Gift of Life Rally - April 21st - help set a Guinness World Book Record. Note sent out.

Good morning my friends,

I hope that you are all having a great day.

As for myself......I've been on the computer since abut 6:30 this morning ..sending this message to everyone in my address book ...local media etc...etc...and man oh man...am I ever cramped up and my neck muscles are burning up.

I know it would make my life easier if I sent a mass email out but I personally hate mass emails, therefore I don't like to subject anyone to them.

So this is note that I sent and what we have planned for this weekend.

Take care God bless and have a great day.

Maria

My NOTE

Could you please pass this message on to others.

On Sunday April 21 at 1:00 p.m. we are having a Volunteer Rally and information session.

Where?
At Riverfront Park (If the weather is bad, we will meet at the Athabasca Hall)

For Guinness World Book purposes we will also be documenting all banners that have been handed in to date.
We are looking for individuals that want to be a part of this historical life changing event.
 
This will be team building opportunity for volunteers.

Volunteers can take part in various ways, they can

1. Walk for cause or, walk for those that have made contributions to the banner but can't be with us on that day i.e. (individuals waiting for a transplant)
2. help with sewing of banner segments(On May 5th, we will be adding the banner segments of those that are arriving on the day of the parade)
3. be a part of documentation for Guinness - with photo taking & labelling of banners (every banner will be numbered and photographed)
4. first aid,
5. Security
6. transportation (We will need a couple of golf carts or vehicles for this, its for those that would like to participate, but can't walk the whole distance of the parade route) 

The parade route take place on the 2.5 kilometer Gift of Life section for our walking path - from Riverfront to 77th Ave and the will head back to Riverfront park for a banner day celebration and distribution of banners segments.

Please note - it isn't nessary to make a part of the banner to be in the parade. Also, note that those individuals that are volunteering to walked for others will get to keep the banner segment that they are holding for the parade.

A very special note - WATCH for GREEN RIBBON -

20 anniversary partnership with community businesses. We are fortunate to have so many in our community that are helping to promote our event with, handing out green ribbon for a free draw that will take place on April 21st

Businesses are also helping out with in-store silent auctions, with funds being raised for the Gift of Life memorial site.

Yours truly
Maria Stranaghan.

Am I overwhelmed and how are things going ??? - 400 meters in

Hello again my friends....I just received an email from one of our many volunteers ...asking if I was overwhelmed....lol

Overwhelmed is putting it mildly....lol

Question....What is the World Record for a banner ?....

[I was told that the world record for a banner is 40 meters - but we are doing it differently then it's been done before....we are doing it one meter at a time.]

Question...Am I busy ?

Really busy now with all that has been going on.....I have been volunteering at school and getting ready for our Spring Trade show and going about in the community promoting full time since January.

Question ...When do people need to have thier enties in by??

As long as the entries come in before our banner day on May 5th we will try to make sure that they all get sewn on and added to the existing banner.

Question ...Do you need to make a banner to take part in the parade?

Anyonoe can take part....one and all are welcome to join us on that day for the parade and it isn't necessary for someone to have made a banner in order to walk with us.

What I'm telling people is that,

There are some of those that can't be with us on that day and they have asked others to walk for them. 

 "Walking in the Gift of Life Banner Parade for an hour, will give a family in need a lifetime of happiness!"

 Question ...How many meters do we now have for our record?

As for how many meters of banners do we now have - At this time, I have 400 meters sitting at our Trade Show table.

Question...How many meters do we expect the banner to be?

I'm not sure...because banner segments are coming in everyday now.

Plus, all of the 1,209 meters that I have measured,cut and documented, have been distributed.

All of our schools in Peace River and Grimshaw are participating and we have other schools in the province taking part.

We have 10 different faith communities taking part etc.

Question...Am I overwhelmed?

Yes...and also delighted, excited, exhilarated....ummmm...need I go on :-)

I'm not getting much sleep but that's ok because, I know that when we are done I'll be able to rest easy, Tasha's Wish that we educated the world, will finally have been fulfilled.

 ......thank you... thank you ...thank you ...... to one and all ....
Please know that as soon as I can, I will take pictures of the banners segments that have arrived and I will be posting them ASAP.

Take care, God blessand have a great day.

