Monthly Archives: July 2017

3-Day Fundraising Idea: Planning an Ice Cream Social Fundraiser

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Photo via Igor Ovsyannykov

July is the heart of summer, and that means the heat is on! Luckily, it is also Ice Cream Month, which makes it the perfect time to celebrate the sweet dessert. It’s a delicious inspiration for a fundraising event that will be entertaining for everyone involved! Plan an ice cream social at your home or backyard, then invite potential donors over to have a good time. Encourage attendees to make a donation to your fundraising account and celebrate the sweetness of the 3-Day experience.

Partner with local businesses

To maximize your fundraising, work with local businesses in your area to donate as many materials as possible, from the actual ice cream to napkins and other fun toppings. You might even be able to get a donation to your 3-Day fundraising from the businesses as well!

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Photo via Alex Jones

Offer variety

You should of course have the standard flavors like vanilla and chocolate but get creative with fun and more unique flavors if you can. A rainbow of flavored colors will make your spread look all the more appetizing! Then, don’t forget the toppings! Go wild with these too, and ask your guests to come up with their favorite combination. Let them submit recipes to be crowned the Ice Cream King and Queen for the day!

Add in some fun

Have ice-cream themed games for your guests, like an ice cream cone-shaped piñata! You could also make a twist on the usual kids’ game and create your own “Pin the Scoop on the Ice Cream!” Use poster board and draw a fun image of an ice cream cone (sans the ice cream!) Then, blind fold your guests and give them a cut out of different scoops of ice cream. Spin them around with the blind fold on, and let them try to add scoop after scoop onto your “cone!”

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Photo via Evan Kirby

Don’t forget non-dairy

Not everyone can eat dairy, so be sure to offer other, non-milk-based desserts like sorbet or baked goods! You can still get these donated, and it will allow more guests to partake in the fun.

Capture the event!

Take photos and share them on your Facebook with a link to your fundraising page. That way, if someone misses the event, they can still contribute to your 3-Day cause! Also, be sure to tag the 3-Day in any of your social media photos. We love sharing innovative fundraising ideas!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream… especially when it’s connected to fundraising!

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Photo via Ian Dooley

Ways to Support Your 3-Dayer on Event

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Our first 3-Day of 2017 is just a few weeks away and that means 3-Dayers across the country have been ramping up their fundraising and training for their last big push. They can’t do it alone though!

If you are local in any of our event cities, please come out and cheer for your 3-Day walkers and teams along the event route! Our “Walker Stalkers,” or 3-Day supporters mean everything to our whole 3-Day family! Stand along the sidewalk, outside your home or even favorite restaurant, and let the walkers know how much their steps mean to you. You can also join some of our favorite, and famous, cheering stations along the route.

Camp Mail

If you aren’t able to be physically present for the event, don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to show your love. For example, you can still send your 3-Dayer words of support and encouragement with snail mail sent directly to their tent on event.

In a world of texts and emails, a letter, card or note is a personal and emotional way to connect with your 3-Dayer while they walk those 60 miles.

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Does your 3-Dayer have a sweet tooth? You can now also send Sweet Treats to your favorite 3-Dayers walking in Michigan!

If you have a walker in our other 3-Day event cities, you will be able to send them Sweet Treats starting on the following dates:

It will be the perfect dessert to end each of their long days of walking.

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Last but not least, you can send them social media love! We will be sharing live videos, photos, interviews, announcements and more throughout every one of the 3-Days so show your love with likes, comments and more!

Keep an eye out for Facebook Live videos, as well as photos on our Instagram and updates from our Twitter feed. You might see the familiar face of your favorite 3-Dayer!

How do you support your 3-Dayers? Tell us in the comments!

From Sidewalks to Science: An On-Route Look at Komen’s Research with Dr. Valerie M. Jansen

Opening Ceremonies

Dr. Jansen, can you tell us a bit about what led you to do breast cancer research?

My mother-in-law, with whom I was very close, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer on the same day as my first medical school interview. Unfortunately, she passed away four years after her diagnosis and is not here to witness me doing this important work. I did not set out to be a medical oncologist and a breast cancer researcher; however, I cannot imagine doing anything different! I do this in memory of my mother-in-law and in honor of my patients touched by breast cancer.

On The Route

Since we’ve got some time, could you tell us a bit about your current research?

