Boston 3 Day Spectator Info!

Attention friends, family and assorted supportive strangers in the Boston area!  The Boston 2010 3 Day for the Cure is just five days away which means it is time to make your plans to come out and support all of us during our 3 day, 60 mile journey!

There are three different opportunities for spectators to come out and be a part of the 3 Day experience: Opening Ceremonies on Friday morning, Cheering Stations along the route throughout the three days of the event and Closing Ceremonies on Sunday evening.  I'm going run through each of these to give you all an idea of what to expect should you choose to join us (and you should!).  Please note that I am borrowing much of this information directly from the Spectator Information section of the 3 Day website, which can be found here.

Opening Ceremonies

Friday June 23rd at 6:30am 

Farm Pond 
100 Dudley Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Map

Spectator Parking Directions:

• From Route 135/Waverly Street, proceed on Fountain Street, turn right onto Winter Street and proceed for approximately 0.9 miles.
• Turn right onto Dr. Harvey Cushing Way.
• Turn right into the parking lot for Summerville at Farm Pond.
• Please note that parking will not be permitted at Barbieri School, across the street from Farm Pond.

The Komen 3-Day for the Cure begins early Friday morning with the Opening Ceremony. When you arrive, take a moment to write the names of the people in your life who have lost their lives to breast cancer on the white ribbons we will provide. Those ribbons will be used to create a special memorial flag that will be raised during the ceremony.

This celebration is not just for participants. Friends and family are highly encouraged to attend, though please note that seating will not be available, so if you are unable to stand for 30-60 minutes, you may want to bring a folding chair. Please allow extra travel time due to expected traffic congestion at the site.

After the Opening Ceremony is over, participants will begin walking the 60-mile route and start a journey of a lifetime. It will be even more special if you are there to help send them off with smiles and encouragement. We'll also have the 3DayGear.com™ store on site if you'd like to purchase a souvenir for yourself or your participant.

Opening Ceremonies, Atlanta 2007

Cheering Stations

Friday June 23rd

Cheering Station 1, 8:30 - 11:30am          St. Paul's Church 502 Washington St. Wellesley, MA 02482 Map

Cheering Station 2, 12:30 - 6:15pm Yolanda's Parking Lot 355 SR-60 Waverly Oaks Rd.   Waltham, MA 02452 Map

Saturday June 24th

Cheering Station 1, 7:30 - 10:45am          Robbins Farm Park 51 Eastern Ave. Arlington, MA 02476 Map

Cheering Station 2, 9:45am - 2:00pm YMCA Greater Boston Area North Suburban Family Branch 138 Lexington St.   Woburn, MA 01801 Map

Cheering Station 3, 11:00 - 5:00am  Parker Field Playground 81 Worthen Rd. Lexington, MA 02420 Map

Sunday June 25th

Cheering Station 1, 7:30 - 10:15am           Shaw's Supermarket 699 Mount Auburn St. Cambridge, MA 02138 Map

Cheering Station 2, 8:15am - 10:45am Cambridge City Hall 795 Massachusetts Ave.   Cambridge, MA 02139 Map

Cheering Station 3, 9:15am - 1:00pm  Boston Public Garden (between Paul Revere and Swan Boats) Commonwealth and Arlington Street Boston, MA 02127 Map

Public cheering stations are a great way to show your support along the route to encourage walkers and let them know that you are with them every step of the way. Seeing familiar faces cheering them on can provide that extra burst of energy that gets them to take that next step or go the next mile. Create banners, hold up signs, bring some music and make some noise - anything to make them smile, get energized and keep walking.

Cheering Stations, Atlanta 2007

Cheering Stations, Atlanta 2008

Closing Ceremonies

Sunday, July 25 at 5:00 p.m. 

University of Massachusetts
100 William T Morrissey Blvd. 
Dorchester, MA 02125
Map

Friends and family are highly encouraged to attend, though please note that seating will not be available, so if you are unable to stand for 30-60 minutes, you may want to bring a folding chair.

Public Transportation:
UMass Boston is located less than a mile from the MBTA’s JFK/UMass Station, which serves both the Red Line (subway) and the Old Colony Line (commuter rail). The university runs a regular, free shuttle bus service between the JFK/UMass stop and the campus. The trip normally takes less than ten minutes. Route 2 Bus runs Sunday 8:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. every 20 minutes.

