A few fires to put out today, but now it's all good.
I am not going to get into how much work it was to get this concert together (for both CISN and us) and all of the components that pieced it together from the start, but let me tell you in the end it was simply faith that all would fall into place that got me through the winter, particularly this day (where the concert is concerned).
3 years ago Chris Sheetz (program director from CISN) had an idea that would target our demographic - kids. Chris is a very caring man, an awesome dad and a great guy to work with. To have this opportunity for 3 years is very just plain lucky, and I am ever so grateful.
His idea was to provide an in-school concert for the winning school each year.
I set the criteria, and select the winner. Selecting a winner involves several people, data entry, a lot of panic, and myself (with Nicki) to overlook all of the schools to ensure our numbers and participant info is correct (to our knowledge).
This year the goal was "highest participation". This is equally based on number of heads and money raised. One child that potentially brings in half the amount raised will not qualify a school if the participation numbers are not there. Consequently, if a school has 400 kids that bring in 5-10.00 this is not considered a high level of participation. What I am looking for is to reward schools where the children are engaged and putting forth great effort to contribute to the cause.
Brace yourself - the winner announced today was Neil M Ross in St. Albert at $73,000.
http://www.cisnfm.com/Blogs/ChrisScheetz/BlogEntry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10099806
They have knocked this out of the park and re-set the bar.
This number set off a bit of an alarm at the Stollery, which resulted in my 3 hour "pop in" visit double / triple checking numbers with Nicki.
Last year and the previous was little Gibbons school of 300 that raised 44,000. Gibbons graciously invited the 3 running up schools to their concert last year (Emerson Drive).
One of those schools was Neil M Ross, so this year Brett Arlinghouse (their leader) extended this invite to Leo Nickerson and GH Primeau (Morinville).
All of these schools had over 100 participants, with Primeau leading the pack in pink. Leo Nickerson had the most heads shaved BY FAR at 85 kids!
The announcement was made today at the studio where a little commercial was put together with an interview with Mike, Chris, myself, and Chris from Doc Walker. Nice man - put me at ease to know when talking with him that he too is a dad of a 3 year old and is all about helping kids.
The thing with CISN is it has been my station of choice for the last 25 years. Because CISN is a family station - this is a very good fit for us.
Upon his willingness to sponsor, Chris can provide guaranteed advertisement from year to year (which values over 50,000) but cannot guarantee a concert from year to year. This is the part that relies on faith that an artist will agree to perform for free at a school.
What I do know is that Chris is very good at what he does and so I don't worry. This station and their DJ's - awesome, what can I say. Still #1 Station in Canada!
Nicki and I were spent between yesterday and today but we are stoked about this!!
'Twas a good day...
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