Hard to find many things more gratifying that seeing a something – or someone –  you believe in create something special. In this case I’ve got a story of a something and a someone!

A few years back Mark Starkey approached us about sponsoring his new event “Kayak for a Cure” (KFAC) up in Vancouver. He was passionate, driven and had vision – you could actually feel it over the phone. We offered him a little bit of help that first year by way of a grant for promotional products – and the event was a success.

Fast forward to 2010, the 5th anniversary of the Vancouver event held this past weekend and it was spectacular by all accounts.  KFAC is raising more money than ever and is now an event in nine cities in Canada and the US – with more to come I’m sure.

Thanks to Mark and the KFAC Crew for reminding us all again that anyone can make a difference  - you just have to decide you want to.

P.S. If you’re part of a charitable organization making a difference where you live, check out our ‘one by one’ program. It’s a way for you to get a promotional items grant that you can put to work creating something special for people in need!

OK, shameless plug alert – but at least it’s a shameless plug (mostly!) for a wonderful non-profit organization that I’m involved with!

The Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation works to provide answers, support and hope to people (and their families!) who have dealing with bone marrow failure diseases.  The team also works to raise awareness within the medical community and the community at large around these serious, serious diseases.

They do (as so many great non-profit organizations also do) what they do well, and the work is vitally important.  If you have some time, please click here to read more about what they do.

Here are some pictures from their annual patient conference. It’s a pretty special event where patients and their families can come and learn about these diseases from leading experts, and perhaps more importantly, meet with others who are working through the same issues.

Shameless plug alert #2 – notice that the pictures are of some pretty nifty looking promotional products from the event(I love how they always go with their color – red)? Sorry, couldn’t help myself…

Every business day we give $500 in promotional products to charitable organizations as part of our one by one® program. I’m constantly amazed by the number of fantastic organizations out there trying to make the world a better place – it’s really quite amazing. What’s also amazing is how they choose to use promotional products to achieve their objectives.

If you’re part of a charitable organization, or know someone who is, please tell them about one by one®. To get a feel for what I’m talking about you can read a profile of two one by one grant recipients here.

Recently, the American Red Cross ran a campaign called ‘Heroes’ to raise funds and awareness to support the vital work they do to help those in times of need. We helped the Northeast Wisconsin region with imprinted ceramic piggy banks used to recognize ‘Heroes’ who have contributed  to helping ‘make it happen’.

Steve and Barbara from the chapter stopped by to give us a beautiful framed version of an ad that featured a picture of our little piggy! Guenevere from our research team really drove the process and she’s the one holding the bank.

We’ve been a supporter of Kayak for a Cure from early days. It’s so exicting to see the event grow and now develop into a multi-site, multi-country mission to raise money for cancer research.  The ‘flagship’ Vancouver event was held yesterday and it was a huge success with more than $35k raised.

Now, the event is getting press – watch the video here.

I was in Indianapolis this weekend for the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation (AA&MDSIF) Patient & Family Conference. AA&MDSIF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting Bone Marrow Failure Diseases like Aplastic Anemia, MDS and PNH through patient support and research.

Given that this is a topic near and dear to my heart (full disclosure alert – I’m on the Board of Directors and our family has been personally touched by these diseases), I could go on and on about the event, the work the Foundation does, education on these little known diseases, etc.  However, given that I try to keep this blog broadly focused on marketing, promotional products and creative ideas I thought I’d share this photo:

The Foundation put together the first ever ‘Hope, Steps and a Cure’ walk as part of the event, to raise awareness and to show people how they can put a walk together in their hometown.  The team at the Foundation that put this whole event (and the walk specifically) together, did an oustanding job in every way and they paid attention to many, many details. One important detail was the use of color in the walk t-shirts and other promotional items/materials.

This photo doesn’t begin to do justice to how it really looked when a sea of 200 bright red t-shirts weaved their way around downtown Indy.  At times it literally looked like blood flowing through the veins of the city. It drew a ton of attention and the banner at the front of the walk (which I was helping to hold when I took this shot which explains why you can’t see it!) tied it all together.

When you’re tyring to get attention, don’t forget about color. Choosing a bright color and sticking to it consistently throughout an event makes a big impression.

One of the programs we’ve put in place that I’m the most proud of is one by one® .  The program offers one order of $500 in promotional products – each business day – to a worthwhile charitable/nonprofit organization. These organizations are involved in some incredible and important work and the promotional items they select help them thank volunteers, spread the word, raise money or are put to use in other creative ways.  In the end, that $500 becomes something much more.

We’ve given products to hundreds of organizations over the past few years. We just revamped the one by one® website so you can read more about these organizations (there are some truly inspiring stories), see where they’re located and, if you’re involved with a nonprofit, apply for a grant.

There are some wonderful things happening out there. For proof, just visit the one®  by one the site by clicking here. And if you know of a group that could use this kind of help, please spread the word.

Improving Life, Three-fold: Kitties, Neighbors and Cities
No More Homeless Pets KC

No More Homeless Pets – Kansas City volunteer Debra Sweeten talks with Kathy Rodriguez
at an outreach event, where the organization handed out imprinted koozies and pens.

marke