Team Mast-er Plan: Beat Blood Cancers LLS VOY Campaign

05/22/2022

I’m quite behind in posting the results of my team’s fundraising efforts! Last Saturday, May 14th, was the Grand Finale celebration- the end of the fundraising competition. My team went in to the night with almost $45,000, and our final result was $54,418!! We came in runner’s up and met our goal of at least $50,000 raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

My team also won the Research Pillar Mission award, had 3 of the 4 team members in the KC area to raise over $5K, and Josh Mast won Team Member of the Year by raising the most of all team members in the KC area.

Because we raised at least $50K, I was able to select an LLS funded initiative to link my name to. I selected the Children’s Initiative, and listed Carlie, Connor, and Zachary as the people I am honoring.

Thank you all for your amazing support throughout this last 12 weeks or so! I’m looking forward to following LLS and seeing continued progress in the realm of pediatric blood cancers.

05/16/2022

The last teammates I want to recognize are Tara and Clint Goodman! Tara and Clint are good friends of mine, as Tara was in my grad school class at KU. It was there that we discovered we had actually attended preschool together in Belleville!

Tara and Clint are the parents of one of the three children I wanted to honor by doing this campaign. They sent letters to all their family and friends, participated in many of the events, and did most of the work for our last event at Lake Olathe. This event was very special, and occurred on an absolutely perfect day! Tara orchestrated all the food, including getting her dad to smoke the pork, which was incredible!

Thank you Tara and Clint for allowing me to honor your dear son, and for supporting this campaign with a lot of hard work, time, and money spent!

05/14/2022

This is my friend Jacy Tapp! She is another of my amazing team members that have helped us reach nearly $45,000 during this campaign!

Jacy helped tremendously by sending out almost 100 letters to her family and friends letting them know about the campaign, which has helped her raise nearly $6500! Jacy also hosted the Brunch Bingo event at Chicken n Pickle, which was SO much fun.

Despite being a mom of two young boys and a full-time Cerner associate, Jacy still found time to make a huge impact on this campaign. Thank you so much Jacy- your dedication and enthusiasm is so appreciated!

05/14/2022

This is my friend Ann Morton from the church our family attends. Ann has been so helpful in teaching me about silent auctions, which she has plenty of experience with from the Tall Oaks Gala. Ann facilitated the procurement of the sports memorabilia items we had on a couple of our silent auctions, picked them up from Riverside, and even donated a free items!

Ann also helped pack up all the dresses from the KC dress sale, which was no small task. She also donated several dresses and helped me find homes for over 125 of the leftover dresses.

Finally, Ann gave me the tip that Chicken n Pickle is a very generous place (and fun) to partner with on fundraising events. We held our Brunch Bingo event there and it was a big, fun time!

Ann, thank you so much for giving me so much fundraising advice, and for your generosity as well!

05/13/2022

Two more teammates coming your way! These are my childhood friends, Sarah Arbuthnot and Shelly Cline! They have had the unenviable task of helping Josh help me keep my head on straight and strategically plan throughout the campaign.

Sarah and Shelly helped me to map out a timeline, figure out what kind of events we might be able to have, and kick started the planning for them.

Sarah brought a lot of experience putting on fundraisers for her church, as well as hosting many Seafood boils. Sarah also brought her husband, Brian, to do the Seafood boil, providing the food, equipment, and expertise to help us have a fun night! She also procured a great Boulevard beer package for the silent auction.

Shelly provided her expertise on the Seafood Boil menu, as well as some delicious remoulade and coleslaw. Shelly also donated a delightful “Drunk History” package for the silent auction, which marries two of her best talents: mixology and history!

Additionally, both Sarah and Shelly have been busy helping to promote the events we held, as well as attending most of them.

A big bonus of doing this campaign is that I got to see these ladies more frequently than I had in the last few years. Thanks for all the time, money, support, and ideas you have to help make our campaign a success!

05/13/2022

We have winners!

