And, our BRAX Sales Representative and the Customer Care department made all the difference with this fundraiser. They returns calls and emails quickly. They made sure all the participants had Sample Cups and gave us lots of ideas to make our fundraiser as successful as it was – we sold 1,243 items and raised $9,011.75. I would not hesitate to run the BRAX Fundraising program again.”

– Jenny Melka, Vice President, Robert Stuart Middle School Booster Club

Featured in this great article by our friends at USA Football were two of the 900 youth football organizations enlisted by BRAX Fundraising in 2012. Chicopee Youth Football Association in Springfield, MA raised more than $8,000 by selling 1,400 packs. League president, Zaki-Jabbar Robinson, attributes their success to the Sample Cups program and incentives to motivate players. He also suggests having a mobile or tablet device to show customers all the 3-D designs featured on the BRAX Fundraising website.

City of Fort Collins Football raised a whopping $33,700 with two consecutive BRAX Fundraising programs in 2011 and 2012. Their players sold door-to-door within their neighborhoods and over the Internet to family and friends and, in just three weeks, players and coaches from 82 teams sold 2,661 sets of cups. Marc Rademacher, Fort Collins Recreation Supervisor for Sports and Youth Programs, also emphasizes the importance of player incentives like drawings for prizes.

Congratulations everyone on your tremendous success in 2012. As the 2013 football season quickly approaches, we’re gearing up for another year of BIG profits, how about you?

Name: Claire Marling
Title: Account Manager
Direct Phone: 910-344-1063
Hometown: Richmond, VA
Favorite Team: Boston Red Sox
Joined BRAX In: March 2013
One thing you cannot live without: ”My dog Jasmine – she goes everywhere with me!”

Words of Wisdom: “Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.”

Customer Testimonials: While Claire has yet to acquire customer testimonials in her short month with the company, her Supervisor and colleagues are already singing her praises…

“I had the privilege of hiring Claire. She is incredible with her customers. Her attention to detail and her follow up is stellar. Claire came in day one with knowledge of our website and what tools we have to help our customers succeed, and she is applying this knowledge daily. We are thrilled to have her on board.” – Kelley Crenshaw

“Claire is eager to learn and is so dedicated to the job already.  She is always willing to go the extra mile for our customers and is a great asset to the Customer Care Team.” – Anne Hogan

“Claire is very thorough when taking care of customers.  She makes the fundraising process for each coordinator as seamless as possible.” – Leigh Lewis

So if you’re looking to make BIG profits, keep an eye out for other promotions that offer free Sample Cups. We have the following currently running, plus two more scheduled to start in the very near future.

• Cheer/Dance/Gymnastics – Sign up between 4/9-4/23 and submit master order by 6/28 and receive 12 free Sample Cups
• Youth Football – Sign up between 4/16-4/30 and submit master order by 7/3 and receive 12 free Sample Cups
• Parks & Rec – Details to come
• Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) – Details to come

If you’re interested in learning more about free Sample Cups promotions or the benefits of the traditional Sample Cups program, please call Customer Care at 888-825-9339 or email info@braxltd.com*protected email**protected email*.

Upon contacting them about their big win, we learned that their school was heavily damaged by a tornado that swept through eastern North Carolina in April 2011, forcing them to share facilities with Greene Central High School. Now, two years later, they’re finally preparing to move into their new building for the 2013-2014 school year. The $1,000 from BRAX Fundraising, according to the school’s band director, Joanne McGowan, couldn’t have come at a better time. To honor their teachers, Greene County Middle School is going to use this money for decorations and furnishings to “make their new Staff Lounge amazing”.

To participate in our Teacher Appreciation promotion and be entered in the drawing, Greene County Middle School signed up by March 31st to run a fundraiser to help pay for a band and chorus trip to Florida. “My students have been through a lot in the last two years because of the tornado that destroyed our school and the homes of several of my students. Our trip to Florida was made possible because of BRAX Fundraising,” said Joanne McGowan.

The rubber, non-latex “field” is ready to be laid, the dugout and other structures have been built, and lights are up. The playground and parking lot are next. After another three months of construction and the dedication of hundreds of volunteers and contributors, BRAX Stadium will finally be the place organizers envisioned.

According to Pete Hexter, Co-Chairperson for Fundraising, “It’s about providing an opportunity for all children to experience the joy of competition in a safe and welcoming environment. So many of our employees and neighbors have contributed to this initiative. I couldn’t be more proud of our community.”

For more information on BRAX Stadium and Miracle League Wilmington, please visit http://miracleleaguewilm.org/.

