NAMIWALK BLOG

Volunteers Needed; Rita's Challenge Wall

2009-03-12T11:33:00.003-04:00

Preparations for walk day are underway and I need your help. The following volunteer opportunities are available:

Two Volunteer Sign-in/Info/Greeters Team Leaders needed
Need 9 individuals to assist team leaders
Need 4 people to Assist Photographers
Two Entertainment Team Leaders
Need three individual to assist team leaders
Set-up day before walk
Set-up day of walk
Take everything down at end of walk

Let me know if you can help.

Rita’s Challenge Wall

Let’s pump up the awareness scale by growing last year’s teams and starting new teams! Join Rita’s Challenge Wall.

If you had a team last year, set a goal to increase your number of Walkers (individuals who solicit contributions for your team). The top three teams (three family teams and three business teams) who have the highest increase in their number of Walkers collecting money will receive:

1st place $100;
2nd place $75;
3rd place $50.

NEW TEAMS can join in the fun by having the most Walkers collecting contributions for your team. All winning teams will be recognized at the walk and listed on Rita’s Challenge Wall.

Email your goals to ritajohnson@zoomtown.com.

Gearing Up for the 2009 NAMIWALK

2008-11-20T10:14:00.001-05:00

We cannot rest on the laurels of our 2008 success as the Sixth Annual NAMIWalks for the Mind of America is creeping up on us. I feel privileged to be the Walk Chair for 2009 and invite you to become involved as a volunteer, Team Captain, sponsor, walker, and/or contributor. The walk is NAMI Hamilton Counties signature fundraiser and awareness builder which allows us to continue to reach out to the community to provide education, support, and advocacy at no charge to families, consumer, and the community. Mental Illness needs to be talked about in order to break the stigma.

Due to the economy, the 2008 walk did not meet our goal. I know that if we all pull together we can meet our goal of $100,000 for 2009.

Thanks for your support,

Rita Johnson
ritajohnson@zoomtown.com

NAMIWALKS Awards 2008 and Slideshow

2008-07-22T12:06:00.001-04:00

On a spectacular May morning, over 1300 folks participated in the 2008 NAMI Walks at Sawyer Point. Special thanks to all the individuals, businesses and agencies who supported the Walk.

Throughout July, 2008 NAMI Walks Chair Rita Johnson and 2009 NAMI Walks Chair Julie Webster are going into the community to personally thank some of the top teams and sponsors. Enjoy some of the pictures of the folks who helped to make NAMI Walks successful!

To all... thank you for stamping out the stigma and supporting NAMI's mission to provide education, advocacy, and support at no charge to all in the community!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Reception Honors Children's Hospital Walkers

2008-06-27T12:13:00.002-04:00

On June 26, 2008 NAMI held a reception at Children's Hospital College Hill Campus to recognize Cincinnati Children's, The Convalescent Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Walk Team and Captain and.... most especially the College Hill residential youth walkers!

Pictured are:

Barbara Fitch, Bd. member Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Pamela Terp, Bd. Chair, The Convalescent Hospital
Shelly Scudder, Cincinnati Children's Walk Team Captain (# One walk team)
Susan Shelton, Co-Honoray Walk Chair NAMI Walks 2008

See photos on Flickr.

NAMIWALK Thank-You

2008-06-03T07:03:00.003-04:00

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rat-A-Tat-Tat!!!!!!!!!!!!! The winner of the t-shirt contest is the VA Hospital Medical Center whose team’s name is “Rally for Recovery”. Bobbie Sloan is the team captain – congratulations.

Honorable mention goes to Mary Hummel’s Girl Scout team named “Mending Minds”. Thanks Mary to you and your team.

It was a difficult choice as many teams had such great t-shirts. Thanks to all teams who participated in the contest.

Now for a huge thanks to all teams, you are absolutely amazing in your efforts to raise $85,000. I wish there was a bigger and better word than thanks -- I can assure you that it is sincerely meant and comes from all NAMI (Board of Trustees, staff, and members) as well as me. THANKS!!!!!

At the end of this year, I will be stepping down from the NAMI Board which means there will be a new Walk Chair. I am pleased to announce that Julie Webster has agreed to step up as the Walk Chair. Julie is a board member and a major mental health advocate who is very involved in the community including Children’s Hospital and the Lindner Center of HOPE. Julie and I have already started on next year’s walk which Teresa Lubic, our Logistics Event Coordinator, promises will be great fun.

