08 – Sister Relay Partnerships

This Darn Good Idea reviews ideas for developing a relationship with a Sister Relay For Life event across the country or in another part of the world! There are probably a few events out there with such a relationship – as of today, I only know of two:

Event #1
#1 Website
Event #2
#2 Website
# of yrs
Comments/ Great Unique things about their relationship!
Pittsboro, NC
http://www.pittsbororelayforlife.org
Glascow, Scotland
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/getinvolved/events/relayforlife/venues_contactdetails/
?
The first sister Relay program I have ever found!!!! Carol from Pittsboro and Gary from Glascow have kept up the relationship, and it sounds like it has been a success! They have traded shirts, and are hoping to visit each other ‘s events at some point!
Burnett County, Wisconsin, USA
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PAR/PAR_1_9_Relay_For_Life_Events_Search_Results.asp

enter zip code 54830 to pull up the event
Nelson, New Zealand
http://www.relayforlife.org.nz/

Click on “Nelson” for details!
1st year
Here we go…. J

When it comes to developing a sister relay relationship, there’s no wrong answer… We have divided the ideas into “first things first” – some basic things that you can do, and “Down the Road” – some ideas for down the road!!!!

First Things First
Let your events know about the relationship – Make sure your committee and teams know they have a sister Relay!!!! It’s a great way to learn about other cultures and countries…
Share emails and photos back and forth to share at committee meetings about each other – Get to know the background about the other event
Share your favorite fundraising, mission delivery, survivorship, luminaria and other ideas – Each put together a list of great ideas that the other event could use J
Have Sister Teams at your events – if certain teams are willing, let them have sister teams at the other event – have them trade photos to display the day of Relay, etc.
Have a friendly fundraising competitioin to see who raises the most, improves the most from the previous year, etc. – Bottom line – establish a relationship and friendly competition J
Publicize each other on-line – put a page on-line about each other’s events – see

http://www.pittsobororelayforlife.org

for an example
Live Telecast or Audiocast at your event! – Have your sister event’s chair or someone talk at your event via videocast (on a laptop/screen) or audiocast! Encourage each other on!
Share items from your events with each other – send T-shirts, marketing materials, photos, anything you think is applicable, to the other event to display the day of relay!
Place signs around the track about your sister event – have them send you facts, figures, and pictures that you mount on a board and post on a stake and place all around the track!
Place facts about Relay in your sister country – Send facts about Relay in the U.S. to your sister event… You can find some facts at:

http://www.acsrelay.org/Manual/04-Speaking_Points.doc

Get similar facts from your sister country (or state, or whatever)
Trade Luminaria – thanks for this great idea from Carol and the Pittsboro Relay For Life!
Start an Event Journal that your committee and team captains write in – Then mail it to your sister event so they can learn how you do your event! (thanks to Carol and the Pittsoboro Relay For Life!)

Down The Road – Once you have established relationships between your events, what next? Well, there are some wild and cool things you could do!
Visit Each Other’s Events – sounds crazy, maybe, but what a great symbol! Go to each other’s events, have a speaker from the visiting event, field a team to raise money at the event you are visiting, and more!!! Make sure that the American Cancer Society (and email rflvolunteer@gmail.com too so it can be posted on http://www.acsrelay.org and http://acsrelay.blogspot.com ) publicizes it, and you get local press coverage about how the fight against cancer has gone global!!!!!!!!
Fundraise for each other

Testimonials
Pittsboro and Glascow - Here is what Carol, who started the partnership with Glascow and Gary at that event, has to say: “[about our] Sister Relay with Glasgow. Gary K. was a volunteer for the Glasgow Scotland Relay and he found our website and contacted me in 2004. He was just getting started and was looking for some ideas. We became pen pals. He sent us 10 of his event t-shirts and we sent him 10 of ours. We also exchanged luminarias. I started a journal here and had our committee members write in it about their experiences. I then mailed it to Gary for his group to do the same thing. I actually tried to work a business trip around their Relay last year but it just didn’t work out. I’m going to keep trying. Gary has since started working for the Cancer UK organization and is helping to start Relays all over the UK. He was recently in the states for a youth summit. It’s been fun – we could probably do more than we are if we had more time. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Gary and a bit about his country. They have the same passion to fight cancer as we do.”


If you have other ideas or know of other sister events, please email rflvolunteer@gmail.com !!!!!!!