Challenges and Triumphs

It’s hard to believe the 10th Anniversary Hair Massacure is almost over. Now some of you are thinking to yourselves “Brandi is crazy! I was at the Mall, it was almost 2 weeks ago – it IS over”. While it may be true that I am a bit crazy, it’s also true that there are still lots of things going on with HM. If you consider all the mini-events throughout the year, you’ll understand what I mean:

Planning Committee meetings, Santa at Ronald McDonald House, Pink Campaign kickoff, media interviews, school presentations, more group meetings, Captain meetings, volunteer orientation and training, pre-drop, post-drop, Red Deer Massacure, etc. etc. etc… oh, and NEW - the family ski night at Rabbit Hill on March 4. I think you can see how we’ve started to refer to this as “the event that never ends” (to the tune of “this is the song that never ends”)…

This year has brought its share of challenges and triumphs. I’d like to share a few of them with you, because there was a lot going on behind the scenes. (This feels a bit like a December 31st radio “Year in Review” program – lol)

Challenge: Hair Massacure has grown to a point where it needs more support, and some highly-motivated help.
Triumph: Hire Jaime Caza as the Project Manager. Jaime has more energy than I could have imagined, and if anyone can keep up with Hair Massacure, she’s the one.

Challenge: The online registration and donation site is difficult to work with. How can we make it better, and fast?
Triumph: Find a new provider, and switch over Christmas holidays. Check! While this transition was not without its bumps and glitches, overall this has been an amazing transition. The team at Registration Logic is so great to work with and I think that once the dust settles the “wish list” for next year will address the outstanding issues. It’s going to be great!

Challenge: Our website is pretty great, but it’s content heavy and a bit outdated.
Triumph: First, spend the summer combing through every single page to see what we can eliminate, combine, or tweak. Then, meet Purelogic Solutions and hear these words: “We can design a whole new site for you and have it ready before the event, as part of an overall social media strategy”. Wow. We love it. Thanks Carmelle and company :)

Challenge: Maintain the momentum of two years at a million dollars each.
Triumph: Smash through it! Raise over $600,000 online alone, then break the million-dollar mark before the February 3 headshave was even finished. That was an amazing moment. Since the donations are still coming in, it’s really hard to wait to see where the total will end up – but we know it’s going to be well ahead of 2011. That’s a nice feather in an anniversary cap.

Challenge: Pull off an organized, clean event without showing everyone all the challenges behind the scenes.
Triumph: Oooops… I guess I just blew it… sorry…

Well anyway, those are some of my thoughts as this event comes to a close. What an amazing group of people (HM and the three charities, plus all the volunteers) that bring this million-dollar plus fundraiser together. While everyone brought something very valuable to the table, there are a few who stood out above the crowd for me this year. You know who you are… and you are very special people. Thank you.