Thanks again to all, Rita

A Beautiful Day for Our Walk

2008-05-12T06:35:00.001-04:00

I hope that everyone enjoyed the walk as much as I did! Many of you I have not seen since last year’s walk and it was great catching up what is happening in your life. Many of you were new to the walk and I was delighted to meet new supporters of NAMI – next year we can catch up.

I want to thank you for your support not just in terms of financial contributions, but also in the very important process of spreading awareness. As family members of individuals with mental illness, as caregivers and as service providers we must change the perception of mental illness and bring the concept of Recovery/Resilience into the community knowledge base.

One of the most common questions after the walk is about late contributions. If you get checks or if someone wants to send in a check, please send them to:

NAMI Hamilton County
3805 Edwards Road, Suite 130
Cincinnati, OH 45209

The online system will accept contributions for the next 60 days. Please communicate this to your Walkers.

I will be getting back to you to let you know how we did against our goals and to let you know who is the T-Shirt winner ( this is going to be a difficult decision as there were many great designs).

If you have any comments about the walk, what you liked or areas of improvement, please email me.

Thanks you much and have a wonderful Mother’s day.

Rita

Beautiful Weather for NAMIWALK

2008-05-09T00:02:00.001-04:00

The walk is Saturday and the weather is going to hold out and be beautiful. A new feature this year, beside the change in staging location, is a great jazz group. I am getting really excited and look forward to seeing you. Thanks for all your support!

Our walk goal is $130,000 and 1,200 walkers. Online we have a total of $53,371. You raised $8,848 since my last Thursday – we are at our final push!

Send out one last email to all your Walkers and have them send an email blast to the individuals they have contacted. Here is an example, “The NAMIWalks is coming up this Saturday and I want to thank everyone that has contributed so generously to support my participation. If you have not yet had a chance - it is not too late!! Please go to (my website link) and help me meet (beat) my goal! If you can join me on Saturday - that would be great! But even if you can't you can help make a difference with a generous contribution now”.

NOW THE WINNERS OF THE LAST RAFFLE

Mary Fages from the Team Fages won the gift card to TGIF and the $50 BP gas gift card
Tammie Rafferty from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital won the gift card to Applebee’s
Winners of the baseball caps:
Potter, Sara from Bozzie’s Gang
Mungro, Tara from GCBees
Colegrove, John from Survivors

Please let me know if you have any questions , thanks again.

Rita

May 10 Day of Event Planning

2008-05-07T07:48:00.002-04:00

NAMIWalks for the Mind of America on May 10^th at Sawyer Point – Registration 8 am and the walk starts at 9 am. Parking at Sawyer Point lot and Public Landing are free.

This year the activities will be moved from the Cincinnatus statue and tunnels to the Serpentine wall area and promises to be bigger and better.

When you come from the parking lot, the first area you will see is the Cincinnatus statue and tunnels – there will be signs to guide you. Go through the left or middle tunnel and bear left towards the Serpentine wall and you will see tents ahead. The first series of tents includes, on the far right, the photographer’s tent and on the plaza (cement stage) above the photographer’s tent are two tents marked Registration. Meet your team to the right of the photographer’s tent in the grassy area.

NOTE: If you park at the Public Landing come along the walk by the Serpentine wall to the end of the tents and you will see the photographer and Registration tents.

BEFORE COMING TO THE WALK:

Communicate your meeting location to all your Walkers
For Walkers that are not coming to the walk, collect their money before walk day
Post their name your Team Captain envelope along with the amount they collected (column “C”)
Put money in Team Captain envelope
Go to your online Walker page to see if anyone has raised $100

THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU MEET WITH YOUR TEAM

Collect from your Walkers money that they have receive
Post their name your Team Captain envelope along with the amount they collected (column “C”)
Total column “C” at the bottom
Put money in Team Captain envelope
Go to the Registration tent to turn in Team Captain envelope
Pick up tickets for T-Shirts – for each Walker who raised $100 (total online and offline donations) you will be given 1 ticket.
Distribute tickets to your team members

Note: If you need additional Walker envelopes or Team Captain envelopes, just go to Registration

GET YOUR TEAM PICTURE TAKEN:

Don’t forget that all pictures will be eligible to be the winner of our poster/brochure team for next year
Also, the local winners picture will be sent to our National office and be eligible for $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant to the Team Captain
After all the National walks there will be a winner, one spring walk and one fall walk, and each winner will get $250 and their T-Shirt mount at the National office

I don’t know how to adequately express my deep appreciation for all you are doing for NAMI and the community.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks again, Rita

38 Percent Increase!

2008-05-02T19:28:00.002-04:00

You have done an amazing job since last Thursday – your efforts have increased the online donations to $17,423 (38% increase)!

