[Nfb-fundraising] Follow-up on the Cycle for Independence Event

[Everett Gavel]

Hi Ramona, and all,

So Ramona, how did your event, the Cycle for
Independence go?  A great success, I hope.

Thanks,
Everett
www.everettgavel.com


----- Original Message ----- 
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 2:06 PM


> Michael, it is the Treasure Valley Chapter which is
in Boise Idaho.
> I think this is our ninth Cycle for Independence.
The first couple were
> pretty small, so it has grown gradually.  We have
learned, often by trial
> and error, but it has become a fairly sophisticated
project.  We use ham
> radio operators at water stops and in sag wagons,
vehicles that cruise the
> routes in case of trouble.  We run three routes:
63-mile of metric century;
> 25-mile; and ten-mile.  We serve lunch of hamburgers
and hot dogs, etc.,
> after the ride.  We will add boca burgers this year
for vegetarians.  We
> have a local d.j. do the send off for each route.  We
encourage
> preregistration, and about three fourths of the
riders did that last year.
> We give all who preregister free bike socks, which
are really bright this
> year.  We really work to include blind people on the
back of tandems, but
> usually only get about six.  We will be on tv with
the local weather man
> next Tuesday, which means getting people and bikes to
the start/finish point
> before 5:00 a.m.  We use a local Lions club to do the
lunch and another
> Lions club lets us borrow their tent which is 15 by
35 feet.  They put it up
> for us and take it down, but it saves our workers
from the sun.  We are also
> using some volunteers from the Delta Gamma sorority
for registration and
> some other things.  Of course, our chapter members
are involved in
> everything.
> We request local businesses to sponsor the event, and
generally about 2500
> dollars come in that way.  Most of the money comes
from the registration
> fees from the riders.
> We provide water, powerade, bananas, and bars of some
sort at the water
> stops.
> We also give away goody batgs.  This year they will
contain a coupon for
> coffee, a coupon for a free loaf of wonderful bread
from Great Harvest
> bakery, a pen from a local ophthalmologist, baseball
stuff from the Boise
> Hawks, mints, Braille cards, a flier about the NFB,
and several fliers.
> Some more things may come in, but I know of these so
far.
> We give away prizes, winners drawn from the names of
riders.  So far we are
> up to fifteen prizes this year, but there will be
more.
> We will have the Sensory Safari traylor parked at our
start/finish point and
> some other activities of that kind.
> In other words, it is a big deal.  We involve several
riders in planning, as
> well as chapter members.  All this has evolved
gradually, and it is a lot of
> work and a lot of fun!
> One more thing, the Cycle for Independence is the
first of five rides called
> the Treasure Valley Charity Bike Series.  That means
we can do some shared
> advertising with the others. Our ride is the fourth
largest of these, so we
> get contact with a lot of other riders this way.  At
the urging of this
> group,  There is a local weekly publication aimed by
the local newspaper at
> young adults.  This year it did a bike issue, and we
bought a page of
> advertising for 385 dollars.  This is the first time
we have paid for
> advertising, but we decided it was  the right place
and the right time.
>