Parking:
University of Massachusetts is located off of 1-93. Parking will be available, at no charge, on the University of Massachusetts Campus.

After three days and 60 miles, participants will take a final and incredibly emotional victory walk into the Closing Ceremony. Friends, family and supporters should arrive at the Closing Ceremony site at least one hour early to get the best view of the program. We encourage you to carpool or take public transportation. Not only is it better for the planet, but it will help lessen traffic congestion for everyone.

All walkers and crew members should remain in the Participant Holding Area where they will receive a victory shirt, cheer on fellow walkers and crew members and celebrate one last time together before their dramatic victory walk. The Participant Holding Area is CLOSED to spectators. If you wish to meet with a participant before the Ceremony begins, please have them meet you at the Closing Ceremony site. All participants must return to the Holding Area no later than 4:30 p.m. in order to join the victory walk.

Don't forget to continue the spirit of kindness we'll be building on the 3-Day for the Cure throughout and beyond the Closing Ceremony!

Closing Ceremonies, Atlanta 2007

Closing Ceremonies, Atlanta 2008

We hope that everyone will come out and see us in Boston.  This event is hard to truly capture in stories and photos.  It really is a moving experience to be a part of and we would love to share it with you.  This event is the culmination of months of commitment and hard work.  We can't wait to celebrate with all of you.  See you there!

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Our Team Shirts!

Things are really moving here at Relentless Optimism headquarters, with the Boston 3 Day for the Cure stepping off in just five days!  Our team banner was delivered, our article was published in our hometown paper and now, our team shirts have arrived!

The Official Relentless Optimism Walker shirt!

We are incredibly excited to have our own team shirts this year to wear throughout the 3 Day event.  This will be my third 3 Day event and it will be the first time that my teammates and I have had matching shirts for the walk.  We truly feel like a team now!

Our team shirts were generously provided for our team by Mag Mom Diana Moreland and her company Diana's Costume Closet who we cannot thank enough for her support of our team.  The shirts feature another version of the Relentless Optimism logo on our team banner that was again created for us by Robyn Torkewitz.  If you would like Robyn to design something for your team, you can see more of her work and find her contact information here.

Kristen playing supermodel in our team shirts before a training walk.

For our shirts, we worked closely with Custom Ink to get everything just right.  If you are interested in ordering something similar for your team or event, I highly recommend them.  They will work with you to ensure the clearest possible printing of your design and will check in with you at every possible.  I worked with a wonderful guy named Neil who was incredibly patient with me as I made change after change to our design.  Even after five different proofs, we still received our shirts three days earlier than expected.  I really can't say enough great things about Custom Ink!

For those who are wondering, our shirts are the Augusta Lades Performance Sleeveless Ts.  I tried mine out on a training walk and it was great!  No weird seams and no pulling.  If you are looking to order shirts for the 3 Day, this really is an excellent choice.

A closer look at the back of shirts, featuring our team sponsors (click to enlarge).  

Some small changes were made from this proof to the final versions of our shirts for clarity.

I can't wait to hit the streets of Boston in our new team shirts.  If you see us out walking, please be sure to say hello!

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We're Famous!

This past week, we were incredibly honored when our hometown newspaper, the Cortland Standard, chose to run a long feature about our team for the Boston 3 Day for the Cure.  Our article, which was titled "Beating Breast Cancer in a Big Way", was written by Life and Living editor Katie Hall.  The feature took up almost a whole page of the paper and included two photos.  The first photo was taken by longtime Cortland Standard photographer Bob Ellis of our teammate Melissa Moreland Campos on one of her early morning training walks and the second photo was one of my photos that shows the four of us walkers at our 10 year high school reunion in 2008.

Unfortunately, there isn't a digital copy of the article available.  However, my mom (Karen Sager) was nice enough to scan the article for us so that we could share it with all of you.  Larger versions of each image are available by clicking on the photos.

Enjoy!

Melissa on her training walk in Homer, New York

 Our article!  Click to enlarge so you can read it!