Way to go and congratulations to everyone for the great work.

TOP 10 Walkers in term of dollars raised online:

Wassermann, Carson - Movin’ on Mental Health - $765
Young, John - Young Walkers for NAMI - $665
Fages, Mary - Fages Team - $620
Annett, Richard - Rick’s Team - $560
Stenz, Jamie - The Children’s Home of Cincinnati - $450
Brown, Pat - Pat & Mike’s Team - $435
Thompson, Kathryn - Team MHAP - $415
Hawkins, John - Walkin’ with Hawkins - $400
Rafferty, Tammie - Cincinnati Children’s Hospital - $375
Asbury, Helen - Walkin’ with Hawkins - $360

Top 10 Teams in terms of dollars raised online:

Cunningham, Amanda - The Children’s Home of Cincinnati - $1750
Mathison, Elizabeth - Cincinnati Children’s Hospital - $1295
Hawkins, John - Walkin’ with Hawkins - $1015
Tlustos, Sarah - UC Psychology - $993
Thompson, Kathryn - Team MHAP - $890
Wassermann, Carson - Movin’on Mental Health - $870
Wright, Diane - GCBees - $830
Bischoff, Jamie - Bozzie’s Gang - $760
Smith, Mike - Lindner Center of HOPE - $735
Young, John - Young Walkers for NAMI - $665

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s raffles:

Carson Wassermann has won the one set of 4 Reds tickets – team name is Movin’ on Mental Health

Team Captains who won NAMIWalks baseball caps are:

Nikki Boberg with St. Al’s Steppers – St. Aloysius Orphanage
Marcia Butts with Team SBH - Summit Behavioral Health
Mary Fages with Fages Team – family team
Kirsten Knapp with St. Joe’s – St. Joseph Orphanage
Anna Moore with Magellan Health Services
Adam Ratliff with Pressley Ridge

We are just 8 days away from the day of the walk and there are some things that all Team Captains need to do to get your Walkers sparked for the final fundraising sprint.

Update your team on how many Walkers you have and the total raised so far -- compare this to your goal
Acknowledge your top performers on the team
Share ways that they can increase their fundraising – recheck your email and address files to make sure they have asked all their friends, family, coworkers and church members and neighbors.
Share your experience of things that have worked for you and other team members
Challenge your Walkers to meet or increase their goals
Remind them why you see this as a very important event that makes a difference in lives

The final raffles will be drawn next Thursday:

For all Walkers who have $400 or more you will be eligible for a $60 gift card to TGIF and a $50 gift card from BP to fill your tank to go out for dinner.
For all Walkers who have $250 to $399 you will be eligible for a $50 gift card to Applebee’s
For all Walkers who have $150 to $249 you will be eligible for one of three NAMIWalks baseball caps

Please contact your Walkers to let them know about the raffles.

Thanks for supporting NAMI!

Rita

WONDERFUL NEWS

2008-04-18T05:51:00.002-04:00

WAY TO GO KATHRYN!

Wonderful news from Kathryn Thompson! Kathryn is a Team Captain at Mental Health Access Point (MHAP) and went the extra mile to support NAMI by asking the Good Samaritan Hospital to sponsor the walk and they responded that they would at the $1,000 level. Kathryn, in great appreciation for initiative and efforts I will be sending you a $50 gift card to Montgomery Inn – have fun.

Connie Frick is a Team Captain at the UC Hospital Medical Center and here is her team page message of encouragement to her friends, co-workers and family – thanks Connie:

“Welcome to our hospital's team page. We are simply wanting to put our best foot forward and show our support for NAMI by walking en masse on Saturday, May 10th. NAMI is simply a powerhouse of support and empowerment that has greatly improved the lives of many, many folks who have been impacted by mental illness. Every year of the walk the numbers of walkers and donors has been doubling so let's help history repeat itself. It really is a fun, feel-good event. ANY donation is welcome but not required. Hope to see you all there!! Thanks in advance for your compassion and interest in supporting NAMI. Just click the button above to sign up now.”

TAKE A LOOK AT THE GREAT JOB YOU ARE DOING AS WALKERS AND TEAMS. Keep in mind that all you are doing goes to educate, support, advocate and outreach to all families and the community. Let’s bust the stigma of mental illness.

