Focused on a Cure: This Friday - Piggin' Out for Pink

This Friday is our 2nd annual Piggin' Out for Pink! As you recall, our first annual event in August 2009 was a huge success and we raised a total of $10,000. This year we've raised our goal to $15,000. We have various recipients in mind for the donations, such as the Cabarrus Health Alliance, The Pink House, Carolina Breast Friends, and others that promote mammograms and cancer awareness. These organizations are currently applying for our grants and will be judged by a panel to determine who will receive what grants.


This year’s Piggin’ Out for Pink will be in Cannon Village on Friday, August 6th at 6pm. Emily Riera and her mother, both breast cancer survivors, will share with us their experience of genetic testing. Donna Rowland will share with us that it's never too late for a mammogram. Her mother and aunt are living proof! Along with spoken memoirs by survivors, BBQ dinner by Punchy's Diner, and a documentary film by KA Studios, you’ll be entertained by “The Band of Oz.” You'll be the first to see our 2010 Focused on a Cure survivor exhibit. We have 15 new survivor stories to share with you that will travel through community in the next year. This private event offers you a chance to meet many cancer survivors, share their stories, and mingle with others who are as passionate about this cause as you are.

We will have raffle tickets for sale. We'll be raffling off some incredible baskets of gifts and specialty items that have been donated by local businesses. In addition to the raffles, we will have a silent auction for you to bid for sports memorabilia, jewelry, etc. And last, but not least, we're having a live auction this year. You could win a trip, a $500 gift card to Irresistible Portraits, a gorgeous painting by John Williams, and a few other valuable items.

Individual tickets to the Piggin’ Out for Pink event are $50 once again. We also have sponsorships available through businesses, which include multiple tickets to the event at certain sponsorship levels. For more info on these sponsorships, contact Renda at 704.933.5600 or renda@irresistibleportraits.com.

Take the time to look through some images from last year's event on our facebook fan page by clicking here or view the video on our youTube page.

To purchase tickets to the event, stop by Irresistible Portraits at 1418 South Main Street, Kannapolis, NC 28081. We can accept cash, checks to Focused on a Cure, and credit cards through PayPal. For more info, please call us at 704.933.5600.

We hope to see each and every one of you there! Thank you for your continued support!

Focused on a Cure: American Cancer Society Caregiver Workshops

We learned of different resources that the American Cancer Society has to offer during one of the 2010 Relay for Life meetings. Caregiver workshops was one that stood out in my mind. We received this email recently and wanted to share it with those of you that may not receive ACS info.

Caregiver Telephone Workshops

The South Atlantic Division will continue its series of Caregiver Telephone Workshops in 2010-2011. The sessions are facilitated by Sean Powell, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, Patient Advocate Program Manager and will feature several of our Patient Advocates as lead presenters for the various topics.

The workshops are designed to be informative and interactive, covering many topics to help caregivers cope with tasks and issues that come up at various points in the caregiving experience. No phone charges apply; and the workshops are offered at no charge to anyone caring for a loved one with cancer.

Dates & Registrations

A Caregiver Telephone Workshop will be offered each month. Upcoming workshop dates coming soon. There is no charge to participate in the call, but registration is required. People can register for the telephone workshops by calling 1-800-966-3586 or by visiting cancer.org/sacaregiverworkshops.

Schedule of Calls for 2010-2011

August 25, 2010 , 2:00 -3:30 PM: When Treatment Goals Turn From Cure Into Supportive Care - Facilitator: Julia Bucher, RN, PhD

September 2010: Maintaining Intimacy & Sexual Relations While Caregiving for a Spouse with Cancer - Facilitator: Melanie Moore, BSW

October 2010 : What You Need to Know About Social Security Benefits - Facilitator: Melissa Holmes, LMSW

November 2010: Childhood Lost: Supporting the Tween Caregiver to a Parent with Cancer - Facilitator: Jocelyn Curtis, PhD, LCSW, OSW-C

For more information on later sessions, feel free to call 1-800-ACS-2345.

Focused on a Cure: Documentary Film 2010

A few weeks ago, Irresistible Portraits and KA Studios joined forces to create Focused on a Cure's 2010 Survivor Documentary film. This is the second year that we've created a film to show at the Piggin' Out for Pink event in August. [This year's will be August 6th.]

The survivors and their families tell their stories, share their tears and passion for finding a cure! It's truly inspirational to hear their voices and see the emotion on their faces.

Last year, the documentary film was a hit. We received so much amazing feedback. I think it touched the hearts of the husbands and families just as much as it did the women that attended.

We heard from multiple women that their husbands were questioning when their last mammogram was or even offering to call and schedule their next one for them! We consider that a success.