We are incredibly thankful to Katie and the entire staff of the Cortland Standard for featuring our efforts.  While most of us have moved out the area now, we are all true Homer girls at heart.  Our hometown is small and tight nit and having this kind of publicity can really go a long way towards helping us to reach our fundraising goals.  As you can tell from this article, this is a cause that is very near and dear to our hearts.  Having the support of our community behind us as we take to the streets next week in Boston truly means the world to all of us!

If you have been moved by our story and would like to help us reach our fundraising goals, you can make a donation at our team fundraising page on the 3 Day website.  You can also reach each of our personal pages directly by clicking on our names in the right hand side bar. 

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Our Way of Saying Thank You!

All of us here at Relentless Optimism are incredibly grateful for every donation that we have received this year.  We would not be able to do this crazy thing that is the 3 Day without the support of our friends, family and generous strangers.  The primary goal of the Breast Cancer 3 Day is to raise money to help find a cure for breast cancer.  It is because of the generosity of all of our donors and supporters that we are now that much closer to achieving a world without breast cancer.

We are incredibly thankful for and overwhelmed by the number of donations that we have received in pursuit of our team goal of raising $20,000 before the end of August.  We are thankful for every single person that entered one of our fundraising contests or bought flowers through Flower Power.  We are thankful for everyone that supported us through Tastefully Simple or Mary Kay.  If you bought some stuff through our Amazon link or clicked on our Google Ads before they were shut down, well, we're thankful to you too.  It is because of all of you that we have been able to raise so much money for such an important cause.

Because we are so touched by the enormous generosity that has been sent our way, we want everyone to know all of your names.  Shouting all of your names from a hilltop is little too difficult and hiring a skywriter to write all your names in the clouds is a little too expensive.  So instead of all that, we have chosen to instead recognize each and every one of our donors and sponsors on a large banner that will be proudly on display between our tents during the Boston 3 Day for the Cure!

Our team banner, courtesy of Vistaprint!

(Click to enlarge)

I am thrilled that we are able to recognize all of our supporters in such a public way.  If you donated to us in any way before July 1st, then your name is in there and everyone in Boston will know it.  We are truly honored that you have all thrown your support behind us and we hope that we can make you all proud as we walk up and down the streets of Boston in just under two weeks time.  

I also would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge my cousin Robyn Torkewitz who designed the spiffy new Relentless Optimism logo that you see on our banner.  She also designed a second logo for our team shirts that we will be showing off in Boston as well.  Robyn is a very talented graphic designer and we're thrilled that she donated her services to us in this way.  If you would like to see more of her work, you can find her personal website here. 

Finally, if you will be walking in the Boston 3 Day for the Cure, please be on the look out for our banner!  If you happen to spot us in the sea of pink tents, please be sure to stop by and say hi!

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Image courtesy of Leanne Johnston.

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Happy Fourth of July!

May your Fourth of July be filled with fun, friends, family and of course, fireworks!

Happy Independence Day!!

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Reminder! Mary Kay Fundraiser Ends on Wednesday!

Just a quick reminder that we are still taking orders for our Mary Kay fundraiser through this Wednesday, June 30th!

For those who don't know, Mary Kay is a health and beauty company that uses direct sales to bring their great products to people all over the country at an affordable price.  By purchasing make up, skin care and other assorted beauty products through our collaboration with Mary Kay, you will be helping our team reach our fundraising goals for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure.  Simply by shopping through the link below and noting that your purchase is for "Relentless Optimism" or the "Breast Cancer 3 Day", 50% of the value of your purchase will be donated directly to our team.  That's a full 100% of the profits, thanks to the generosity of Carol Agate, our friend and former teacher that helping us to run this fundraiser!

Click here to purchase Mary Kay products in support of Relentless Optimism!

Thank you so much for shopping with Mary Kay and continuing to support our team in our effort to raise $20,000 for breast cancer research!

As always, if you would prefer to donate directly to Relentless Optimism, you can do so by visiting our team page on the 3 Day website or by clicking on the name of any Relentless Optimism team member on the right hand side of this page.

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Flower Power Wrap Up - THANK YOU!!

This past spring, we collaborated with Flower Power Fundraising to host our most successful team fundraiser to date.  With all of the money that we raised now in, we are thrilled to announce that we raised $835 through this fundraiser - an amazing success!

