Thank you to everyone who showed up for this past Saturday’s Pink Ribbon Ride meeting!  We had a great time at the Owl’s Club, had some great food, great socializing and I even went home with a big ol’ box of pork.. I didn’t expect that when I bought a raffle ticket!

This meeting was more of an “update” sort, to let everyone know what we’ve been working on over the last couple of months.

Kettle Moraine Ranch

To start with, earlier in the day most of the ride committee sat down with Al at Kettle Moraine Ranch and finalized our contract.

• The HON’s who are volunteering/working the ride will be camping way in the back Sat night – camping is not open to the public; those of us camping can check in at 9am Saturday, giving us plenty of time to setup and even ride.
• Al will have the Jackass Saloon, Gift Shop and Mineshaft open for business the day of the ride
• We will be riding on the Eagle trails, not KMR trails
• we are checking into Porta Potty pricing/donations
• Al’s guys will help with setup and parking, and he is clearing out more parking space so we have plenty!

PRR Meeting Summary – Owl’s Club

Fliers and postcards were handed out for distribution (especially at Midwest, to be placed at several booths).  Fliers are available for download off of the Pink Ribbon Ride website if you would like to print and distribute more.

Registration – discussed cut off date of Sept 18th for pre-registration

Food – we are good on almost everything but water, soda and charcoal, contact Bridgette if you can help!

Entertainment – Rough Riders demos, Tracy Porter, Susan – horse massages, possibly animal communicator

Current donations – 500 brochures from CM Printing, $200 from Akey Mfg, italian sausage from Al, meat from Maggie/Sorgs

Shirts- we will try to presell and use up as many of the shirts we have from last year for preregistration, and get a minimal amount printed for this year’s event (to avoid a big carryover like last year).  I am hoping to pick up the stock of shirts from Sandy this week, get inventory and pricing organized, and get the info on the website for purchasing.. so stay tuned if you want to pick up some additional PRR wear, we have tank tops, long sleeve shirts and tshirts in many colors available!

Raffle/Auction Prizes – lets get going on those donation requests ladies!  Companies are limited in how much they are allowed to donate to charity each year, so get those requests in early before the supply runs out   Sponsor Form letters as well as BCR’s Tax Status are found on the Pink Ribbon Ride website.  Don’t be shy.. the worst thing that can happen is they say no!

Special Prizes – we’ll need one BIG prize for our highest fundraiser, as well as prizes for those who raise over $500.  We are thinking something non-gender specific.. hats, decals, gift cards, savings bonds, etc.  We would also like to have “Booby Prizes” for a “Best Dressed” contest, those who decorate themselves and their horses (top 5 or so).   If you have ideas, let us know!

Advertising – Kris has been working on our fliers, and Donna is getting us on a wide variety of online and print equine calendars.  The three fold brochures will likely be printed mid-late May or June, once entertainment is finalized.  Around the same time we get those going, we’ll want to have all our registration info online too, and will start the “hard core” advertising push across the web, in printed material and word of mouth.

We also have a Facebook Page for the ride, join up and invite your friends, who can then invite their friends, who can invite…   I will be updating both Facebook and the Pink Ribbon Ride homepage with pretty much the same info, but Facebook will help spread the word as things spread like wildfire on Facebook, and the home page will be more of the download-able forms, etc.  Every day we have more and more people joining the Facebook page, and we’re working on loading it up with pictures from last year’s ride.. so if you see anyone you know in the pictures, be sure to “tag” them so they can check it out!

The next “Pink Ribbon Ride Meeting” will be at the Eagle Day ride, Sat May 8th at the Eagle Day lot.. say a noon rest/meal and quick update meeting?  We may see if Al will open up the Jackass Saloon for us

Our next step… this ride can only be a success if we all help out a bit!  Please think about how you can help, do you know someone who can provide prizes or donations?  Have a contact at a Porta Potty rental company?  Travel to many barns where you can spread the word?  The day of the ride, we will need many helping hands, and as we get closer, a spreadsheet with time blocks will be available for signup.. every person that signs up for a block of time is allowing someone else to get out there and take part in the ride and events!  A HUGE thank you to all those who have already signed up to help out, and the ride committee for all their hard work!

