On January 9, 10 and 11th, 2009, there was a Christopher Challenge basketball tournament, where there will be over 70 teams drawing in more than 4,000 people. On Saturday and Sunday, there was a bone marrow drive, coinciding with a silent auction. The silent auction will raise money for Christopher's Challenge to offset the cost of bone marrow typing, which is usually sixty dollars a person. Although the money raised was beneficial to the group, the main emphasis was the bone marrow drive itself. In the past there had been a very low turnout with the number of people that joined the registry, so the main focus of my project was to get as many people as possible to join. My main focus was to draw as much attention to my project as I could. Publicizing this event would be the major factor. In talking to people involved with Christopher's Challenge, there were no signs to display at bone marrow drives, so I hand made wooden signs and painted them to display at my drive as well as future drives.
November:
-Researched bone marrow transplants
-Met with mentor to discuss each part of the event
-Constructed and typed proposal
-Began contacting the media
-Attended basketball planning meetings (weekly)
December:
-Continued attending basketball planning meetings (weekly)
-Constructed a media contact list
-Contacted Rochester Chapter Bone Marrow Group
-Got volunteers to help publicize the even; i.e. Friends, family, girl scouts etc.
-Made a log of silent auction items
-Made bid sheets
-Constructed signs for bone marrow drive
-Made fliers to hand out and hang around town
-Recruited potential donors
-Got volunteers to help at bone marrow drive and silent auction
January:
-Finalized everything for the event
-Tournament weekend
-Bone Marrow Drive and Silent Auction
-Attended follow up basketball meeting
-Wrote thank you letters to those who volunteered their time