To see more of the candids and portraits from the documentary film day, go to our facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/focusedonacure.

Focused on a Cure: Relay for Life Cabarrus County 2010

Relay for Life in Cabarrus County was May 15th -16th. Cabarrus County was rawled up and raising money! Focused on a Cure had a huge tent that was donated by Tripp Reed of Thermafuse. It was decorated to a tee (of course!) by the one and only Renda Ayscue! We were surrounded in stories and portraits of breast cancer survivors by the renowned Karen Goforth of Irresistible Portraits! It was perfect!

We won "Best Decorated Campsite" as well as "Best Decorated Luminary!"

We had the opportunity to spend quality time with some of the survivors featured in Focused on a Cure's exhibit. They are dear to our heart and we're so glad they could be a part of Relay this year!

Relay also gave us the chance to meet other survivors and even recruit a few to be a part of our 2010 and future exhibits!

Our on-site fundraiser was $5 facebook profile pics by Irresistible Portraits! Here's a few of our favorites...

We had a blast and couldn't have asked for a better turnout! We sold tons of t-shirts, magnetic pink ribbon jewelry (by Melissa Mattox), purses, and facebook profile pics! To see all the candids AND facebook profile pics from our 2010 Relay for Life, go to our facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/focusedonacure!

We're looking forward to the wrap up celebration where they will announce how much Cabarrus County's final amount raised was! We'll keep you posted...

Focused on a Cure: $5,000 GoodSearch Giveaway

$5,000 GoodSearch Giveaway - Three Days Only!

GoodSearch will donate $1 (up to $5,000 total) for every toolbar that is downloaded between May 19th at 12 noon and May 21st at 12 noon Eastern! To help our cause benefit from this contest, please download our toolbar now by following this link - http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/focused-on-a-cure.

Our new toolbar is free to download and allows you to raise money for our cause virtually every time you search or shop online! Once added to IE or Firefox, each time you shop at more than 1,400 stores (from Amazon to Zazzle!) a percentage of your purchase will automatically be donated to our cause - at no cost to you (and you may even save money as the toolbar also provides you thousands of discount coupons and free shipping offers!). The toolbar also has a search box and each time you search the Internet, about a penny is donated to our cause.

Please hurry and do this now so that we can earn the $1 bonus per toolbar!

And, please pass this along to all of your friends. The two minutes it takes to add this toolbar to your browser can make a lifetime of difference for our cause!

Get the toolbar NOW! http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/focused-on-a-cure

Focused on a Cure: Relay for Life Update

Relay is only 10 days away!! We are so ready for it! We've got our ideas for decorating our campsite. We've designed new t-shirts to sell. We're planning our on-site fundraising for the 24 hour event. We're ready!

We attended the last Relay meeting last Thursday at the Concord Library. Here's an update on the progress...

The goal for 2010 is $150,000. So far Relay has raised $58,000+.
The goal for the number of teams was 80 this year and there's 72 registered teams now!
So far there's about 800 registered participants.
The goal for the number of survivors walking in the survivor lap is 1500. So far there are 150 survivors registered. (THIS NEED SOME HELP! There are survivors everywhere in Cabarrus County. Why are only 150 registered?? You can attend just to walk the survivor lap if you'd like. No excuses, survivors!)

I wasn't able to catch all the sponsors' names but here's a few...
Cabarrus Arena and Events Center
CMC-NorthEast
Wal-Mart (Concord and Kannapolis)
Wayside Family Restaurant
Young Ford
Paragon
Bubbles by Brooke
Piedmont Shag Society
Southern Charm
WalGreens
Logans
Audio Ethics
Pender Realty
Sundrop
Cabarrus Hospice
Clearly Carolina
... and many more! Thanks to all those companies for making Relay such an awesome event every year!

Focused on a Cure's campsite will be located to the left when you enter the track. We're in "Turn 4" as Renda calls it! :) We'll be selling t-shirts, water, and other items. AND we'll be photographing facebook profile pics! Be sure to stop by our campsite... then again... YOU WON'T MISS US! You'll see what I mean...

Anyways... here's an overview of all the activities during the 24 hour relay. If you can't make it for the whole event, then you can choose when the best time to come will be. In our opinion, the whole thing is worth staying for!!

