Day 166 - $6,774

Big Milestone!!! We passed 500 fans on Facebook! Thanks to everyone that is following there. If you have a google account, don't forget to follow this blog as well. And don't forget about Twitter...

I'm still sick, but I think I'm almost over it. But... I finally finished the Bowl-A-Thon video. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to pass it on to your friends and family. For those of you out there planning Give One Million events - be sure to take video and pics and send them to me so I can post them on the blog. And that reminds me... I NEED volunteers to help. If you have some extra time on your hands let me know. I can fill it up!

Enjoy the video:

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Day 149 - $6,764

Success! Tonight we had the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude at Lunar Bowl. A HUGE thanks to everyone that came out tonight. I know everyone had a great time. Especially Mr. Johnson who rolled out of there with a $80 tool set from Lowe's and two sweet tickets to the Royals/Twins game. Another funny winner was Steve. He won a weight watchers cookbook and a Blue Springs Fitness membership in the raffle. We promise Steve! It was just coincidence! We weren't trying to imply anything!

So I know you're all dying to know how much we made... And the grand total for money raised from the Bowl-A-Thon is...

$1,449!

We were very happy with that. I was getting pretty nervous these last few days - hoping people would even show up. I think we ended up with around 60 people attending. We pretty much filled up 12 of the 14 lanes we rented. The raffle is what really saved our bacon. It was a hit! We sold tickets for $5, and we sold a lot. Way more than we expected. We had some sweet prizes, and lots of them - so most people that bought a ticket won something.

The silent auction didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I figured that the silent auction would be a little harder of a sell. We had some pretty big ticket items for auction, and were asking for quite a bit of money for the minimum bids. I.E. Diamond Necklace - minimum bid $250. A few items I had originally as silent auction, I ended up just throwing into the raffle, because nobody bid on them. That's OK though. We earned enough money from the raffle to make us feel good about that move.

Melissa and Danielle deserve a round of applause. It was getting pretty busy checking everyone in online and setting everyone up with their lanes, etc. But they pulled it off. Danielle had her laptop there so we could accept donations right there on the spot as payment. That worked out well.

The guys at Lunar Bowl were great too. They really did a great job of helping us get this set up and helping us during the event with whatever we needed.

I think that covers most everything. I'll be posting pics and video from the event soon. Thanks again to everyone that came out. We put a lot of time into getting this set up. for the last month or so I've been spending every lunch break, and a couple hours after work going business to business or doing something to get this event pulled together. Plus the time every night after the kids go to bed. Now it's on to the next one. Stay tuned! This is only the beginning!!!

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Day 146 - $5,500

Remember the 5k in Provo earlier this month? My friend Caleb Scoville put that on and donated the proceeds to Give One Million for St. Jude. Well... I mainly focused on the fact that he was raising money for Give One Million - but a cool aspect of the race, I didn't tell you too much about was that that fact that it was a barefoot race! And guess what?? The Barefoot Runners Society did a write up on the race!!! Check it out!

You know what the funny thing is... I was in D.C. last week on a business trip - and as I was walking past the Washington Monument - I say a guy running barefoot. I wonder if he's a member of the Barefoot Runners Society D.C. Chapter? :) They have one you know.

Well, good for Caleb - that's awesome what he's doing - and awesome that he's teaming up with us as well to help the kids at St. Jude.

Now... a special note for everyone in the Blue Springs area reading this:

SIGN UP FOR THE BOWL-A-THON!!!!

It's going to be a blast, and there will be tons of prizes! You're not going to find anything else better to spend $12 on this Saturday - so RSVP now! Remember to do it by Friday - because it's $15 if you pay at the door.

See everyone there!

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Day 144 - $5,450

Don't forget... the tickets for the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude are now

ONLY $12!!!