TOP 10 Walkers in term of dollars raised online:

Annett, Richard

Thompson, Kathryn

Wassermann, Carson

Wright, Diane

Brown, Pat

Warden, Kelly

Johnson, Rita

Witherspoon, Stacey

Brammer, Sue

Newman, Bea

Rick’s Team

Team MHAP

Movin’ on Mental Health

GCBees

Pat & Mike’s Team

Kell’s Pals

Rita’s Ramblers

Tender Mercies

The Brammer Team

Central Clinic

$525

$415

$370

$340

$300

$275

$270

$235

$225

TOP 10 Teams in term of dollars raised online:

Cunningham, Amanda

Wright, Diane

Thompson, Kathryn

Tlustos, Sarah

Wassermann, Carson

Ratliff, Adam

Brown, Pat

Newman, Bea

Smith, Mike

Sloan, Bobbie

Johnson, Rita

Witherspoon, Stacey

The Children’s Home of Cincinnati

GCBees

Team MHAP

UC Psychology

Movin’ on Mental Health

Pressley Ridge

Pat & Mike’s Team

Central Clinic

Lindner Center for HOPE

Rally for Recovery

Rita’s Ramblers

Tender Mercies

$1130

$615

$575

$456

$375

$330

$300

$295

$290

$280

$270

$235

Winners of the six NAMIWalks baseball caps:

Kathryn Thompson from Team MHAP

Carson Wassermann Movin’ on Mental Health

Sherrie Thomas-Woodside from MHSRB

Kathleen Mauldin from Pressley Ridge

Jamie Stenz from The Children’s Home of Cincinnati

Sarah Tlustos from UC Psychology

There are 24 more days until the walk and counting!

Have a wonderful weekend, Rita

30 Days and Counting

2008-04-11T05:47:00.001-04:00

GOOD DAY TEAM CAPTAINS!

Number of Team added since last week is 5. We have 36 teams online. The big WOW --- the number of Walkers has increased from 111 last week to 156. WAY TO GO Team Captains.

WE ARE NOW AT COUNT DOWN TIME – 30 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Number of donations = 142Amount raised = $4,635Number of Walkers who have raised money = 48

TOP 10 Teams in term of Walkers:

GCBees

Team SBH

The Children's Home of Cincinnati

Rally for Recovery Team

Lindner Center of HOPE

MHRSB Team

Team MHAP

Cincinnati Children's Hospital

Kell’s Pals

The Happy Hoofers

TOP 10 Walkers in term of dollars raised:

Thompson, Kathryn

Wright, Diane

Warden, Kelly

Johnson, Rita

Newman, Bea

Thomas-Woodside, Sherrie

Annett, Richard

Birdsall, Erin

Soper, Paul

Mauldin, Kathleen

Team MAHP

GCBees

Kell’s Pals

Rita’s Ramblers

Central Clinic

MHRSB Team

Rick’s Team

The Children’s Home of Cincinnati

Pressley Ridge

$415

$340

$275

$270

$200

$170

$150

$145

WINNER OF THE RED’s Tickets is Megan Gooding from Camelot – congratulations!

WINNERS OF THE NAMIWALKS CAPS are:

Stacy Witherspoon from Tender Mercies

Joanna Noonan from NAMI NKY

Bea Newman from Central Clinic

Mike Smith from Lindner Center

With 156 Walkers, we have a lot opportunity to increase the number of Walkers who have raised money.

I want to help you get your Walkers excited about making your team successful. I have 6 NAMIWalks caps and want to give them next week to the top 6 Walkers in terms of dollars collected. Please community this to your Walker and see if we can spark some friendly competition.

If you do not have a team yet, please go to www.nami-hc.org and join the fun!

Rita

VP and Walk Chair

674-1930

Forty New Walkers, Two New Sponsors

2008-04-04T05:54:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon to all! Hope you are having a good week. The NAMI walk has received good news in our Corporate Sponsorship – Janssen will be a $2,500 sponsor and AstraZeneca will be a $1,000 sponsor. We need more corporate sponsors – do you know an organization that would like to be a sponsor or have a contact that the NAMI Development Team could call on? Call me at 674-1930.

Number of Team Captains = 31; this is an increase of 5 teams from this time last week.

DON’T SKIP THIS FACT:number of walker last week = 71 and the current number is 111. AN INCREASE OF 40 Walkers – this is tremendous.

