Relay Check In
Sorry I have been MIA for a few weeks. I've still got some posts to get through. It goes without saying that my absence has been due to being busy & not for lack of interest. I've hit the usual "Relay Captain busy period", with our Relay in just about a month.
I have a team of 22 this year. A team of about 20 is a good size. It is double the minimum they call for & you have enough warm bodies to comfortably cover the track. The problem is getting them to commit to the times you need because you always get everyone wanting the times between 3pm & 11pm, not many after so you almost have to pull teeth & break arms to get some of the team to cover the early morning & next day shifts. I have managed to swing it this year with coverage but it was a bit tight. This will be the first year in a long time (& first since I have been a captain) that I am not there the whole time. I am there most the time, arriving around 8pm and going til the end & take down the next morning at 10am.
We are sitting at $3180NZ for our team total & I have collected my personal best of $710NZ this year so far. I've been blown away by how well I have done & blessed by people's generosity for the good cause. I have been doing an occasional mini-blog at my fundraising page. It won't last much past April but you can take a look now if you want: https://aucklandnorth.everydayhero.com/nz/alex
I have no clue where some of the people are in their fundraising & I suspect some of them haven't done anything which is really disappointing. If we all hit our $500 personal goal we could give $11,000 to the Cancer Society easy. Even if most of us hit our goal we'd give a good chunk of that. But if people don't try until the last minute (if at all) then we are in the position we are in: struggling to make $5000 which is pretty shameful for a team our size. Yes, we have done some team fundraising & 2 of us have passed $500, but this isn't enough to make up the difference if a lot of people in the team don't break $100. I am going to send a "reminder" email to some of the ones who aren't on the board yet.
It is my last year as a captain, I need to give it up & when it comes to this time of year I know I won't miss it. I get tired of trying to get people into doing the fundraising part of things. It is a valuable part of Relay, providing funds for the Cancer Society which doesn't receive any funding. I know it is hard to ask for money & I have a hard time (& dread it) every year but my desire to do something to help them overcomes my fear.
I will still do Relay next year, I've already touched base with another team captain & I'll exchange email addresses so I have a contact. I suspect I won't get anyone taking up the proverbial baton to do this next year. I am proud I have been able to keep things going after the last captain turned it over to me in 2011. My greatest fear was that it would just die off. We've had a work team for 8 years now, I've been captain for 4 of those. Not a bad track record.
So yeah, that has been most of my life right now. Go to work & deal with Relay. We did have the landlord's handyman come through yesterday & paint the windowsills in the house. It is nice to have something a little more tidy in here (it's an old place with no real maintenance in awhile). We are going to have to get someone in to fix the floors--there are 3 spots where the floors are breaking down though. The down side is that all are in the other room where we have the almost 300liter/80gallon fish tank. One of the holes is next to it so we are going to have to empty it, shift the fish somewhere & keep the cats away when they come to fix that.
I took yesterday & today off to deal with the window sill painting, he finished yesterday. I wanted to go shooting today but I am sore and tired. :( It's a nice day but I just don't think I can get it together & don't want to push myself since I'll be doing that soon enough with Relay. Besides, I still have to shift stuff back from being painted. I liked the extra space we had in some rooms & am going to have to get tough with myself and get rid of some of the clutter & stuff I hold onto. I really need to do that more (have done a little over the years).
Otherwise I'm ok. I have my up & down days. Been making a lot of mistakes at work over the past few months & can't figure out why but I'm not the only one. That bothers me but no matter what I do I can't figure out what I'm doing to stop it.
I hope you are all doing ok.
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.
I have a team of 22 this year. A team of about 20 is a good size. It is double the minimum they call for & you have enough warm bodies to comfortably cover the track. The problem is getting them to commit to the times you need because you always get everyone wanting the times between 3pm & 11pm, not many after so you almost have to pull teeth & break arms to get some of the team to cover the early morning & next day shifts. I have managed to swing it this year with coverage but it was a bit tight. This will be the first year in a long time (& first since I have been a captain) that I am not there the whole time. I am there most the time, arriving around 8pm and going til the end & take down the next morning at 10am.
We are sitting at $3180NZ for our team total & I have collected my personal best of $710NZ this year so far. I've been blown away by how well I have done & blessed by people's generosity for the good cause. I have been doing an occasional mini-blog at my fundraising page. It won't last much past April but you can take a look now if you want: https://aucklandnorth.everydayhero.com/nz/alex
I have no clue where some of the people are in their fundraising & I suspect some of them haven't done anything which is really disappointing. If we all hit our $500 personal goal we could give $11,000 to the Cancer Society easy. Even if most of us hit our goal we'd give a good chunk of that. But if people don't try until the last minute (if at all) then we are in the position we are in: struggling to make $5000 which is pretty shameful for a team our size. Yes, we have done some team fundraising & 2 of us have passed $500, but this isn't enough to make up the difference if a lot of people in the team don't break $100. I am going to send a "reminder" email to some of the ones who aren't on the board yet.
It is my last year as a captain, I need to give it up & when it comes to this time of year I know I won't miss it. I get tired of trying to get people into doing the fundraising part of things. It is a valuable part of Relay, providing funds for the Cancer Society which doesn't receive any funding. I know it is hard to ask for money & I have a hard time (& dread it) every year but my desire to do something to help them overcomes my fear.
I will still do Relay next year, I've already touched base with another team captain & I'll exchange email addresses so I have a contact. I suspect I won't get anyone taking up the proverbial baton to do this next year. I am proud I have been able to keep things going after the last captain turned it over to me in 2011. My greatest fear was that it would just die off. We've had a work team for 8 years now, I've been captain for 4 of those. Not a bad track record.
So yeah, that has been most of my life right now. Go to work & deal with Relay. We did have the landlord's handyman come through yesterday & paint the windowsills in the house. It is nice to have something a little more tidy in here (it's an old place with no real maintenance in awhile). We are going to have to get someone in to fix the floors--there are 3 spots where the floors are breaking down though. The down side is that all are in the other room where we have the almost 300liter/80gallon fish tank. One of the holes is next to it so we are going to have to empty it, shift the fish somewhere & keep the cats away when they come to fix that.
I took yesterday & today off to deal with the window sill painting, he finished yesterday. I wanted to go shooting today but I am sore and tired. :( It's a nice day but I just don't think I can get it together & don't want to push myself since I'll be doing that soon enough with Relay. Besides, I still have to shift stuff back from being painted. I liked the extra space we had in some rooms & am going to have to get tough with myself and get rid of some of the clutter & stuff I hold onto. I really need to do that more (have done a little over the years).
Otherwise I'm ok. I have my up & down days. Been making a lot of mistakes at work over the past few months & can't figure out why but I'm not the only one. That bothers me but no matter what I do I can't figure out what I'm doing to stop it.
I hope you are all doing ok.
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.