Windmills and Running Shoes

Man am I glad this week is almost over, but what a better way to come back from fall break than a SLIM meeting! As you all know (or will find out soon enough) fall and winter are busy times collecting sponsors for our 5K/10K in the spring. As members we expect all of you to solicit at least $200 from businesses in Pittsburgh or just from your family and friends. We need all of the backing we can get for this race and as we are expecting this year to be another record-breaking race (more on this later), we need to try as many businesses as possible. Attached are the sponsorship letter that should be sent to the business you are trying to attract and also a page of suggestions for making your calls to these businesses most effective. It is best that you visit these businesses in person and speak with the manager and follow up within 1-2 weeks. It would be best if you hear back from your businesses by December so all of the sponsorships can be finalized. We've divided up the businesses and the necessary jobs for race planning but if you forgot to write down what you signed up for, look for my next mailer with all that shiz on it.

Bob Shooer from our primary sponsor Fleet Feet Sports showed up to speak a little about his hopes for the 5K/10K and wow was he excited! This guy has tons of ideas! Firstly, given our breakout success with so many participants last year, he believes that we could market the race to a whole load of competitive runners in Pittsburgh. Another thing he thought of was to give all of the race packets to Pitt students before race day to prevent the huge pile-up at registration. Now that our route will be measured and certified, we could attract veteran runners that could use this as a time trial or a tune-up race in preparation for the Pittsburgh Marathon. Besides that he wants to beef up the promotion for the 10K by possibly giving those runners special shirts for the race, those high-tech, microfiber do-jobs that wick all of your sweat away. Oooooh ahhhhhh! His enthusiasm was excellent and I hope you all felt the same way and want to go out and get a load of sponsors!

Our bake sale has been put on hold for a bit, we may be planning out a new one so do don't put this cookie sheets away yet. We also have a new fundraiser coming up in callaboration with the Pitt African Students Association. They are having a large African festival in the Union Ballroom and we've been invited to have a table and sell some artwork and talk about our mission in fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa. This is November 3, Union Ballroom at 8 pm. Finally, we watched two short clips about William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi that at the age of just 14 built a windmill to provide electricity and irrigate water for his village. His story is incredible and it really shows that curiosity and ingenuity can really take anyone anywhere they want.

Daily Show interview: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/
TEDtalks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjU5hu2fag&feature=PlayList&p=5D4204BCB3BB50FB&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=29