NicoleChenet.com

Today an elderly patient asked me what my plans for Summer are, and I told him that I would be spending a lot of time planning my September 22nd golf tournament. His response was “Well, that’s a lot of work – what’s the tournament for?” I explained to him that we’re raising money for breast cancer research, and in memory of a dear family friend. He smiled and said “That’s wonderful. I volunteered a lot when I was a young man. I think it made me a better person.”

I couldn’t agree more.

I started volunteering when I was very young. I used to go along with my Mom when she volunteered at Francis House, a home for terminally ill adults. Francis House is run by a team of caring volunteers. Because I was still young, I would do things like bake cookies or dust. As I got older, I’d assist with cooking meals and visit with patients. I even helped the nurses sometimes when they were giving a patient their medicine or moving them from the bed to a chair. I continued to volunteer at Francis House throughout high school. I also volunteered for the K.A.R.E. Foundation, for Vera House, at my church, and for various other organizations. I was required to complete a certain number of volunteer hours in order to graduate from high school, but unlike a lot of my peers, I actually enjoyed volunteering, and made it a priority in my life.

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.  ~Author Unknown

When I began college, I continued volunteering, and I haven’t stopped. I like volunteering because it truly makes me feel like I have a purpose – - like what I am doing matters. Sometimes, at work, it can feel like you are doing a thankless job. The day-to-day can get boring, and you may find yourself thinking “One more hour, and I can go home!”

When I’m volunteering, whatever I’m doing is enjoyable, because I want to be there [not that I don't want to be at work - I'm very lucky that I enjoy what I do and the people I work with!]. When you’re volunteering, you could be doing other things, but you’ve made the choice to be there, helping other people. I like to volunteer because I know that I am making a difference – I don’t have a lot of money, but I have time, and I have skills that I can put to good use.

The broadest, and maybe the most meaningful definition of volunteering:  Doing more than you have to because you want to, in a cause you consider good.  ~Ivan Scheier

I’m the kind of person who would rather do something than donate money [although I do donate money when I can to a few of my favorite organizations, including St. Jude Children's Hospital--how incredible is it that they never refuse a sick child because of a family's inability to pay?!].

Last year, at the first annual Rally for the Cure (R) CNY/Traci Morey Zimmer Memorial Golf Tournament, I really realized how crucial it is to have dedicated and organized volunteers working with you when you are hosting a big event! My volunteers showed up and did whatever I needed them to do, and more. They took it upon themselves to do things without me delegating, and picked up where I left off when I had to abandon one task to handle something else. One of my volunteers [who happens to be my best friend in the entire world!] worked through severe abdominal pains because she knew I needed her help at the registration table…only to have her appendix removed the next morning! All of my volunteers stayed with me for the entire day, asked me what else they could do, made sure I ate and had coffee, and complimented me numerous times on how well the event turned out. I cannot thank them enough for what they did. All of a sudden, I realized just how big of an impact I have had on my community through my efforts.

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others.  The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.  ~Author Unknown

I have a lot to do in preparation for this year’s event, and one of my priorities is to recruit more volunteers. I hope you’ll read this and consider spending the day with us on September 22nd. Bring a friend [0r three!] and I promise, you’ll have a great time, meet awesome people, have a great meal, and feel great about what you did after the day has ended.

The world is hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers.  ~Terri Guillemets

I’ve got to thank my volunteers again: Erin, Marianne [a.k.a. Mom], Stacy, Peggy, Irene, Kirsten, Denise, Scott [a.k.a. Dad] and everyone else who showed up early, stayed late, helped promote the tournament via social media, and donated money and prize items. I’m only as good as the people working beside me!

To volunteer, please email nicolechenet.com@gmail.com or leave a comment.

…why haven’t you joined our team and donated yet??

Please visit Team Go Pink or Go Home! on the web to register and make a donation.

Our fundraising goal is a lofty $1,000 and we are 8% of the way there. Obviously, we need YOUR help!

If you’re on the fence about joining a team, keep in mind that you CAN walk! There are thousands of runners AND walkers each year…many of the participants walk with strollers, and there are walkers of all ages, from kiddos to elderly people. The goal is simply to finish. The majority of our team members participate in the 5K Fun Walk.

If you’re just not sure about making a donation, consider this: 1.3 million women and men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. 410,000 women will die this year. But 85 cents of every dollar donated to Susan G. Komen (R) goes toward breast cancer treatment and the search for a cure.

These women are your friends. They’re your co-worker. They’re your neighbor. They’re your mom. They’re your wife, or your daughter. Your sister. Your best friend from childhood. Your cousin, your aunt, or your grandmother. They’re the woman you see each day in line for your morning coffee, but never actually speak to. They could be your father, or your brother, or your husband [because men get breast cancer too]. They’re you. All kinds of charities – especially those that are cancer-related – are asking for donations. Your mailbox is probably stuffed with address labels and notepads from cancer charities along with a letter saying “Donate today!”

