Updated race information!

Hi everybody!

Kristin, the race director, sent out this information via the Active email option, however we don't think everybody got the email. So, we're posting this information here as well, so hopefully everybody will get it.

We are so excited about the awesome turn-out and we can't wait until Friday! See you there!!

Love,
Sarah

Early Packet Pick-up:
(We will take late registrations during these times too with an entry fee of $25.)

Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 6-8 p.m.
Dairy Queen
33720 Walker Rd
Avon Lake, OH 44012

Thursday, July 3, 2008, 12-2 p.m.
Swingos Grand Tavern
32858 Walker Rd
Avon Lake, OH 44012

If you are unable to pick up your race materials early, pre-registration check-in will be from 8-8:45 a.m. on July 4, 2008. We will also be taking race day registrations during that time, for an entry fee of $25.

Parking:

If you live in the surrounding neighborhoods, we encourage you to save gas money and walk or ride your bike over to the park. There are approximately 200 parking spaces for use at Walker Road Park. At 8:45 a.m. or when the Walker Road Park lot is full (whichever come first), the lot will be closed. Holy Spirit Catholic Church (410 Lear Rd, Avon Lake, OH 44012) has graciously allowed us to use their parking lot. Avon Lake City Schools has donated a bus and driver to shuttle racers to and from Walker Road Park. The shuttle will run from Holy Spirit to Walker Road Park from 7:30 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. The bus will not run from 9-10 a.m.

Kids Activities:

Just a friendly reminder that all children participating in the activities after the race must make a donation and have a waiver signed. If the child is registered for the race, the wristband is included, but we still need a signed waiver. We have many exciting activities planned: bounce house, animals from the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center and Columbus Zoo, face painting, sand box, cotton candy and snow cones, just to name a few! Hot dogs and drinks will be for sale for a small fee.

Door Prizes:

Carefully check out your goodie bags to see if it contains a winning door prize postcard! All prizes will be distributed on race day. We will be giving away some of the following items:

2-month Curves membership, Cleveland Browns gift package, gift certificates to: Winking Lizard, Playground World, First Watch, Copper Cup, Ironwood Cafe, El Metate, Rush Inn, and Absolute Dance, overnight stays at: Holiday Inn Select City Centre, Sheraton Suites Cuyahoga Falls and Crown Plaza Cleveland City Centre, Cleveland Indians tickets, a NASCAR lunchbox with Stewarts Electronics gift certificate, a spa package at Brown Aveda Institute, Agave gift card, 1-year subscription to Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine, Cleveland Zoo tickets, Cleveland Orchestra tickets, Ipod, autographed Z Cavaliers jersey, Cherished Teddies figurine and watch set, Dr Seuss books and stuffed animals, a custom decorated cake from Crazy Cakes and even more!

Hotel deadlines

Hi everybody!!

This is just a reminder that the hotel room blocks that we have set aside will be released this week. So, if you are planning on participating in the events on July 4 and think you will want to stay overnight, please call one of the two hotels ASAP. The hotel information is on Sophie's website on the events page...scroll down towards the bottom for locations and phone numbers.

The two hotels are:
Courtyard Marriott (JULY 3 ONLY): rooms need to be booked by JUNE 19
Hampton Inn (JULY 3 and 4): rooms need to be booked by JUNE 18

There are of course other hotels in the area, but these are two of the closest that had some availability and were willing to give us a discounted rate.

Thanks so much to everyone that has registered and/or donated! For those of you that haven't...you still have time!! Please visit http://www.smilesforsophieforever.org/ to register and/or donate!!

Love,
Sarah

Happy Anniversary?

Well the 6th of each month is normally a day I dread. I start thinking about it the night before and continue to think about it throughout the day. I hate that time keeps on going without Sophie. I long to be able to go back in time and change the course of events. I know I can't so the 6th of the month is often even more heartbreaking than all the other days when my heart aches of missing Sophie, and I replay the events of the day she died, which was now 8 months ago.

Today is different. Today I miss her as much (if not more) than I always do. Today though, I long to give her a hug and say thanks...why? Because I am so excited to say that just today we received the letter from the IRS stating our foundation paperwork has been approved, and we are now an "official" non-profit foundation!!!!! I know Sophie had something to do with us receiving this news today. We are more than excited. So in a way, today is a "Happy Anniversary." We owe a HUGE thank you to Peter VanEuwen, the attorney (and friend) who provided us the necessary help and guidance to get the paperwork submitted correctly, and in a timely manner. We are so blessed and grateful to know Peter. Without him, we might very well still be spinning our wheels, knee-deep in confusing paperwork!