When you pay in advance. They are $15 at the door. It looks like there are a bunch of people planning on coming (according to facebook). We had a few pay to reserve their spot. Don't forget to pay before Friday so you get your $12 price. I submitted some press releases today. I hope they help. If you're on facebook please invite your friends to attend. If you're not on facebook - send out a couple emails. This is ALL going to St. Jude and toward our million dollar goal. So don't be afraid to send a few emails for a good cause!

It's almost time for school to start, if it hasn't already for you/your kids. Is there a fundraiser you can do at your local school? Is there a way you can get some students involved in reaching our goal of one million in one year for St. Jude?

That's my plan. I am going to approach some of the clubs at the local High Schools to see what they can do.

We are over 300 fans now on facebook! Way to go everyone! If we can get one million fans on facebook just think of the good we can do. Keep sending those invites, and if you haven't already... Follow Give One Million on facebook!!! (P.S. Also, if you have a google account - don't forget to become a follower of this blog.) This is going to take some serious grass roots campaigning to get that many followers - so help me if you can.

We're coming up on 5 months down, and I'm still going 1000% I haven't given up in the least. I'll admit - I have my down days where I think nobody is even paying attention to me, but overall my spirits are up. I still believe we can do this. It will just take one stroke of luck, and we could go from $5,450 to $545,000. You never know. So keep doing those little fundraisers. Keep telling your friends. Keep following and reposting Give One Million info.

We can do this people! We can do this!

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Day 142 - $5,364

I've spent a lot of time advertising for the Bowl-A-Thon. I basically walked up the entire hwy 7 placing flyers in businesses. Sonic is putting flyers in their to-go bags. So I'm getting the word out. Lunar Bowl is making announcements to all their bowling leagues. Melissa and I went to Lunar Bowl last night, and went lane to lane asking people to sign up for the event... I've been putting a lot of time into this.

Well... here's why I'm worried. I gave the bowling alley A LOT of money to reserve the 14 lanes. And as of now... Nobody has RSVP'd and paid.... :( I'm getting worried. Really worried. At this point, I hope I can recoup the money I invested in this. Now maybe I'm getting worried too soon... I don't know. But this blog is suppose to be a outlet for everyone to understand my feelings and thoughts as I go through this whole process... so I'm just being honest and telling you what I'm thinking. I'm worried! It scares me to think that after all the effort and time I put into this bowl-A-Thon only a few people will show up and I will lose money as apposed to earn money for St. Jude.

So I have one week left before the Bowl-A-Thon and I have to get people signed up ASAP. So this is what I'm doing. The price for the Bowl-A-Thon is no longer $25. it's...

$12!!!

Yep, that's right. Only $12! It normally cost $22.50 for two games and shoes on cosmic bowling night. But next Saturday anyone that wants to will be able to cosmic bowl for 3 HOURS (you can fit more than two games in!) with shoes included for less that half the normal cost. $12!!! Since I've received zero response in my first week of advertising, I'm hoping that by making this too good of a deal for everyone to pass up... I can fill the spots I reserved. What do you all think? You think it will work? I sure as heck hope so.

I'm working other avenues as well too. I spent some time tonight with my niece working on SEO for the blog. SEO is search engine optimization for those of you that don't know. I'm trying to do what I can to generate traffic. The more people that know what we're doing here the better right?!?! So a big thanks to my neice for helping with that. We have some other "marketing" things we are working on as well. I'm making a video for the 2x2 campaign I'm going to launch here in the next couple weeks. (Once the bowl-a-thon is over, that will free up a lot of time to work other items) So those are just a few of the many things we have coming your way.

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Day 137 - $5,364

The time has finally come! Here it is... the official announcement of the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude. Click on the RSVP button above to reserve your spot today!

It will be August 21st at Lunar Bowl in Blue Springs. If you are in the area, you won't want to miss this! Reserve your spot today, and let's raise some serious cash for the kids at St. Jude! 1,000,000 here we come!

If you can... post this on your facebook and twitter. Tell everyone on your blog. Let's get the word out: on August 21, 2010 - the Give One Million Bowl-A-Thon for St. Jude is the place to be!

I'm reading: Day 137 - $5,364

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