TOP 10 Teams in term of Walkers:

The Children's Home of Cincinnati

Team SBH

GCBees

MHRSB Team

Team MHAP

Rally for Recovery Team

Sister Sledge-We are family

Cincinnati Children's Hospital

St Al’s Steppers

Camelot Cares for NAMI

If you don’t have a team you can get started by going to www.nami-hc.org.

TEAM CAPTAINS – good job. The more Walkers you have the more successful your team will be. Remember to communicate with your Walkers to see if they have questions or need encouragement. Also, the day of the walk the Walkers who have raised $100 or more will be eligible for a T-Shirt – use this as an incentive for your Walkers.

OK! Now for this week’s raffle winners of 4 Reds tickets each.

Amanda Cunningham and Jody Mootz – congratulations and have a good time.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEXT WEEK:

Team Captains who increase their number of walkers by 3 or whose Walkers increase their contributions by 30% will be in a raffle for a set of 4 Reds tickets.

Team Captains who increase their number of walkers by 1 or whose Walkers increase their contributions by 15% will be in a raffle for 1 of 4 NAMIWalks ball caps.

Thanks for all your work and support of NAMI and for being stigma busters.

Rita

Walk Chair

Off to a great start!

2008-03-27T10:42:00.003-04:00

Good day to all!

One of the NAMI Board Members shared the following which totally embodies why the walk is so important:

"I am a Board Member of NAMI which stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness. As a parent I often puzzled over the behavior of my oldest daughter. I was offered the chance to take a Family to Family Course sponsored by NAMI. My wife and I found the answers we were looking for related to treatment, doctors, drugs and family interaction.

"You see, I have a beautiful 20 year old daughter who should be able to do anything with her life due to her personality, beauty and brains. There is only one hitch – mental illness! My daughter Ann is bi-polar and I am sure that you know the implications of the disease. My wife and I attended a NAMI sponsored class that taught us how to deal with mental illness. This helped us so much that I was hooked and agreed to join their board of directors.”

The number of team has increased from 15 last week to 26 today and the number of Walkers has increased from 22 last week to 71. What a great start.

We have posted some great tips for team building on the namiwalks website: www.nami-hc.org/walk.

Keep the goals in mind: 85 teams and $130,000.

Winners of the Coney Island tickets are:

Brenda Hale from Tri Health Concerns
Rowan Downing from Beech Acres
Kathryn Thompson form MHAP
Gina Johnson from DBSA Middletown

Goal for next week – increase the number of teams to 52!

I have two vouchers for four Reds tickets each and would love to have another raffle and give two Team Captains a fun day at a Reds game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get your team online to be eligible for the drawing.

Top 10 Teams by Walker Size – Thanks for your support!

The Children's Home of Cincinnati - 18
MHRSB Team - 7
Team MHAP - 5
Team SBH - 4
Pressley Ridge - 3
Sister Sledge-We are family - 3
Walkin' With Hawkins - 3
Camelot Cares for NAMI - 2
Cincinnati Children's Hospita - 2
DBSA Middletown - 2

Rita Johnson, Walk Chair
674-1930

Growing Your Team

2008-03-25T04:54:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to talk with the Team Captain who has the largest team of Walkers (people collecting contributions) this afternoon. Amanda Cunningham has 11 Walkers and works at The Children’s Home of Cincinnati.

I want to share Amanda’s approach to growing her team. Here are Amanda’s thoughts she wants to share with us.

I push how easy it is to go online and setup themselves up as a Walker
I give each Walker my team link
I talk to them on how to get set up online and about setting goals
Send email to all your friends right from your web page
Give all potential contributors your Walker link to make it easy for them to contribute
Watch your web page to see how you are doing
Check with your potential contributors periodically
Thanks those that contribute
I encourage them by checking in periodically check to see how they are doing to provide encouragement and answer questions

Thanks a lot for sharing your approach!!!!!!!!

I also want to thank the following Team Captains:

Sherrie Thomas Woodside from MHRSB with 7 Walkers
Kathy Thompson from MHAP with 4 Walkers
Adam Ratliff from Pressley Ridge with 3 Walkers
Gina Johnson from DBSA Middletown with 3 Walkers
Tina Elam with 3 Walkers

OKAY! Let’s have some fun. I have 4 pairs of passes for “Unlimited access to Sunlight Pool and all Coney Island rides”. All Team Captains registered online by Noon on March 25 will have their name put into a hat and 4 names will be drawn – I will announce the winners on 26th.

Registered Team Captains will also have the opportunity to be in other drawings.

Thanks for all you are doing to fight the stigma of mental illness and to support NAMI.

Rita