It’s difficult to determine which charities to donate to, and when, but consider making a small donation to Team Go Pink or Go Home! this year. Every participant on our team has been touched by breast cancer. And I bet you have, too.

The race is May 19th – there’s plenty of time to donate, or join our team. I hope you’ll support us!

This year’s Rally for the Cure (R) CNY/Traci Morey Zimmer Memorial Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, September 22nd at Radisson Greens Golf Course in Baldwinsville, NY. Registration will tentatively begin at noon, and the event will be held rain or shine.

The entry fee for participant’s is TBA.

Please bookmark this website and our the Rally for the Cure (R) CNY blog!

Over on the Rally for the Cure (R) website, there is an awesome gallery of pictures and stories from Rally events across the country. You have to check it out: http://www.rftcpromotions.com/rallystories.asp.

Be sure to bookmark the page, because our Rally story should be posted soon!!

I’ve also added some photos from our event to the Rally Gallery, so be sure to check that out as well.

While we haven’t officially settled on a date for this year’s event, I do know that it will be in September. Nailing down a date is harder than you’d think! The goal this year is to go “paperless” – in other words, we want to conduct all registration (and promote the tournament) via social media and email. This will not only streamline the process, but allow us to donate even more money to Rally for the Cure (R) and the Traci Morey Zimmer Memorial Fund (the cost of mass mailing last year’s information was NOT cheap, to say the least).

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help us out and do the following:

1. Leave a comment here (or on the blog) with your name and email address. Don’t worry, we will not share your address with anyone.

2. Bookmark both this website and our blog and check back often.

3. Share these websites with your friends, family, and co-workers.

4. Consider the perks of joining us this year: prizes, a great day of golf, beer, yummy food, contests, beer, and the great feeling you’ll have knowing that you supported an INCREDIBLE cause.

Thank you for all of your support!

P.S. The annual Race for the Cure (R) is almost here – - it’s May 19th at the NYS Fairgrounds and, once again, Team Go Pink or Go Home! will be participating. Most of our team members wait until the last minute to officially sign up, but we hope you’ll join us this year. No obligation to fundraise; we have runners and walkers of every speed and our goal has always been simply to finish (and snag a ton of free stuff before the race). I’m guessing that you have someone that you want to run (or walk) for. I have several women that I run for:

Jane Yaworski

Traci Morey Zimmer

Kirsten Frankenfield (my wonderful friend and SURVIVOR!)

Phyllis Kuffert

Lois Gillespie

This year, I’ll also be running in honor of the incredibly brave women that I work with who are in the midst of battling breast cancer and in the process of surgical intervention and reconstruction. All of these ladies come in for their appointments with a smile and a brave face and never cease to amaze me! I’m humbled to be in the company of such graceful and resilient women. The reconstruction journey following surgery is no piece of cake for these women and their families, yet they maintain a sense of calm and dignity that is nothing less than inspiring.

Who would you run for? Join us on May 19th. Visit our Team Page, scroll down, and click on the pink “Join Team” link. It’s only a $30 donation to join. I promise that you will have an amazing experience, and you’ll be finished by lunch time and able to enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

P.P.S. A couple of weekend’s prior to the Race for the Cure (R) I will be hosting a garage sale during the annual Radisson Community Garage Sale, and all proceeds will be donated to our local chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R) on race day. I’ll also be promoting the September golf event at Radisson Greens. If anyone has items they’d like to donate to be sold, please feel free to email me – I will gladly accept your sale-worthy items (clothes, dishes, knick knacks, sporting equipment, etc.) I did this last year and while I raised a meager amount of money, I was able to spread the word about the golf event and hey, every donation helps! (not to mention I was able to clear out my closet, and a few happy ladies went home with new shoes and some early nineties boy band CDs!)

…at least as far as my golf fashion is concerned!

I will say, though, that I have been to the golf dome at Turning Stone Casino twice in the last month, and I was surprised at how well I did – so perhaps with a few additional lessons at Timber Banks [and some serious time spent chipping and putting...] I will be shooting in the nineties this season!

Of course, fashion comes first, and I was so excited when my new TaylorMade Limited Edition R11S DriverLove hat arrived:

Love!

Tell me it’s not cute!

Not to mention practical: it has built-in sun protection.

Okay, so I don’t have a TaylorMade club, but my boyfriend does, and he was sweet enough to order this hat for me after we saw players wearing it at a PGA event. What do you think – - would this hat make a good prize item at our next golf tournament??

Golf season is still a few months away, but I’m thinking ahead! The Rally for the Cure (R)/Traci Morey Zimmer Memorial Golf Tournament Committee and I are in the final process of choosing a date for this year’s event, but first it’s Race for the Cure (R) in May and volunteering at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R) education booth at the NYS Fair!