The planning for our race is coming along great! We realize we have less than a month until the big day, and there is still work to be done, but with all the effort from so very many willing volunteers, we know it is going to be awesome!

In addition to the race (run and walk) we will be having some kids activities to entertain the little ones after the race. Our "activities committee" has been working hard at planning some fun things for the kids to do, and here are just a few of them: animals from the nature center, face painting, balloon art, magic shows, cotton candy machines, snow cone machines, the Life Flight helicopter, a giant bounce house, birthday cupcakes, and more!! All of this will be available to children who make a donation to the foundation in exchange for a wristband. Parents must accompany their child(ren) so that a waiver can be signed before the activities begin. For those children who have registered for the walk, or run, the wristband will be provided as part of the registration fee, but the additional waiver will still need to be signed on race day.

Those who have pre-registered for the event (those received prior to June 27) will receive a goodie bag, t-shirt, birthday cake, water, fruit, bagels, and 2 entries to the live drawing which will be held after the race. So far we have some cool things to give away, and I will update the blog in the next few days, once all the items have been collected. Here is a sneak peak: gift certificates to local restaurants and stores, gift baskets, tickets to an Indians game and more!

Those who register between from June 28 and July 4 will pay an additional $5, and unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the perks of "pre-registration" to those who enter after June 27.

There will be a DJ to provide music, as well as live music from some talented local high school students. We also will have fresh squeezed lemonade and jumbo grilled hotdogs for sale, in addition to our "Smiles for Sophie Forever" car magnets and headbands.

Today, with the help of so many people dedicated to our cause, combined with our activegiving.com campaign, we have raised over $10,000 for the event. Our goal is $50,000 and to some, that seems crazy, but we set that goal with the motto "Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you will land among the stars." in mind. We still have time to raise additional funds, so if you feel called to do so, please visit http://www.active.com/donate/SmilesForSophie

In the works are some incentive prizes for individuals and/or teams who have achieved various fundraising goals.

Each member of a team, or individual who meets the following amounts, will be entered into a drawing for the prizes listed below. And they are pretty cool prizes! These are just some of the things we have so far, and more may be added as we receive them.

Fundraisers raising $2000.00 or more will be entered into each of the following drawings:

1. a Columbus Zoo family entertainment pack for 7 including a behind the scenes tour of the Jack Hannah Animal Promotions Complex valued over $1000.00
2. steak and lobster dinner for 8 prepared at your home by the chef from Delucas in the Park valued at $1000.00

Fundraisers raising at least $1000.00 will be entered into the following drawings:

1. 4 Indians club seat tickets valued at $440
2. a one night stay for two with breakfast at the Marriott Cleveland East

Fundraisers raising at least $750.00 will be entered into the following drawings:
1. Charles Scott Salon and spa $125 gift certificate

2. Little Gym of Avon Birthday party gift certificate valued at $225
3. I-Pod Nano with case

Fundraisers raising at least $500.00 will be entered into the following drawings:

1. an overnight stay for 2 with breakfast at the Cleveland Hampton Inn
2. one of 2 Sony mp3 players
3. one of 2 $100.00 Little Gym of Avon gift certificates
4. autographed Victor Martinez baseball

If you haven't set up an active giving fundraising page, you still have time, and your support will mean so much. If you need help creating, customizing, or updating your page, feel free to contact my sister Sarah at smiklaski@cox.net. She will be glad to help.

Our next planning meeting will be held at Swingos Grand Tavern in Avon Lake on Tuesday June 17, at 7:00. If you have ideas to share, all are welcome as we put all the final details into place.

If you are interested in helping the day of the event, please contact pkvaneuwen@oh.rr.com . We are in need of many volunteers, and would love your help. If you are volunteering, you can still participate in the event if you wish to do so.

More information will be coming soon regarding early packet pick-up.

Thank you to all of you who have continued to send thoughts and prayers our way. Please take a minute to pray for the families who are fighting the battle of pediatric brain cancer this very moment.

With your continued help, and support, we hope one day, the battle for these families will be a victorious one. We cannot wait to begin allocating the Smiles for Sophie Forever funds to families fighting this battle, as well as organizations like St. Jude who are working to find a cure for pediatric brain tumors.

Thank you again to all our supporters. God Bless you all.