Maria

I’ll be happy when this is project is done ! - Some things are astonishing !

Well my friends I must say……

Good grief ---I’ll be happy when this is project is done because at times I get tired and a bit overwhelmed.

A Gift of Life Scavenger Hunt and Green Ribbon Campaign

I am so very grateful for the support that we have been getting from our local media and for the wonderful response that I’ve been getting from our local businesses/stores.

But, I must say that during this campaign and this is especially during these past couple of months I have  found a few things to be a bit astonishing -

What I have been doing and what I find to be a bit bewildering.

As you know, I have been working on this campaign since the spring of 2011 and during this time I have been going out and speaking to media, schools, community organizations, businesses and community members in general.

I have talked so much that at times the idea of saying another word on this subject makes me dizzy and at times I feel ill. But I keep telling myself that “It’s only for a few more days!” and then I just keep chugging along.

Everything is close at hand!

Now with the date so close at hand and with having almost everything in place I find it difficult to believe that, while I go from place to place –

Promoting the green ribbon campaign

1. The Gift of Life Scavenger Hunt
2. The Gift of Life booth at our local Spring Trade Show this weekend
3.  The Community Silent Action for the Gift of Life memorial site – and
4. The Gift of Life Rally on April 21^st and
5. Banner Parade on May 5^th,

Despite all the promoting and all the information that has been handed out, there are so many in my community that are telling me that they haven’t even heard about this event.  

All of this makes me realize that we as a society are just so bombarded with messages and information that unless someone gets the message first hand, not matter how important the event may be, we just don’t hear what is going on, what is being done or being said in the community or by the media.

All of this just makes me aware and understand, how I personally, need to be more aware of what is going on. It makes me want to get out my own little world and be more open to a world that can only help me to grow as an individual.

Well my friends - I need to get back to bed for a bit - I have lots to do in the morning - I have physio for my thumb at 7:40 - a meeting at 10:00 to discuss photo documentation for our Guinness World book record – then I have to go to, schools, promote in businesses/stores, visit my soon to be 84 year old mom and at 3:00, go with my hubby and our daughter Crystal to meet her realtor.

Geeezzz – it’s no wonder that our home looks like it’s been hit by a hurricane – I just have to shake my head and keep reminding myself that soon it will be over and done with.

I also remind myself that, after May 5^th I will finally be able to go to Tasha’s gravesite and lay down some flowers and say “My dear, we did it –your wish has been fulfilled – everyone now knows the message that you left behind, of how important it is to love on another and to try and help your fellow man.”

Good night for now, take care, God bless and have a great day.

One month to go - Working with students and community.

Well my friends -

Our day will soon be here!

So much has happened this year already and I'm not getting much sleep lately --- but I know once we are done I will be able to get some rest.

Because of what we are doing, I was invited to speak about our event at one of our local schools.

So with everything else, I haven’t had much time to be at my computer to do much writing.

Working with students.

These past few weeks I have volunteered my services at my former high school. It’s been quite the thing, to be able to share my experiences over these past 20 years, all the while, hoping to inspire students in a leadership and volunteerism class.

This weeks Plans

The students will be back from Easter Break so I will be back at the schools picking up banner segments and sending information about the information booth at our local trade show, the Banner Rally and information session on April 21st and our Gift of Life Banner Parade on May 5th.  

The plans for promotion with the students this week is, a scavenger hunt with grade nine Glenmary students that have been working on banner segments.

It’s been quit the experience for us all and it’s been great to have them working this semester for the cause of organ & tissue donation.

The next step for the students is to go out in the community to promote the cause and what they are doing to be a part of it.

I have planned a Gift of Life Scavenger Hunt for them and part of this hunt will include promoting our Gift of Life Banner Volunteer Rally on April 21^st and our Gift of Life Banner Parade on May 5^th.

Great things are happening

Our local Chamber of Commerce donated a booth ($500 value) at the Spring Trade Show. Community businesses have also offered to help out with promoting our event with patrons

Prizes have also been donated to help fundraise for the Gift of Life memorial site and prizes have been given for a free gift draw for students. Prizes have also been donated for free gift draw for our Gift of Life events volunteers. (And we have some great prizes!! - I will list them at a.s.a.p.)

