Just 4 more days!!

Next Tuesday is June 15 and what's the big deal about June 15? It's the last day of pre-registration for the 3rd Annual Smiles For Sophie Forever Birthday Bash and Dash!! In case you have been meaning to register, but haven't yet, you should do so before midnight on Tuesday (or make sure your mail-in entry is postmarked by June 15). Pre-registration is just $20 for 11 and up, and $15 for 10 and under, and it guarantees you a race t-shirt, a goody bag, entry into the door prize drawing, a kid's activities wristband (if applicable), and a birthday cupcake. After June 15, the race entry fee is $25 with no guarantees of the above items.

In addition, there is still plenty of time to fundraise!! When you register for the race, you can choose to become a fundraiser for this event. Active.com makes it really easy by sending you instructions on how to customize your own personal fundraising page that you can then email out to friends and family. If every participant became a fundraiser and sent the page to 20 friends and family who then each donated $10...WOW!! What an impact that would have on reaching our fundraising goal for this year's race and what a difference it would help SFSF make in the lives of many of the children fighting brain cancer!! Please consider becoming a fundraiser and sharing Sophie's story with everyone you know. Every dollar helps!! (If you have any problems with your fundraising page, please email me at smiklaski@cox.net.)

June 15 is also the printing deadline for the race program, the race t-shirt, and the race banner. Please see the corporate sponsor/gift in-kind forms at http://smilesforsophieforever.org/birthday-bash-and-dash for the various sponsorship levels. So if you, or a company you know, is planning to donate in support of this year's event, please be sure to make your online donation today or to postmark your check by June 15. All checks should be made out and mailed to:

Smiles For Sophie Forever
31722 Leeward Ct
Avon Lake, OH 44012

Speaking of corporate sponsors or gift in-kind donations...we still need your support!! Remember, all donations are tax-deductible. So, again, businesses out there...donate to support a local organization and let us help you advertise by including your name and/or logo (as applicable) on our printed race materials. Or if you or somebody you know has anything to donate to the Foundation to be used in the Chinese raffle or silent auction, we would greatly appreciate it...concert tickets, tickets to sporting events, sports memorabilia, hotel stays, children's activities, gift certificates, anything!! Again, June 15 is the print deadline so get your items to us as soon as you can!!

So far, we have 123 registrants for this year's race and have raised $10,656 on the active.com fundraising page!! Thank you so much to those of you who have pre-registered and to those of you who have donated and/or become fundraisers. It is truly through these donations that the previous 2 events have been so successful. At this same time last year, our active.com page was approximately $1000 more than we have now (with 129 registrants), and at this same time two years ago, it was approximately $2000 more (with 121 registrants). Let's make a big push from now until July 4 to make this year better than even the inaugural event in 2008. I know we can do it!! If you are reading this blog entry today, please take a few moments to share it with 10 people or to ask 10 people you know to donate.

Donating is easy and can be done either online or by writing a check. If you are going to donate online, one way you can really help is to make your donation on Team Nordson's Smiles For Sophie fundraising page. Kathleen Smith, of Nordson, has registered for the race and has created the team fundraising page. Nordson has generously offered to match all donations made to the team page up to $6,000!!! This is an awesome way for us to make $6,000 into $12,000!! So, you can easily double your donation by simply visiting the Team Nordson fundraising page at http://www.active.com/donate/SFSFBashandDash10/KSmith1379 to make your donation online.

Thanks to all the volunteers who have continued to work behind the scenes to make this year's event better than ever. We could never do what we do without all of our awesome volunteers. Nor could we continue meeting our mission without all of our awesome supporters and donors. So thanks again and keep it up...just over 3 weeks until race day!!

Hope to see you all there!!

Sarah