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Throughout the year as the ADA home office prepares for the big event – the ADA National Championship; in Wichita Falls Texas, ADL members are also working hard to raise funds to help defray their costs of attending. All members are encouraged to be involved in the fundraising events and over the years it has helped countless Wichita Falls darters pay for their trip to the National Championships. According to the Wichita Falls ADL Representative, Holly Dye; "We start planning for the next years championships as soon as we get back!” Holly meets with her Management Team and together they plan out the coming the year. This past year they held numerous events in hopes of raising enough funds to send as many players as possible.
Surprisingly, their biggest fundraiser is candle sales. Martha Garcia, a Division Rep for Wichita Falls explains how the candle sales work: "We use a company that allows 50% of the candle sale money to go to the ADA member. The candles are sold at $10.00 or $16.00 and a piece and half of that goes to the member!" This year's candle sales raised over $2600.00!
ADL Rep Holly explains how all dart players came together to raise money, "All of my members worked together within their particular divisions but then came together for Wichita Falls ADL group fund raisers. Group fundraiser events were candle sales, BBQ Dinner and a huge raffle. Group fundraiser totals were divided among all who participated and to keep everyone's share fair, the level of participation would determine the percentage received of the proceeds. For the raffle, everyone had to donate an item and then each raffle sold by the member went towards their individual fundraiser account. "We also had a cuss jar set up at various taverns. With this particular fundraiser all proceeds were divided evenly for all members of that tavern attending National Championships."
Mary Thomas, another Division Rep, helped organize her area’s fund raisers with the help of ADA Member, Erin Fetzer. "Erin coordinated a garage sale, popcorn sales, a Sweetheart dinner, Mardi Gras and even held a some bar competitions!", said Mary. This was their first year participating in the ADL and the National Championships. “Their hard work paid off as they raised over $4000.00 with just their tavern alone!” declared Mary.
What is the key to successful fundraising? Holly says, “Get all your players and taverns involved! Use advertisement by way of posters and keeping everyone to a time schedule helps out a lot." The fundraiser schedule was laid out in advance with every month leading up to Nationals assigned a scheduled event. Holly also added, “Collect and keep all fundraiser funds in one account. Individuals will receive an accurate account of their balance and payout to the member occurs just days before nationals.”
What happens if someone can't attend nationals and they have helped raised money? Members will have their money banked for next year's Nationals or are able to use it for sanctioned ADA events. "We had one member who unfortunately couldn't attend the championships but she was able to use her funds to pay for her membership and for two local ADA sanctioned tournaments - she also donated some of her fundraiser money to another member attending the championships", reported Holly.
Previous years, members of Wichita Falls have sold pizzas, held car washes, sold handmade "oven squirrels", solicited sponsor's from local businesses and held fundraiser dinners. "The possibilities are endless" said Holly. She also added, "You just need to make a plan, follow through and keep the players informed."
Wichita Falls sent 19 players to the 2010 National Championships. All team and individual registrations were paid for using the fundraiser monies and all who attended received their fundraiser money to use at National Championships. The monies helped to defray the cost of lodging, food and event registrations. The total amount of money raised this year was over $6000.00 and with that Wichita Falls was not only able to send a large contingent of dart players to National Championships but we were also able to get the word out to the community and gain more dart players for their leagues.
This year's Wichita Falls ADA members did extraordinarily well at the National Championship. The women dart players placed 1-7 in the singles event and in the women's doubles event they placed 3-6. They also had some top finishers in the mixed events and the open draws. All members are planning on returning next year and Wichita Falls darters have already planned out which fundraisers they are responsible for over this next year.
Join Holly Dye and her ADA Members at the next Wichita Falls fundraiser - October 30th. They will be raising money for Susan B. Koman & their ADA Members by hosting a dart tournament. For more information please visit www.adadarters.com or email Wichita Falls, TX ADA Rep, Holly Dye at hdye@adadarters.com
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