Category Archives: General

Fundraising on the Fourth! 

The Fourth of July holiday brings out patriotism and community spirit, presenting a unique opportunity for creative fundraising efforts. As you gather to celebrate with fireworks, barbecues, and parades, harness this festive atmosphere to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day®. Engaging with themed activities not only enhances the celebratory experience but also fosters a sense of togetherness and shared purpose. Here are four imaginative fundraising ideas for you to consider while you make the most of this patriotic holiday! 

Fourth of July Fundraising Ideas 

Patriotic Bake Sale — Host a bake sale featuring patriotic-themed treats such as flag-decorated cupcakes, red, white, and blue cookies, and star-shaped pies. Ask your local friends and family to bake and donate their best patriotic creations for a booth you can set up at popular locations before the holiday or during the day’s festivities. Everyone needs sweet treats for their backyard party!  

Outdoor Movie Night — Host an outdoor movie screening of a classic American film or a family-friendly movie. Charge admission and sell concessions like popcorn, candy, and drinks. If you don’t have the equipment, reach out to a local vendor to see if they’d be willing to donate it. While you’re at it, contact your local grocery store to get food and beverages donated. See if your movie theater will donate some popcorn and candy!  

Red, White and Blue Pool Party — Host a themed pool party fundraiser with patriotic decorations, music, and games. Charge an entry fee and offer activities such as a water balloon toss, patriotic swimsuit contest, and relay races. Provide refreshments like red, white, and blue popsicles and beverages.  

Barbecue Cook-Off — Arrange a barbecue cook-off where your friends and family who fancy themselves as chefs or grill enthusiasts can compete for the top spot. Ask them to share the event with their network to draw a bigger crowd. Sell tickets for tasting and voting rights and offer awards for the best dishes. This can be a great way to involve local businesses while creating a sense of community. 

Regardless of which fundraising idea you run with, remember to make it easy for people to donate by having signs with your QR code on display and printed out copies of your donation form available. Set aside a few minutes to address your crowd by telling them why you’re doing the 3-Day, how you’ve been impacted by the cause, and what they can do to support you. Be bold and direct!  
 
We hope by incorporating these fun and festive fundraising ideas into your Fourth of July celebrations, you can engage your community, celebrate the holiday, and make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. Each event offers a unique way to bring people together and make a positive impact. Embrace the spirit of independence and patriotism this Independence Day by organizing a memorable event that not only entertains but also boosts your Komen 3-Day fundraising and contributes to the fight to end breast cancer.  

Training Walk Talks: Stories from Training Walk Leaders 

With 20, 40, or 60 miles of walking on the horizon, training is critical to ensuring a successful and joyful experience at the Susan G. Komen 3-Day®. To help you along the way, not only do we have suggested training schedules, but we have a training walk leader program where participants just like you guide other walkers. With plentiful resources and support from the Komen 3-Day team, training walk leaders are prepared to provide a consistent, supportive environment for walkers to train, meet, and learn from others in the 3-Day® community.  

The best part? Each leader gets to make their walks unique! Demarie B. has been leading training walks for the past few years and describes her experience as fun and adventurous. A five-time 3-Day walker, she holds most of her training walks with lululemon in Huntington Beach, California where she is an ambassador, taking her attendees along a beautiful beach path then loop back to the store for donuts and raffles. She has also hosted in unique locations such as Catalina Island, Crystal Cove, and taken the Palm Springs Tram to walk in the snow. She strives to make each walk special, always hoping to leave attendees with a feeling that they can’t wait to come back, even if it was hard. With thorough resources provided by the 3-Day team, Demarie loves being able to educate walkers on proper gear and nutrition while taking them on new expeditions. 

Since 2015, nineteen-time walker Marci H. has hosted training walks, recognizing that she couldn’t be the only one in her area in need of training. Marci typically leads her adventurous walks bright and early to catch the sunrise as they set out to conquer a few miles. From Truckee to Lake Tahoe, to San Francisco for a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, Marci puts in effort to ensure that each route contains beautiful scenery and is an experience in and of itself. Her walks consist of all types of terrain including hills, sidewalks, dirt trails, and more! Besides the adventure and beauty she finds on these walks, her favorite part of being a training walk leader is getting to meet new people. In fact, this is how she found her team, Hands Up for Hooters! When training together, she and the attendees share their stories, discuss why they walk and fundraising, and often find themselves laughing, playing games, and taking pictures to commemorate the experience.  

