CONGRATULATIONS!

Hello Team!

Congratulations!!! You all did and amazing job! We hope you are now recovering and getting some well deserved rest! The CYCLE Kids staff is so impressed with all of your hard work and dedication during these past months to this team. You all exceeded our expectations with the training you put in, and with how much you were able to fundraise. It was so nice to finally meet everyone! We all thought that the team had a great energy, and you were all so much fun to get to know. CYCLE Kids hopes that you enjoyed running for us this year and that we provided a great team environment for everyone to get to know what the CYCLE Kids mission is and the rest of the team.


We're extremely happy to report that everyone finished the race yesterday, and in great time! Dave finished just under 3 hours and Christian came in close behind him! We have a few pictures of the big day and the festivities this weekend but we would love for each of you to share your stories, accomplishments, and pictures of the big day! We have made it so you can post them on here by logging into blogspot.com with the username: socialmedia@cyclekids.org and password: marathon2011, please post about your experience on here! Also, be sure to share your facebook link and like CYCLE Kids on facebook so we can all see pictures of Marathon weekend! 


As a team you have raised over $100,000! That is enough to put 10 programs into new schools. This is the most one Marathon Team has ever fundraised for CYCLE Kids and we are so thankful. So please, share your stories with us and the rest of the team so we are able to show future teams how much the CYCLE Kids Boston Marathon 2011 Charity Team was able to accomplish!

Marathon Events!

Hello Everyone!

This Saturday there will be a team event on the course doing a 17 mile run. There will be busing for teams out to Natick St. and Route 135, as well as 3 well stocked aid stations. If you are interested email Rebekah ASAP!

There is also an event being hosted with Official Charity WalkBoston tonight at Marathon Sports on Boylston Street across from the Boston Public Library at the finish line. It is a 5 mile run starting at 5:45 from the store.

After the run there will be a presentation of the latest in High Tech Training to "Get the Edge" presented by Saucony and Garmin. There will also be 15% off call Saucony Compression Gear, and as well as an overall sale of 30% on all winter clothing! The event is free to all runners and it would also be a great opportunity for charity runners to share ideas and learn the latest in training and recovery aids.


Keep up the hard work everyone!

Boston Marathon Training Clinics!

Hey everyone!

The Boston Athletic Association is hosting a Marathon Training Clinic Series in the John Hancock Conference Center at 40 Trinity Place, 2nd floor, Boston MA 02116. Go to http://www.baa.org/programs/training-clinics/marathon-clinics.aspx to see dates and times.

If you're interested in getting some discounts on awesome Adidas apparel, learning how different footwear can affect your running style, getting your questions answered by experts, or learning proper diet, nutrition, injury prevention, and so much more, you should definitely try to attend one!

Hope everyone's training is going well!

Fundraising Challenge Winners!

Here are the results of lasts week's fundraising challege!

Paul Campbell came in first place with $1,580 raised in one week.  He has won a heartrate monitor watch on top of other gifts from Polar!

Karen came in second place with $1,047! She has won a New Balance tech T-shirt.

Good job guys, everyone keep up the good work! CYCLE Kids is so excited that our third and final marathon team is the greatest team that we've had so far!

Fundraising Update!

 Hey everyone!

A big congratulations to Bob who hosted his fundraiser on Saturday night! The event was a huge success and he was able to raise over $800 for CYCLE Kids. The night was complete with raffles, prizes, live music, and dancing.

To check out more about the night go to his blog at http://runforthekids.blogspot.com/!

You might think that this would make Bob a shoe-in for the fundraising challenge this week but Karen has already raised $766 since Sunday, good job Karen! We're all excited to finish the week and see who the winner is, keep up the good work everyone!

I hope everyone's training is going well, don't let the snow slow you down!


-Emma

Questions you may be asked by potential donors:

Questions with answers by Executive Director Julianne Idlet

1.  How does CYCLE Kids measure the impact of the program (beyond the number of kids enrolled)?
We do pre and post assessments to look at what the children are learning, and require each child to submit an essay telling us what it means to be a CYCLE Kid.

