, the American Cancer Society has special ways of saying 'thank you.' Learn more about these programs.
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Don't forget to follow us on Facebook! You can also reach the website at http://www.relaybridgewater.org/ or email us at relaybridgewater@gmail.com.