By Melanie Goldish
Here are a few ideas (those that I can remember) that our friends used to host successful drives to help Travis. They had tremendous results:
The Brian Zikmund-Fisher Fund for DR Typing @ The HLA Registry Foundation. This fund, named after Bone Marrow Transplant survivor Brian Zikmund-Fisher, will be used to pay for DR typing on new and existing bone marrow donors. This will help to make the search for a bone marrow donor faster, more effective, and cheaper for patients, who are often quite short on time and, unfortunately, insurance for their search. The site has information as to what DR typing is and why it is so important.
1. ) One drive was hosted in a hospital. So many health care workers came during the 2-days, plus many from the surrounding towns. See if anyone near you would be willing.
2. ) Get media interest -- maybe a follow up story on the news about someone who has had a successful BMT could be in the papers and TV, Radio, etc. Bringing a face, family, name, etc into the effort makes a big difference. MANY people said they turned out because of the press they saw. And a donor's perspective of what it was like would be incredibly meaningful in a story. And/ Or if you know of a child who is waiting for a BM match, perhaps their family would be willing to share their story. It's important.
3. ) Form a committee to help! It's a lot of work.
4. ) Check with the Marrow Foundation or Leukemia Society to see if they'll help fund or match funds, or pay the difference for ABDR testing (vs. just AB testing). If you have big benefactors that will cover the drive $, let the public know it's FREE. More will come.
5. ) The drives here were festive -- pics of our son and family, welcome signs (painted by Travis -- 5 yrs old), nice soft music, balloons ALL over, raffles of merchandise (to offset costs of the drive) like donated Princess Di and Erin Beanie Babies, a signed print from Wrigley Field, etc. Also Fergie Jenkins (famous baseball player!) came and signed autographs at one drive. Brought out a # of people and got a lot of publicity for the drive too. One upcoming drive here in our town is having it at the Police Station and will have Fire trucks and Police cars etc. and a kids lockup to get families to come even with their kids. Get your Mayor involved! Also, signs are important. Make sure everyone can see signs from the street on that day to get to the right place. Other drives had people handing out flyers that day on the street to get people in.
6. ) Media came to the drive and interviewed Travis and many of the attendees. Did follow-up stories including how people can register if they missed the drive.
7. ) Contact local corporations who may be willing to sponsor the drive, or fund part of it, or at least encourage their employees to attend (get time off to come).
8. ) Put flyers all over with this poem and the dates and time of the drive:
"A hundred years from now It will not matter what my bank account was the sort of house I lived in or the kind of car I drove But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."
How can ANYONE refuse?
9. ) Make sure the media or anyone else emphasizes that to register it is a small blood draw from the ARM. People have all sorts of ideas about the registration process that inhibits their attendance.
10. ) Have the family there (if they are willing) at the drive to thank people for coming. Give them something to hand out or do (Travis handed out Origami flowers he had made at one drive!)
11. ) Post the drive on ALL Kids and BMT Talk (I'll forward it to the list if you want). Then people like us can include the date place and time on our Web sites too, in case we know people local to you.
12. ) No matter what the attendance, ANY number is a success. More in the registry than the day before.
13. ) Contact EVERYONE you know -- and those you don't -- synagogues, churches, colleges, schools etc. To post the info re: the drive.
14. ) Maybe do it in conjunction with a blood drive if you can't get anyone to sponsor place or time for a Bone Marrow Drive. By the way, we called ours Marrow Drives, so people wouldn't get freaked out about the Bone part and make up stuff... see 9 above.
15. ) Have a book handy at the drive for people to sign, color, and write messages to whomever the drive is for (if you know one person who is waiting for a match). This is the most wonderful keepsake for us. Most of the people we do not even know!