Schedule of Events

10:00 – 11:00 am Survivor Registration
Basket Raffle & Silent Auction Open

11:00 am Opening Ceremony
Welcome ~ Heather & Kim
Opening Prayer ~ John Kee
“National Anthem” ~ Trenton & Chloe Durham **They're on our TEAM!**

11:15 am Survivor Speaker / Caregiver ~ Gloria Howard

11:30 am SURVIVOR CEREMONY & LAP ***You'll never forget this after you see it!***
Led by Concord Pipe & Drum
Balloon Launch

11:40 – 12:20 pm Bethpage Choir

12 – 1 pm Survivor Lunch

1 – 4 pm Bubble Man ~ Kiddie Area

1:30 – 2 pm Concord K-9 Demonstration ~ Stage

2 – 4 pm Piedmont Shag Association ~ Padded area

2 – 3 pm Jr. & Mr. Relay Contest **SO MUCH FUN!!**

(2:00-Contestants to the Stage, 2:15-3:15-Flirting for Funds, 3:15 Judging, 4:00 Jr. & Mr. Relay Crowned)

4 – 6 pm Soundbarrier

5:30 – 6 pm Locks Of Love ~ Stage

6 – 8 pm Wii Tournament ~ Best Buy Campsite

6:15 – 7:15 pm Mother Mable & Mighty Mystics

6:30 – 7:30 pm Survivor Birthday Celebration

7:45 pm SURVIVOR LAP
Balloon Launch

9 – 9:30 pm LUMINARIA CEREMONY
Lighting of Luminarias

9:40 – 10 pm Maurice Brines

10:15 – 11:15 pm Mother Mable & Mighty Mystics

12am Basket Raffle & Silent Auction Bids Close

12 am Buffalo Wild Wing’s Wing Eating Contest ~ Stage

12 – 1:30am Karaoke **UT OH! RENDA will be on stage!!**

1 – 2 am Wii Tournament Finals ~ Best Buy Campsite

1:30 – 3 am Movie

3 – 6 am Quiet Time **YEAH RIGHT!**

6 am Breakfast ~ Gold Hall

6:30 am Tooty-Ta – Anne Scott

8 am Basket Raffle & Silent Auction Results **CROSS YOUR FINGERS!!**

9:30 - 10 Non-Denominational Church Service

11:00 FIGHT BACK CEREMONY

Please Please Please join our team if you haven't registered for one yet!! We'd love to have you!!!!

Everyone knows at least one survivor. Invite them to Relay with you! There's GREAT basket raffles, plenty of stuff to see, and it's such an inspiring event to be a part of. You won't regret it!

Focused on a Cure: IP's Cutest Kid Contest

Irresistible Portraits hosted their first IP's Cutest Kid Contest in April! They had two days of drop in FREE sessions in mid April, then invited the parents back in to pick their favorite which would be uploaded to the online voting contest. IP had 30+ families show up during those two days.

From April 21st to April 28th, the children and families were supposed to promote voting as much as they could and see how many votes they could earn. One vote equalled one dollar. IP set their goal at $10,000 in votes!

During the week, the parents shared their creative fundraising ideas with us - from lemonade stands and yard sales to auctioning off their relatives for dates!! Needless to say, IP met their goal and a little more! The grand total on the evening of April 28th was $10,175 for Focused on a Cure!!

The following are winners...

Jackson Parsons - IP's Cutest Baby

Katie Westmoreland - IP's Cutest Tot

Caroline Jeter - IP's Cutest Tween

Bryana Hott - IP's Cutest Pre-Teen

Jackson Parsons raised the most money totaling to $1303, therefore he is IP's Cutest Kid for 2010! Check out this image with his collection bucket that him and his sister carried while walking the neighborhood collecting from door to door!

We asked Lauren (Jackson's mom) to share her fundraising story with us...

The Focused on a Cure foundation hits home for our family being that Jackson's Nana is a 15 year breast cancer survivor. So when IP's Cutest Kid Contest came across my facebook events with all proceeds going to FOC, we were determined to raise as much money as we could. Who knew dressing a little boy in pink and sending him door to door could raise so much money. We set our goal at $1,000 and started raising money.

With the help of his big sister McKinlee, Jackson raised over $100 in our neighborhood asking people to donate money for "breath cancer." People were melting in their hands as they stood there with their bucket and sign. We also set up buckets at his pre-school, consigned clothes, sold our couch, took a class field trip to the fire station, raffled a Mary Kay basket, and asked just about everyone that walked past us.

Friends and family all over the US sent donations through the mail and online. It was amazing to see how supportive everyone we spoke with was. We are very grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. I am so proud of Jackson for being such a good sport, wearing so much pink, and being so excited everytime someone else gave him money. I am also thankful that this contest allowed me to teach my children about donating and giving back.

Thanks you to the IP family for starting this foundation and thank you to our wonderful family, friends, and everyone that helped us exceed our goal and raise $1,303 for Focused on a Cure.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

God Bless,

Lauren Dorsey Parsons

Check out some images from Jackson's Cutest Kid session on IP's facebook fan page - www.facebook.com/IPbyKG.