2.  What percentage of contributions are spent on overhead v. the program?
Our overhead is very low - approximately 80% of every dollar goes to the program and the children.  On average, less than 20% of contributions go towards overhead.  Unfortunately overhead is part of running any business.  CYCLE Kids makes an effort to find grants and pro-bono services specific to supporting our overhead needs.

3.  What efforts are made to purchase material from cheaper sources to maximize outreach.  What 5 of materials are donated vs. purchased?
Our discount with Specialized is below dealer cost.  Part of the success of the program comes from providing equipment that is well made and will hold up to the abuse of 4th and 5th grade students.  Programs we gave equipment to six years ago are still using everything and have had very little need for repair.  Our curriculum is designed pro-bono, and our printing is at a discount.  Given in kind support we receive, I'd estimate that 30% of materials for a program are donated.  I have worked very hard to keep costs down and at the same time to deliver a quality program.

Fundraising Ideas from the B.O.B.!

Hey fellow Team CYCLE Kids members!

This is Bob from down in North Carolina, the Queen City to be exact (aka Charlotte). I am one of those laggers in getting up the ole Bio, it'll be up soon folks!

This weekend I am hosting a Charity Fundraising Event in town and the idea of a small business card came up when brainstorming ideas with friends who are helping with the event. Seemed like a pretty cool idea and easy to do if you have a printer and can swing by a Staples/Office Depot/Office Max/etc. Below is a draft of one I made and have been handing out;
Another thing I put together is an event flyer it's a pretty easy deal to make or alter if anyone is doing an event and wants to do flyers or what not;

Just some ideas I figured I would pass along! If you want any specifics on this stuff or for me to email out the templates of the cards or fliers please feel free to let me know. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and awesome New Year! Looking forward to keeping in touch and meeting everyone!

Happy Running Folks!

South End Athletic Company Charity Mixer next Wednesday!

Hello Everyone!

This is Emma, I am the new Social Media and Marketing intern at CYCLE Kids from Northeastern University. I am so excited to be working with everyone from CYCLE Kids!

I wanted to let you all know that on Wednesday, January 12th South End Athletic Company will be hosting the 2nd Annual Charity Mixer for the Boston Marathon! It is 20% off OR 20% will go towards your fundraising. This is a great opportunity to meet members of different charities who will also be running the marathon. There will be free drinks and snacks, a raffle and prizes, and storewide discounts! It starts at 7 PM and at 6:30 there is an optional 4 mile run. The mixer will be held at 652 Tremont Street Boston, MA.

Rebekah will be going this year and she said its a lot of fun, email her if you would like to make plans to meet beforehand.

I am excited to meet all of you, and good luck with your training!


Emma

Happy New Year from Jim!

Hello everyone! I haven't posted in a while so I wanted to catch everyone up on what's going on in New Haven, CT! New Years day brought in the first race of the year for the Mydosh family, the Chilly Chile 5k in Orange, CT. The weather was excellent, sunny in the 40's so there was a record crowd in attendance, including three 90 year old men racing! A total of 8 members of my family participated. http://www.hitekracing.com/results11/orange0101.htm

I'm signed up for the local Boston Buildup series here, and the first is Rowayton 10k on Jan 9th. I'll end up missing one of the series races because I'll be in Hyannis with many of you, running the marathon on Feb 27th! My family will be there with me and at least one member of my running club, who is doing the half. http://www.clubct.org/Buildup/BosBuild.html

Nice 10mile training run this morning, in the misty cool fresh air. The hilly course I train on takes me down to a river walk path in my town, where I'm always happy to see fellow runners and walkers enjoying the outdoors. Part of my course is cross country by some lakes. The melting snow made me think of running in the sand on the beach, a real nice workout!

Hope everyone had a fun holiday and that their training and fundraising are going well!

A mantra from my last yoga class: Live, Love, Serve, Breath, and you will see!

Jim