 Through all of this there are still banners to be collected and sewn together and everything else that comes with that.

Like I said I’m not getting much sleep but I know it’s all worth the effort that I’m putting into this.

I know that I’ll never regret the time, money or effort that I have put in. One of the things that I say to others is, “If there ever comes a day, when someone that I love needs a transplant, no matter what, I know that I have already given my all to help save their life.”

Take care, God bless and have a great day.

Maria

Documentation for banner segments - my pink book

Hi everyone,

The Gift of Life Banner Parade is just around the corner and I'm just about done with the distribution of the banner segments. 1,209 in total.

What I have done over these past months -

I made sure that everyone, that bought banner segments or that offered to work on segments, signed this book pink book that I started in the year 2000.

So that you can actually see who got some of these banner segments, I have taken photos of the pages from my book.

Please note - I have also used this book for a past project, the 40, 000 sticker campaign. This campaign lasted from the year 2000 to 2006 and in the near future, I will be posting pictures of those pages also.

I must say that, it will be interesting to see if others can find their name in my book - I would love to hear from those that I have spoken to during these past 20 years of this campaign to educate others on this subject.

Enough for now and here are the pages with the banner list.

Take care God bless and have a great day.

Maria

The green highlighted area with red brackets, is banner material that I have donated to others for this project.

History in the making - Banner Report March 2013

Hi again and a good day to you.

Well my friends - things are on a roll and the day is coming up fast and I am on the run.

I have been sewing banner segments together 10 meters at a time, I then add the gold boarder on the fabric. This process takes about 1 1/2 hours.

[So you can imagine - What a relief it is to me and how happy I am when banners arrive  with their gold boarder and the segments are all sewn together. ]

 I'm also doing school presentations - attending meetings and talking to people in our community about our historical event.

Well I'm off to town again.

God bless - take care and have a great day.

Maria


Banner Report - March 14, 2013

It’s wonderful to have so many individuals helping to make this a successful historical event

All working together to help save lives by talking about organ & tisssue donation.

A part of Canadian History in the making

Of the Material - bought for the World’s Longest Banner for Canada
for the Parade of Banners in Peace River on May 5th 2013

We have 1,209 - meters for the banner-

To date 885 meters have been distributed
310 meters - went to communities - Outside of Peace River

So far we have documented Participation from
5 Provinces
14 communities outside of Peace Country in AB

9 ---Other communities in the Peace Country

Mexico - Banner segment - made by transplant athletes attending 2012 Transplant Games held in Calgary   

[You are cordially invited to help set a Guinness World Record to promote the cause of organ & tissue donation] the Dare to Dream - Gift of Life - Parade of Banners

Hello again and good day, my friends

Well, it's been a full week again...During these past few days, hubby and I have been helping to take of Max again [who has been down with a bad cold]

But despite having to divide my time up with family matters etc. -

I still managed to spend these past couple of days on the computer trying to get this message out to all of my contacts.

p.s. if you would like me to forward the formal invitation to you - just email me at stranaghan1@hotmail.com

This is the message that I have sent out.

 

Could you do me a great favour and help get the word out and forward this invitation on to others?

Canadians are working together to set a Guinness World Book Record for the Longest Banner in the World for Organ & Tissue Donation

 

Included in the attachments is information on what is planned to take place along with an official invitation for the Dare to Dream - Gift of Life - Parade of Banners. 
[You are cordially invited to help set a Guinness World Record to promote the cause of organ & tissue donation] the  Dare to Dream  - Gift of Life - Parade of Banners
 
Take care, God bless and have a great day.

Maria Stranaghan (donor mom 1993)
 

p.s.

I have officially cut 1,209 segments for the banner, therefore if everyone on returns their segments for the parade and if at least one person from each province accepts the Canadian Challenge, we should have a substantial representation for organ and tissue donation and the Guinness World Book Record.

 

Please Note – That, anyone can be in the parade - even those that haven't had time to make banners - on that day, we will need a lot of volunteer hands.

Well my friends - Due to a special invitation to an open house at the U of A - for donor families from the Peace Country - This morning, hubby and I are heading out to Edmonton for a couple of days.

It's going to be an interesting trip and I am looking forward to finding out what the near future will bring.

Take care - God bless and have a great day.

Maria