Amy J – Pink Ribbon Ride Chairmare
amyj@hoofprintsacrosswi.com
414-322-5620

HON members & BCR reps

Thank you to all the fine women that showed up at our first Pink Ribbon Ride for the Cure planning meeting of 2010!

We had a very good turnout of members and really covered some ground in our planning. We would also like to thank the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest Headquarters for donating the use of their meeting room to our cause.

First, we heard from three wonderful representatives from Breast Cancer Recovery: Claire Bitner, Development Assistant, shared some history and information on what the organization is about; Judi Janowski, program director, told us more about BCR’s main program, Infinite Boundaries Retreats; and board member Linda Ackerman told us about her experiences volunteering with the group and how it as affected her life. The ladies answered many questions about their organization and have offered to help us in any way possible with our event. To learn more about Breast Cancer Recovery, visit their website at: http://www.BCRecovery.org

Following the BCR presentation, we focused on the different areas of the ride that needed leadership positions. We are proud to announce these great members who stepped up to the plate:

• Food – Bridgette Bender The menu and planning of food will be very similar to last year’s event, with some items such as chili, hot chocolate, etc being options that will depend quite a bit on the weather the day of the ride
• Registration – DeDe Nelson DeDe has some plans to make registration and check in run more smoothly this year! Separate tables for pre-registered and walk ins, pre-packaged Tshirts and forms for the pre-registered folks, etc
• Advertising – Donna Meyer & Kris Anich Donna and Kris are working on an updated flier to have ready for us to distribute at Midwest Horse Fair, and Donna will begin working on getting out advertisements to local papers and online publications. If you know of a good outlet for advertising our event, please let Donna know, or be sure to forward our information to them when the fliers/advertisements are available.
• Entertainment – Deana Zentner Deana already has quite a few ideas on her plate, everything from a return of the Kettle Moraine Rough Riders, to Icelandic Horse demos, to horses that paint for a living and Wild West Reenactors! Anyone with more ideas for entertainment the day of the ride, please forward the information to Deana.
• Auction & Raffle – Amy Janecek There were quite a few ideas thrown around for this year’s donated item auction.. silent vs live, one single auction vs multiple throughout the day are just a few. Depending on how early in the year we get bigger-ticket items for the raffle, we will either do pre-printed tickets to sell ahead of time or sell tickets the day of. If you have any ideas or items to donate, please contact Amy.
• Parking, Trails and Camping These areas do not have designated “leaders” yet, but will need to be filled closer to the event. These leaders will need to partner heavily with Al and Cindy of Kettle Moraine Ranch, and details can be worked out when the weather is nicer and we can get on site to better plan and prepare.

Bridle charms & ribbon concho

Amy and Sue have been throwing around some ideas for keepsake items to be given to riders at the event, including “bling” bridle charms, leather saddle charms and the pink ribbon concho. If you have some other ideas, let us know!

The official Pink Ribbon Ride for the Cure website is up and running! If you haven’t checked it out yet, visit it HERE or follow the link on the Hags on Nags home page. This is where you will be able to find all the forms, letters and other documentation to make donations, register for the ride and all sorts of other fun stuff. The site is being updated regularly, so check back often! 

We also had some of the pink Ride for the Cure shirts for sale and on display, in a few different styles. Contact Sandy Rogers if you are interested in purchasing any. Thank you to our beautiful model for her help!

The next Pink Ribbon Ride for the Cure planning meeting will be on April 10th, in Milton at the Owl’s Club around dinnertime, 5pm or so.

Again, I would like to thank all of you for your time and efforts in making this event a success, both last year and this year! Remember though, we can only succeed with your help, so get the word out, get those donations rolling in and lets make this year even better than last year!