For those that don't remember, Flower Power Fundraising is an online direct sales company that sells flowers and other garden plants to help raise money for your specific charity of choice - in our case, the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure.  Flower Power sells top-quality, best-selling flower bulbs and plants and in exchange for helping to promote their company, our team for the 3 Day received a full 50% of the proceeds from each sale made through our team link.  We could not have had a better experience with Flower Power Fundraising and we made a ton of money for breast cancer research to boot!

All together, we sold $1669 worth of plants through this fundraiser, resulting in $835 for our team.  We ultimately had 25 people purchase flowers through Flower Power with an average sale of $67.  It is because of all of your generosity that we were able to raise so much money so we wanted to take a minute and recognize all of our friends and family that took the time to buy their flowers from us:

Andrea Cecconi Barb Ries Cathy Warren Connie Steger David Moreland Deonie Finkbeiner     Diana Moreland Corky Wrisley Janet Rabbitt

Jennifer Glass Jennifer Perrin      Jennifer Rabbitt Judith Smith Karen Sager Kathy Cincotta Laura Lo Russo Laurie Yaw Lorraine Sheeder

Mark Pasquini Melanie Fraites Miguel Campos Nancy Beakman Patricia Segien Patty Fredenburg Phyllis Hatfield Tabi Sebastino Tommy Schenck

I also wanted to take the time to recognize Relentless Optimism team member Melissa C. for discovering Flower Power Fundraising and acting as the main point person throughout this fundraiser!  She did a ton of work getting us all set up and we are incredibly thankful to her for her efforts.
Finally, thank you to everyone who helped us to spread the word about this fundraiser.  As always, our efforts live and die by the strength of word of mouth.  To all of you who reposted on Facebook, retweeted on Twitter, sent out emails and just generally spread the word about Flower Power on our behalf, thank you so much!
As always, if you would like to make an additional donation to Relentless Optimism, you can find the links to each of our individual pages in the right hand sidebar.  You can also find our team page on the 3 Day website by clicking here.  All four of our walkers have now surpassed their fundraising minimums.  However, we are still a long ways away from our team goal of raising $20,000.  Please help us to reach our goal by making an additional donation today! I hope that everyone's plants are providing them an endless amount of joy and beauty this summer!  Thank so much for supporting Relentless Optimism!!

Image courtesy of Leanne Johnston of Leanne... The Walker.  Thanks Leanne!

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Happy Father's Day!

From everyone here at Relentless Optimism, we wish all of you a very Happy Father's Day!

We would especially like to recognize the three husbands of our Relentless Optimism walkers.  Without you guys, Melissa, Melissa and Jen wouldn't be able to do what they are doing for the 3 Day.  So thank you all so much for being the wonderful, supportive fathers that you are!

Miguel with his son Jonah (L) and Bill with his son Ryan (R)
(Editors note: I promise Bill is a great father, despite forcing his atrocious taste in baseball teams on his sons.)

Todd with his daughter Reese

We would also love to take a minute to give a shout out to the two Dads that are on our team, Tommy and Doug Schenck.  We're so excited to have you both as part of our team!

Tommy with his grandson Ryan (L) and Doug with his daughters Victoria and Nicolette (R)
Happy Father's Day!
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Happy Birthday Mel!

Everyone here at Relentless Optimism would like to wish Melissa Q. the very happiest of birthdays!

Mel at the 2007 Atlanta 3 Day

If you would like to give Mel a birthday gift by donating to the 3 Day in her name, you can do so on her personal fundraising page here.

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Congratulations to Sharon and Maria!

The members of Relentless Optimism would like to extend a hearty congratulations to our teammates Maria and Sharon on their new jobs!  

Maria has recently taken a job with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in Syracuse, New York and Sharon has recently started working as a nurse at the Gulf Coast ER at the Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Meyers, Florida.  Three cheers all around for our working girls!

Jen and Sharon (L) and Maria at the CNY Race for the Cure (R)
Unfortunately, due to their new work commitments, Sharon and Maria will be unable to join us for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure in Boston in July.  We will miss you girls very much and have loved having you as part of our team!  Best wishes in your new jobs!
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