Rick’s Blog April 2014
I’m very proud of what we accomplished in the past year. As we move closer to meeting our goals and fulfilling our mission of educating, advocating, and providing resources to secure a generation free of Melanoma, I think it’s important to note the major accomplishments and, again, thank all those who helped us get there!
Blackout Melanoma’s 2013 Highlights:
Our organization became an IRS tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
As a not-for-profit organization, this status ‘incorporates’ us and let’s us exist and operate for the public good, with all our profits going towards completing our mission.
We started the year adding a number of new Board Members.
Our new board members provide us a talent pool of energetic and motivated people to contribute their ideas and help share in the diverse and challenging goals we set for the organization.
Update to our website and increased social media presence.
We knew we had to step it up and our basic web site went from a very dated version to now having all the bells and whistles, e-commerce functionality, and social media presence to power us into 2013 and beyond.
Our Fundraising Events raised over $45,000!
We raised $45,000 in additional funds through our fundraising activities including the Cardinals Day at the Ballpark at Busch Stadium, the fourth annual Beca’s 5 in St. Louis, the first annual Beca’s 5Kentucky Henderson Tennessee, and the Black Friday Event at the Wheel House during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Our Education Pillar participated in education seminars and health fairs.
Board members set up our booth at multiple health fairs and seminars to promote our message and educate the public. We handed out literature and sunscreen samples. Blackout Melanoma made appearances at other melanoma races and benefits, helping support their efforts and forming alliances for the future!
We partnered with Washington University School of Medicine and introduced the Rebeca Shults Campos Melanoma Research Fellowship.
With a $50,000 donation, we have formed a strategic relationship with Washington University School of medicine to fund a fellowship and have commenced the largest and most progressive promising step forward for our organization to date.
Thank you all for your continued support! As we continue moving forward in 2014, we are better equipped, better funded, and more motivated than ever
to accomplish or mission. Today we are well poised to fund families battling
this terrible disease, continue educating all those who will listen, and provide hope to finding cures.
I hope to see you at any number of the events we’ve got planned for this year – stay tuned for updates!
Sincerely,
Rick Shapiro
Vice President