Sarah Arbuthnot won the candle subscription for $115 and the Tanner’s gift cards for $30.

Jamie Kramer Mast wins the KC Garmin race entry for $60.

Dana Weber- Brandon wins the KU T-shirt for $30.

Thank you for playing! Please reach out to me by 5 pm today to arrange payment and delivery!

05/13/2022

I have a lot of team members to feature today! The first is Christine Ray-Strutt! Christine is the mother of Connor, one of the three kids I’m honoring by doing this fundraising. Christine also is the founder of Connor's Cuddles, an organization that provides cuddly blankets to kids facing big medical battles. Please check out their page!

Christine gathered a huge amount of dresses from all over NCK for the dress sales. She and her husband Kendall were lifesavers when it came to setting up in Belleville. Kendall actually constructed very sturdy racks to hang the hundreds of heavy dresses! Christine also helped spread the word about the sales through NCK, garnering interest in the event and getting people in the door.

Thank you Christine (and Kendall) for all your help and support throughout this campaign! I hope that we can make an impact through the money we’ve raised to honor Connor!

Christine’s fundraising page: https://pages.lls.org/voy/mid/kc22/cstrutt

Article about Connor’s Cuddles: https://salinapost.com/posts/57ffcf1c-4517-43be-b994-1fd6fd2e3138

05/12/2022

The next team member I’d like to feature is my uncle Cliff Stewart. In addition to donating, Cliff helped out the team by exploring ways to hold a fundraising event in Washington County. While in the end we weren’t able to find a way to make it work, I still greatly appreciate Cliff doing the legwork to try to make it happen! Thanks Cliff for your help and dedication!

05/12/2022

Apparently I posted a bad link to the silent auction earlier today. Please use this one to view auction items for Grand Finale. This link should let you view without signing up!

Again, the items my team procured are #400-404. Auction closes at 7:15 pm Saturday, May 14th!

Help LLS - Lower Plains Region spread the word about VOY Kansas City GF 22!

05/12/2022

Here are two more of my team members- my brother Brett Kramer and his girlfriend Caitlin Dimond.

Brett has been so helpful by setting up several virtual money-raising events, including Super Bowl squares, NCAA brackets, and of course letting my children smash eggs on his head then being doused in a cooler full of ice water. Brett also spread the word about all our events, collected dresses, and put up with me bossing him around. Finally, Brett and Dianne Kramer donated both a 3-night stay at their Georgetown, CO house for raffle, as well as a 5-night stay for Grand Finale auction. Brett donated 2 KU/KSU tickets at Allen Fieldhouse for the 2022/2023 season as a Grand Finale auction item as well!

Caitlin is a very conscientious team member who reads my emails and summarizes for Brett, who doesn’t. She also gathered many beautiful dresses for the dress sales, and came to several of our events.

Thank you Caitlin and Brett for being so helpful, and for all the time, money, and energy you’ve spent to help raise $41K and counting for LLS!

05/11/2022

We have a few items that businesses generously donated, but that did not go in our silent auctions or raffles. So I thought we could try them here in a virtual silent auction. Here’s how it will work:

1. For a description and starting bid on each item, please click on the picture.
2. If you want to bid on the item, name your price.
3. Auction will close at 10:00 am on Friday, May 13th
4. Pay for your item by making a donation to LLS
5. I will deliver your item in person, via mail, or email

Obviously all proceeds will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

05/10/2022

This picture speaks for itself in how far my dear husband was willing to go to help raise money for LLS!

He dumped a cooler of ice on his head, shaved his beard, mustache, and head, reached out to his network over and over, was at every event, handled our zoo while I did LLS stuff, and spent a lot of time and money on this campaign. He also reached out to countless businesses and got the ball rolling on silent auction items. Really, he is my better half in this campaign and in real life.

Josh has raised over $7,000 himself, and is in the running for Team Member of the Year in KC, so if you’re still considering donating, make sure you donate on his page: https://pages.lls.org/voy/mid/kc22/jmastn

Thanks Josh Mast!!