Calling all runners [and walkers!] – the 2012 Race for the Cure (R) will be Saturday, May 19th at the NYS Fairgrounds. Team Go Pink or Go Home! will be participating again, and we’re hoping to recruit 15 team members and raise $1,000. To join our team, visit our team page.

The race is 82 days away, so be sure to sign up soon! It’s only a $30 donation to register [and an additional $7.50 to have your shirt and race bib mailed to you].

Speaking of counting down, we’re in the process of nailing down a date for the SECOND ANNUAL Rally for the Cure (R)/Traci Morey Zimmer Memorial Golf Tournament. We’re thinking September again, and as soon as we pick a date, we’ll post it here and on the blog.

If anyone is interested in receiving email updates [and we don't have your email address in our database] leave a comment here.

Your ongoing support is much appreciated!

What better time to finish Promise Me: How a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer by Nancy G. Brinker than Breast Cancer Awareness Month! I started reading this book several months ago on my kindle, but as usual, I got busy and neglected to finish this [and a few other!] books that I’d started. Until last night!

[I still have several books on my nightstand...and three unfinished on my kindle. I think I need an extended vacation!]

Almost everyone has heard the name Susan G. Komen before, but until this book was published, few people knew who Nancy G. Brinker was – I certainly did not. Now that I have read about her incredible life, I cannot believe I was unaware of  her role at Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R) and her many, many, many accomplishments. Brinker is the sister of the late Susan G. Komen, who passed away at the age of 36 following a long battle with breast cancer. Not long after her sister’s death, Brinker founded Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R).

Of course, Brinker is a pioneer in the cancer fundraising arena, and has done unbelievable things for breast cancer research.She is so much more, though: a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,  the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary from 2001-03, and former Chief of Protocol under President George W. Bush. She has been named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” and has received countless other accolades from various organizations.  She is also a breast cancer survivor. Who knew?

Brinker’s book is exactly my kind of read: much of the book serves as Brinker’s autobiography, detailing her world travels with her sister Susan, her great loves, and her many jobs; you also get the entire history of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R), from its inception in 1982 to the present. The book also provides a science lesson of sorts, giving information about the science behind breast cancer, along with statistics about the disease and stories of victims and survivors. It’s not a quick beach read by any means; Promise Me is a book that requires your full attention.

As a twenty-something woman who has worked in a male-dominated industry before, with some interesting male characters, I can absolutely relate to Brinker’s retelling of how she worked her way up from a saleswoman in a department store to manger, to the founder of a worldwide non-profit. Brinker is unapologetically stubborn, to-the-point and always classy and graceful. She reminds of me Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis – classic, elegant and demure but with a sassy side.

She is also a romantic – she met, fell in love with, and married Norman Brinker, the extremely wealthy restaurateur behind Jack in the Box, Chili’s, and other popular chains [apparently he also pioneered the salad bar!] Their marriage was a fairytale full of compromise – again, their romance reminds me a lot of Jackie O and JFK.

Brinker’s life is SO interesting [it seriously makes me want to quit my job and TRAVEL!] but what I found most interesting is how Brinker transformed Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R) from a non-profit that ran meetings out of her home to a global force that has raised BILLIONS for breast cancer research and education. I have a passion for fundraising, and reading this book only made me want to do M-O-R-E.

I think that EVERY woman should read this book. Not only for the important health information it provides, but because every woman I know can learn something from Brinker’s incredible life [so far!]

You can read more about Nancy G. Brinker and purchase this book on her website.

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month winds down, and the super-busy holiday season begins, consider buying this book as a gift for your sister, your mom, or your best friend. I love giving books I’ve read and adored as gifts, and this book is not only entertaining, but it has a purpose.

The September 24th Rally for the Cure (R) CNY/Traci Zimmer Memorial Golf Tournament was a smashing success…not without a lot of hard work and stress, of course!

After we took care of the many costs associated with putting on a golf event like this, we were able to write a check for just over $2,900 for the Traci Zimmer Memorial Fund. Not bad for the first year!

We also sent $900 to Rally for the Cure (R) and because we opted to have the funds we raised stay local, this money will benefit the Central NY Chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R).

Our event was AWESOME – thankfully, the rain held off, the temperature stayed fairly mild, and the sun even came out once and awhile. The course was a bit wet [and muddy...] but that didn’t stop our golfers from enjoying themselves and playing some great golf. We had a lot of help from our incredible volunteers – including a breast cancer survivor – and the staff at Radisson Greens Golf Course were amazing.

The Executive Director of the CNY Chapter of SGK, Kate Flannery, even stopped by to say hello and check things out – we were so honored to have her!