 I study breast cancers that depend on estrogen for growth, which is the most common subtype of breast cancer. There are great options out there for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumors, and patients often respond well to treatment (for metastatic ER+ breast cancer, that would be a combination of a CDK4/6 inhibitor and an antiestrogen therapy). However, after an initial response to treatment, most ER+ tumors develop resistance and start growing again. In the laboratory, I am studying how and why these cancers do that and to identify new treatment strategies to overcome resistance. My Komen grant is focused on the role of a protein (PDK1) which could lead the way to new combination treatment strategies for women with metastatic ER-positive cancers.

At Camp

Now that we’ve made it “home” for the night and are enjoying the support of our crew, can you tell us about how your work would be affected without Komen funding?

 Komen funding is absolutely indispensable for my research and vital to my career aspiration to become an independently funded physician-scientist. Without Komen funding, I would not be able to perform cutting-edge research to improve the lives of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Furthermore, funding provides the foundation and results needed for future grants, enabling me to continue to grow as a physician-scientist with a robust translational/clinical breast cancer research program, and even more importantly – to continue to do work that could help save lives.

Day 2

What would you say to somebody who’s just been diagnosed with breast cancer?

While we may not be able to cure metastatic breast cancer, we can certainly treat it with the goal of living as long as possible with a good quality of life. There is also hope for new and better treatment options based on research like mine.

Cheering Station

Look at all of these enthusiastic supporters out along the route! What would your advice be to those who want to help make a difference in the fight against breast cancer?

 People can make a difference by supporting programs like Komen, which in turn support early-career investigators (like me) and critical research aimed at reducing the number of deaths from breast cancer. I think it’s also important for each of us to be an advocate for our own health and to be educated about the advances being made in breast cancer research.

Pit Stop 

Three things to know about Dr. Jansen:

  • Growing up in Nashville and passing by the Vanderbilt Medical Center as a young girl, my goal was to become a Vanderbilt doctor and help people. I am living that dream and more as a breast cancer doctor and breast cancer scientist at Vanderbilt. This is my Passion, Purpose and Focus.
  • I was born in Laos and immigrated to the U.S. at six-years-old. My Laotian first name is Phoukhaokham which means mountain full of gold. I did not speak one word of English and now I speak English with a Southern accent! I am the first physician and scientist in my family – hopefully not the last, but my 12-year-old daughter researched pastry chef for her career project for school!
  • Aside from the support from Komen, I would not be able to do what I do without the unwavering support of my family. They have made and continue to make sacrifices every day so that I can be in the lab late at night and on weekends. When I asked my daughter if she would change anything about me, including having me at home more, she replied, “No because I know when you’re not home, you are helping people.” It takes a village.

Mile 59

The finish line is in sight! Can you tell us about a defining moment for you when you realized the impact your work has in the fight against breast cancer?

I am still very early in my career as a physician-scientist, but a defining moment where I realized that my research has the potential to affect hundreds – and even thousands – of patients was when I presented a clinical trial concept stemming from my preclinical studies. In the clinic, I impact one patient at a time, but with my research I have the potential to make a huge impact that may improve on the lives of patients.

Closing Ceremonies

Thanks for walking us through your research, Dr. Jansen! Any final thoughts you’d like to share with our walkers, crew and supporters?

 Komen has been instrumental in their investment of me as an early-career breast cancer researcher. My research findings will hopefully translate into clinical trials and ultimately a new treatment option for patients with metastatic ER+ breast cancer, none of which may be possible without the support from Komen.

Dr. Valerie Jansen is an oncologist and researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Since 1982, Susan G. Komen has funded $920 million in breast cancer research, second only to the U.S. government and more than any other nonprofit in the world. Learn more here.

Grab and Go 

Here are two ways you can use this information to help reach your 3-Day fundraising or recruiting goals:

Send a Tweet

Meet Dr. Jansen, @SusanGKomen @VanderbiltU researcher and scholar helping to change the treatment of #breastcancer. http://bit.ly/2tv21LG

Post on Facebook:

Join Dr. Valerie Jansen, a Vanderbilt doctor and Susan G. Komen researcher as she studies estrogen-dependent breast cancers. Her work is changing the foundation of breast cancer research; click the link to read more and find out why your fundraising dollars are so important in the fight against breast cancer. http://bit.ly/2tv21LG