Kelley pictured with her two children,
Davis & Katie

Name: Kelley Crenshaw
Title: Director, Customer Care
Direct Phone: 910-344-1044
Hometown: Newport, RI
Favorite Team: Boston Red Sox
Joined BRAX In: August 2010
One thing you cannot live without: iPhone
Words of Wisdom: “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.” Mahatma Gandhi

Why I love being Director of the Customer Service Division:
Every day I get to work with the best of the best within every community. The folks that volunteer their free time to support children’s sports teams and schools, truly invested in the future of our youth – these are the people I get to serve each day. I talk to moms, dads, coaches, teachers, principals, and they all just want to make a difference in the life of a child. There are so many remarkable stories that come to mind from my years at BRAX Fundraising and they all end happily. I have two children of my own, so it’s great to know that my time away from them as Director of the Customer Service Division is well spent. This is an incredibly rewarding job and I truly believe that the quality of a life can be measured by how we raise our children and that it does take a village, including many volunteers like our BRAX Fundraising customers.

www.FuelUpCups.com

In September, 2012 BRAX Fundraising made a big commitment to schools nationwide, vowing to help them raise funds to support their fitness and nutrition initiatives. In partnership with the National Football League (NFL) and the National Dairy Council’s Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative, they launched a new fundraising program called “Fuel Up Cups”. Since then, $170,000 has been raised, helping 127 Fuel Up to Play 60 schools achieve their fitness and/or nutrition initiatives. And they’ve only just begun…

With a 2013 goal of activating 2000 Fuel Up to Play 60 schools with Fuel Up Cups fundraisers and raising over $4 million, there will be many, many more success stories like these to come.

• Bunnell Elementary School in Bunnell, FL raised $1,527 – built school and community gardens
• Meeting House Hill School in New Fairfield, CT raised $1,774 –  implemented healthy food taste tests
• South Mesa Elementary School in Pueblo, CO raised $4,388 –  started a running club
• Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, FL raised $4,160 – funded an after school fitness program
• Sandstone Elementary in Billings, MT raised $6,859 – bought PE and playground equipment
• Twin Lakes High School in Monticello, IN raised $6,038 – introduced students to healthy, Latin American foods

Many Fuel Up to Play 60 schools receive funds to help make healthy improvements in their school communities, but there is always a greater need. With Fuel Up Cups, schools are able to engage students and parents in helping raise those additional funds.

To spearhead the program, BRAX Fundraising has appointed a dedicated FUTP 60 Relations Director, Jillian Burns, to work closely with all Regional Dairy Council representatives. Together, they promote the Fuel Up Cups fundraising program to Fuel Up to Play 60 schools through email communications, social media, envelope stuffers with funding checks from the Regional Dairy Councils and wellness focused conferences.  For more information on the Fuel Up Cups fundraising program, click here.

With a “BRAX Challenge”, Pop Warner regions, leagues, associations and participants compete for highest sales on BRAX Fundraising products – SpiritCups, SpiritPopcorn and SpiritTravelCups – in an effort to win numerous performance-based prizes and incentives, like monetary grants and local-market NFL tickets, in addition to per item profits. To qualify, Pop Warner leagues must have 75% participation from their associations with a minimum of 1,000 players and/or cheerleaders. And then, on top of the prizes and incentives, BRAX Fundraising automatically awards the top profit tier of $7.25 for every item sold.

SUPER INCENTIVES

• Regional: Activate the most “challenges” and earn a $2,000 grant (minimum of 3).
  
• Leagues: Receive a $2,000 grant once 4,000 items are sold, and continue to an earn an addition $.50 per item sold over 4,000 items. Will also be awarded 2 NFL tickets.
• Associations: Automatically quality for top profit of $7.25 per item sold and top selling association will earn 2 local-market NFL tickets.
• Participant Raffle: One raffle entry for each five items sold. 1st prize: Two (2) NFL tickets; 2nd prize: Two (2) NFL tickets; 3rd prize: One (1) Xbox360; 4th prize: One (1) iPod Shuffle

Thank you Central Mass Pop Warner for piloting such a successful “BRAX Challenge.” To learn more about creating your own “BRAX Challenge” and replicating Central Mass Pop Warner’s success, please contact Brandon Hales at 910-367-0883 or brandonh@braxltd.com*protected email**protected email*.

The BRAX Foundation, a 1-year-old employee-managed team created to lend a hand in support of individuals and groups within the local community, decided last fall to reach out beyond their typical borders. Through an organization called Child Fund International, an introduction was made to a 7-year-old girl from Uganda named, Patience Namulondo.

According to the sponsorship papers, “Patience Namulondo is a humble and quiet girl but very friendly. She was born in Budhumbula Village, Kamuli District in Eastern Uganda. She stays with her parents who have no source of income. They depend on subsistence farming from which they earn an annual income of less than $130 US dollars. This cannot sustain the family.”

This is a letter from Patience, in response to the news that a group of people thousands of miles away wanted to do something to make her life a little bit easier (click the image above to see the full-sized letter, text transcript below).

It’s safe to say the members of the BRAX Foundation, their coworkers and their families understand Patience a little differently since this relationship began. Her stark happiness and fear, her basic needs, the similarities to our own childhoods – all of these things represent the fact that no matter where we are in life, we should be thankful for the perspective of this little girl and the little things that make us happy.

Transcript:

Buwuda Community
Jinja Area
23rd – Jan – 2013 Kampala, Uganda

Dear

How are you dear
I am Namulondo Patience

Your new child
Thank you for choosing me dear
I am 7 years old
I am in holidays
I will be joining grade two this year
My best colour is red

I love eating rice and meat
I love rope skipping
I love friends and praying to God

I like net ball
What about you dear
For my I dislike posho and beans these days
I dislike being beaten and beating others

My family is happy to join us as a friend
With love and joy thanks a lot

Stay in peace dear

]]> http://www.braxfundraising.com/brax-foundation-thankful-for-patience/feed/ 0