I have learned many things in the past six months – - it’s not how much money you make, or how powerful you are; it’s not about the cars you drive, the exotic trips you take, or the people you know. It’s about how you give back, and how you use the talents you have to impact your community. Nothing feels as good as giving your time and effort to a worthwhile cause. Six months ago, I may have been impressed by someone’s fancy cars, or their famous friends; now, the people who blow my mind are the people who volunteer, donate, and participate in charitable events, not for the recognition, but because they want to help.

It feels incredible to be able to send these donations out during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Knowing that the money we raised on September 24th will help women right here in our own community is a wonderful thing! $900 may not seem like a lot to some people, but to the people who will reap the benefits of the money we raised, it’s a wonderful gift. Susan G. Komen is extremely active in the CNY community, from the Race for the Cure (R) each May at the NYS Fairgrounds, to their education booth at the NYS Fair every summer, to the work they do behind the scenes, supporting local families dealing with breast cancer and the many issues that can arise when someone receives a diagnosis. SGK is focused on educating women about breast cancer, and while you may think that “everyone knows about breast cancer,” you would be surprised to discover that many women know very little. I can attest to this, as I was very shocked to hear while volunteering at the Komen booth at the NYS Fair that a lot of women did not understand how to do a self-breast exam, and many more did not really know what a mammogram was, or why they are such an important screening tool! We have made great progress when it comes to educating people in our country about breast cancer, but there is always more to do.

Over on the Rally for the Cure (R) CNY blog, I thanked our sponsors, but you can never say too many “Thank you’s!” to the people who opened their wallets and donated:

Foit-Albert Associates ~ our Cure Crusader Sponsor, at the $1,000 level

Lu Engineers ~ our Hot Pink Sponsor, at the $550 level

Barton & Loguidice, P.C.

C & S Companies

Siteworks Land Developers

Lindsay Luu – State Farm

Highway Rehab Corporation

Chemung Supply Corporation

Syracuse Castings

Reymore Chevrolet

Don & Gloria Morey

Ospelt Farms

Brian & Katie Waters

I have to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to our volunteers: Erin, Denise, Stacy, Marianne, Scott, Peggy, Kirsten, and Irene. If you check out the pictures on Facebook and on the blog, you’ll notice that all of us took a much-deserved break on the putting green – trust me, we worked REALLY hard the rest of the time!

Golf Pro Martha Wells and Jim Brown in the restaurant did an amazing job as well, making sure the course was in tip-top shape and making delicious food for the participants to enjoy at the reception. Oh, and making sure the keg was never empty!

A special thank you to Don Morey – the father of the late Traci [Morey] Zimmer – who made a lovely speech at the reception about his incredible daughter, her brave battle against breast cancer, and her legacy. That was truly an unforgettable moment for everyone present – - it reminded us all why we were there, and how truly blessed we are to be in good health and capable of joining together to make a difference.

BC survivor Kirsten also spoke – - she had an important message about seeing your doctor regularly. Kirsten found her lump at a doctor’s visit totally unrelated to her breast health, but credits regular visits to her doc with catching her cancer early. Kirsten was in her twenties when she was diagnosed, and has been cancer-free for several years now. I am so honored that she drove from Michigan [with her three-legged puppy, Cooper!] to be at the event. How lucky I am to have such wonderful friends.

All of the people involved are already looking forward to next year’s event – we will *hopefully* be conducting all registration/promotion etc. via email and on our website[s] so please bookmark the blog and NicoleChenet.com and be sure to check back in a few months!

Last Saturday’s golf event was a success! The weather stayed dry, participants enjoyed themselves, and the sun even made a few appearances.

The 1st Place Fivesome!

For a sneak peek of photos from the event, head over to the Rally for the Cure CNY Blog.

You can now download registration forms for the September 24, 2011 Rally for the Cure (R) CNY/Traci Zimmer Memorial Fund Golf Tournament by clicking here.  Hit the “Download” button in the upper-right corner.

I will also be happy to email the forms if you would like – please send a request to have forms emailed via Facebook or to nicolechenet.com@gmail.com.

Spaces are anticipated to fill up quickly, so please mail registration forms as soon as possible to – -

Nicole E. Chenet

3075 Amberlea Lane

Baldwinsville, NY 13027

Golfers must include a $20 check made out to Rally for the Cure (R) with our Event ID # 49044 in the Memo line, and a check for the remaining $80 made out to Nicole E. Chenet when registering. Those only attending the cocktail reception can make their $40 check out to Nicole E. Chenet. Hole & other sponsors can also make checks out to Nicole E. Chenet.

Any additional monies raised through registration, sponsorship, and other means will benefit the Traci Zimmer Memorial Fund.

Those who cannot attend the event but would like to donate can do so by sending checks made out to either Rally for the Cure (R) or the Traci Zimmer Memorial Fund to the address above.

Thank you for your support!