There are endless ways to make your training walks special no matter where you might be. Some training walk leaders live in an area where they are the only 3-Day walker and others live in an area that is highly populated with the Pink Bubble. Regardless of where you live or how many times you’ve walked, we are seeking leaders to guide training walks throughout the country! You don’t need to be an experienced athlete, an expert walker, or even a fast walker to lead training walks. In fact, you shouldn’t be too fast; consider this a journey and not a race. We need leaders at all paces and abilities because throughout the 3-Day season there are always walkers at various paces and different stages of training.  

We will provide you with guidelines, planning tips, and more to make it as easy as possible to host a fun Pink Bubble experience before the event; plus, your 3-Day coaches are always standing by, ready to help! In return for all your efforts, you’ll have the chance to meet amazing new friends, share stories, exchange training tips and brainstorm fundraising ideas with other 3-Dayers. Ultimately, you’ll have helped someone complete a journey they may not have been able to do without you!  

Interested in becoming a training walk leader? Contact your coach to let them know or update your profile on The3Day.org to check “I am interested in becoming a 2024 training walk leader.” 

June Pink Bubble Story of the Month: Tammy Z. 

Tammy Z. participated in her very first Susan G. Komen 3-Day® in 2005 when a friend dared her to walk. She doubted she could walk 60 miles in three days, but Tammy had just turned 40 and thought it would be nice to set this goal. With three school-aged children and a demanding full-time job, training and preparing for the Komen 3-Day became her “me-time” while rallying around a good cause. Once she set foot into the Pink Bubble, Tammy was hooked for life. She’s since walked in Tampa Bay, New England, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, with this year marking her twentieth walk in Dallas/Fort Worth. She is so dedicated to the 3-Day® that when the event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, Tammy and her team raised the funds and walked 60 miles together in St. Petersburg, Florida.  

Some of Tammy’s favorite memories in the Pink Bubble include family members participating with her in Tampa Bay. In 2007, her mom joined her for all 60 miles and returned the following year with Tammy’s daughter to serve as crew members. In 2013 Tammy’s daughter returned to the Crew with her boyfriend, now husband, as Lunch Team Crew captains at the young age of 21. To this day, Tammy recalls them being the superstars of the Tampa Bay Lunch Crew and claims they had the most efficient lunch setup in any of the 3-Days that she has participated in. 

On top of the incredible memories that come with each event, Tammy remains dedicated to the cause with hopes that the cures are close. Her Co-Captain and another dear friend both had metastatic breast cancer. Because of their incredible attitudes despite the battles they continue to face, Tammy commits to the 3-Day to fight for them and so many others until there are cures. She motivates her team by reminding them that it could be their dollar raised that pushes the science discovery over the edge. Her team refers to themselves as professional yard sale hosts, organizing two per year which raise around $1,500 each time. Their friends and neighbors are always very generous by donating great treasures for the sales and shoppers look forward to seeing what they bring each year. They have found that when you are holding a sale to raise money for breast cancer research, shoppers typically keep negotiations to a minimum. She recalls one year when her team held three yard sales in one weekend, encouraging healthy competition amongst the team members on which location could raise the most money. She recommends that all fundraisers host a yard sale and not be shy when asking around for donations since most people are generous to contribute to a good cause.  

Tammy has recently been inaugurated into the Lifetime Commitment Circle by raising a personal total of $100,000 for the breast cancer cause. She spent the last 20 years focused on ensuring all her team members reach their fundraising goals so they can participate with the team on the 3-Day. Having begun her 3-Day journey by setting a goal to walk 60 miles, she continues her goalsetting by committing to get her team, C-Side Sisters, to the $1 million mark. At just about $700,000, Tammy is confident that her small team will get there, one dime at a time! 

For those who’re interested in the 3-Day but haven’t yet registered, she encourages everyone to take her approach and just try it. With sweep vans plentiful on event, there’s always an option whenever you find yourself struggling to walk. By registering for the 3-Day, you are joining the Pink Bubble, a community who comes together with a common purpose amongst a sea of pink; though her team typically opts for a different color to easily identify one another in the crowd!