Meet Dennis Kirkpatrick, 3-Day Route Safety Crew Member

Escorting last walker

“There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything was a miracle.”- Albert Einstein.

That quote lies below Dennis Kirkpatrick’s name as his email signature, and no quote could more perfectly sum up the impact he has made on the 3-Day. His official role is Route Safety Crew Member, but he also considers his job to be the “giving the walkers a ‘hard time’ person, hug giver and receiver.”

After greeting his wife at the finish line of her first 3-Day he knew he had to find a way to participate, too. He saw how much fun the crew was having together, all while keeping 3-Dayers safe and giving to a great cause. He decided to join the 3-Day as a crew member the next year.

Family time when Sandy and Carol were walking

The 3-Day is now a family affair as his wife continues to walk, and his daughter supports the walkers as well.

“I love to watch my wife figure out the route (before and during) the walk.  I love working with my daughter taking care of the walkers while making them smile! We are working together for a cause which helps to bring us closer as a family.”

For those who are interested in joining the crew alongside Dennis and his family, Dennis says,

“If you like having fun and meeting very interesting people, come join us.

If you like to hear good stories of fun and encouragement, come join us.

If you like to hear about bravery and why supporting the 3-Day is so important, come join us.”

Dennis on his motorcycle heading to next stop

Dennis says he loves the combination of working with and seeing the same, familiar 3-Day faces each year, while also adding new faces to the walk! The 3-Day is “tiring, fun and inspiring,” but that’s what keeps him coming back year after year.

“It takes a lot of people behind the scenes to make big events work.  We are a team that works together!”

Dennis and Sandy (Daughter) going for a ride

If you want to join the 3-Day crew alongside Dennis this year, you can find out about all the opportunities on our website. We’d love to have you!

Now tell us, what are some of your favorite Crew memories from 3-Days past?

Outdoor Team Building Activities

Summer is finally here! Who is excited to get outside and into the sunshine? We want to help you and your team get out into the warm weather for fun and bonding. This year’s 3-Days are coming up, so now is the perfect time to get moving! Here are our favorite outdoor team building activities…

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Photo via Austin Schmid

Winning and Losing

Get into pairs, pairing people who might not know each other as well. Then, one partner shares something negative that happened in their life. It can be a personal or work-related memory, but it must be true. Then that first partner discusses the same experience again, but focuses only on the positive aspects. Their partner allows and helps them to explore the silver lining of the bad experience. Afterward, they switch roles. It’s a great way to remember that even life’s tough times can have a great lesson or positive ending.

Battle of the Air Bands

Lip sync battles are a dime a dozen these days, so expand the idea into a full-on “Battle of the Air Bands!” Split your team up into smaller groups, then let them decide who will be the singers, guitarists, drummers, etc. Give them a set time to rehearse, and then perform a lip-synced version of whatever song they like. After the performances, teams can vote on the winner, and award 3-Day swag!

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Photo via Rawpixel

Afternoon at the Races

This one isn’t for the faint of heart, but it will give you and your team a great time outdoors! Pair up and build, then race your own mini race cars. You can use wagons, boxes, pinewood cars, or whatever else their imagination can dream up! If you want, go all out and let pairs create mascots and themes, and host a mini-tailgate with snacks and music. This could also be a fun team fundraising event!

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Photo via Samuel Zeller

The Longest Shadow

Need a simple activity? This outdoor team building activity has the group working together to form the longest shadow they can, using only their bodies. Take advantage of the summer sun, then tag us in the photo of your epic shadow!

Night Trail

Get out into a park, and set up a series of obstacles in a large open area. Working as a team, blindfolded team members follow a rope and try to navigate their way around a series of obstacles. Trust, support, leadership and communication is the key!

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Photo via Cameron Kirby

Picture Scavenger Hunt

Join our 3-Day Social Stars in our online community with a Picture Scavenger Hunt. Give team members a list of items, locations or landmarks in the area and have them race to go around town and take pictures in front of them! You can even add an extra element, like asking them to build a human pyramid or do a hand stand in the photos for added points!

What are some of your favorite outdoor activities for summer? Let us know in the comments!

Make the Most of the 3-Day Social Stars

If you haven’t joined our 3-Day Social Stars yet, we are here to make your decision a lot easier! The Social Stars are our social community’s family who share, chat with us, and qualify to earn amazing prizes to boot! Whether you’re new to the online scene, or are a social media maven, it’s easy to become a Social Star and make the most of all the 3-Day platforms.

Just how can you earn points and start working your way to prizes? It’s simple!

Event Register

Register for the 3-Day

This one is a no brainer, and just visiting The3Day.org gets you 10 points per day. If you then also visit the Registration page, you can earn another 10 points per day, and get started on your 2017 3-Day  journey! If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time! We are less than two months away from our first 3-Day of this year, so it’s the perfect time to get your training and fundraising going. Check out our 3-Day blog for helpful tips and inspiring stories too, because you can earn 10 points for each daily visit.

Connected Accounts

Link all your social platforms

Whenever you sign up, you will have to link either your Twitter or Facebook, so it’s easier for you to chat and share with us throughout your 3-Day journey. However, for every extra social media account you link, including Instagram, you can earn 50 points.

Share More

Share with your followers (and with us!)

Once you’re connected, we hope you will share your 3-Day love! By using the hashtags #3DaySocialStars #SocialStars and #Sponsored we will be able to track and re-share all your tweets, posts, photos and more. We love seeing your training routes, fundraising goals and more! Each time you share, you can earn a variety of different point amounts.

Auto Posts

Set up automatic posting

If you don’t do a ton of posting on your own, we still have you covered! We will be creating weekly posts about fun topics like our 20-Mile walk, registration promotions and more. You can receive these posts via emails, and share them with the click of a button. Or, when you sign up, set your account to automatically share these posts onto your Twitter feed. No fuss, no muss, all the points.

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Enter our Picture Challenge

One of our favorite parts of the social media world is getting to see all your pretty faces! If you use the hashtags we listed above in your Instagram posts, we have a special monthly prize for our top photo.

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Follow us to see if you’ve won!

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, where we will be announcing the winners (with their permission) each month. The point tally starts anew after each winner is chosen, so you have plenty of opportunities to get your 3-Day swag on.

If you haven’t joined the 3-Day Social Stars yet, there’s still time! We will be picking new winners each month, so sign up now and start earning points!