Recently, several members of the Davison Team made tracks at two Pittsburgh charity events.  One of our Corporate Creative Coaches led a team in this year’s Riverview Relay for Life and a Senior Director of New Products led another team in the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic!

We’re happy to report that we’ve heard from both team leaders and this year’s events were resounding successes!

Here’s our Corporate Creative Coach’s report on the 2012 Riverview Relay for Life:

The Relay For Life in Oakmont this year was a great success!  Davison was a corporate sponsor this year again, and individual donations were received from [several Davison employees].  Last year [as part of our fundraising efforts], we had three dinosaurs and, this year, we added a Brachiosaurus to the family!  He was a great seller, but the T-Rex was again the best seller.  We raised a total of $232, nearly [doubling the] money brought in from the dinosaur sales and foam dart games from last year.  Word spread quickly around the Relay [as to] where the foam dart shoot and cardboard dinosaur booth was and the kids (and parents) came in great numbers!  Two local Pittsburgh sports mascots also stopped by to check out the booth… both the Penguins’ Iceberg and Steelers’ Steely McBeam stopped by the booth to shoot darts, as well as let us shoot them in their fleece costumes, which make great Velcro Nerf dart targets!

In all, the Oakmont Relay and its teams raised $74,777!  WOW!

There is a part of the event called “Miss Relay,” where a team member dresses like a beauty queen and walks the track with a purse collecting donations.  I remember one “Miss Relay” in particular [that] stopped by our booth and shot a few darts.  We let “her” do it for free since “she” was working so hard at being Miss Relay; but, I then payed “her” a donation to leave the booth, because “she” was freaking me out!

I would like to send out my thanks to everyone who contributed and helped out this year.  We will certainly have to raise the bar once again for next year’s relay!  [Last year, I predicted this year’s success!]  I said, “Hint — it’s going to involve a lot more Nerf guns, targets, dinosaurs – and even more fun!”  The extra Nerf guns and dinos were an awesome success!

Our Senior Director of New Products also gave us an awesome report from the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic:

St. Margaret’s Fitness Classic was a blast!  [Several Davison employees] showed up with [their families] and dogs… fun for the whole family!  [A few of us] started near the front of the pack running… but, running the whole distance was a little more than we were prepared for!   [A couple employees] represented Davison’s Irwin location by completing the 5K, also!

Everyone was dressed, on time and ready to go!  It was a great cause and I’m glad we were able to contribute!

For more information on the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic, click here!

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to making both the Riverview Relay for Life and the St. Margaret Foundation’s 2012 Fitness Classic such awesome events!

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Young “Relayers” were continually visiting the “Dare to Invent” site (#54) to test their skills at a Nerf dart shooting game and an Einstein “brain bag” toss game. Kids who got a bullseye or got the “brains” inside Einstein’s head (making a lightbulb light up) got to pick out a toy (the movie star sunglasses were a hit!). They also had fun coloring and putting together models of T-Rex, pterodactyl and stegosauras from cardboard pop-out kits. The activities were created by Davison’s Corporate Creative Coach, Jonathon, and Trevor, package design engineer, with assistance from designers, Tess and Bev.

Everyone put in a lot of time, and laps around the track, especially a few employees, who stayed at the park the entire 24 hours! They even stuck it out through a downpour and thunderstorm during the night!

“The team pulled through and we did a great job for first-timers. It only rained hard for a couple hours, and my tent and canopy are very water proof,” said Jonathon. “We’ve got bigger and better plans for next year and hope to triple the size of our team and activities.”

In addition to the company’s sponsorship, the Davison team raised money by charging 25 cents to play the games or 50 cents to build a dinosaur, as well as raffling off two baskets of Davison products and a stack of Inventionland books.

In addition to the company’s sponsorship and employee donations, the team raised money through the games and the raffling off of Davison products and a stack of Inventionland books. Several team members also purchased luminaries to honor loved ones who have battled cancer. During the moving ceremony, glowing luminaries marked with the names of individuals who have battled cancer lined the track and were placed on the bleachers to convey “HOPE.” The many names were read aloud as the images of survivors and those who lost their battle were shown, followed by a moment of silence.

The Riverview Relay had a goal of raising at least $103,000 to reach a total of $1 million in its 11th year. However, during the final count on Sunday morning, they were about $6,000 short of their goal – but, at the last minute someone came out with an anonymous $10,000 check! “Overall the event raised $106,014, which is absolutely incredible!” reported the captain. “It was really touching and sort of like what you see in movies,” added Emily, a team member. “Overall, it was a great time, and hopefully next year will be even bigger.”

That is certain, as Jonathon, who has been busy delivering the prizes to raffle winners, is already making ambitious plans for the 2012 Relay.

Hint — it’s going to involve a lot more Nerf guns, targets and dinosaurs — and even more fun!

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