SOS Outreach November Newsletter

Press Release

November 13 2008
58 views
add a comment

SOS Needs Your Help During the 2008/2009 season, SOS will expand to serve 3,500 students at 35 mountain resorts nationally. We are providing 15,415 program days, which is a 16% growth from last season and 170% growth overall from 2006/2007. Our success is not possible without the passion and commitment from all of you, all over the country. To successfully expand our programs, we are launching a Friends of SOS Pledge Campaign and are asking for your help to solicit donations for a cause that you are passionate about. To provide our programs, we need to raise $800,000 in cash and over $3 million in in-kind contributions. Most of our budget will come through grant writing, events and individual donors, but we still need your help in raising funds. Small contributions of $25 to $50 from your family, friends and SOS colleagues will enable SOS to meet our budget. To get started today, please visit our pledge site <http://www.active.com/donate/sos0809pledge> and click on “Become a Fundraiser.” Full directions for setting up your personal website and soliciting donations are available online <http://www.sosoutreach.org/userfiles/file/Pledge%20Campaign%20Overview.pdf> . Our goal is to raise a minimum of $100,000 through this effort by April 1, 2009. We are partnering with our sponsors to provide incentives at specific fundraising levels. Sponsor relationships and the tiers are being finalized as we speak. You will only need to raise a minimum of $50 to win some great gear with prizes increasing at values up to $1,000. To date, we’ve secured the following prizes:
Chaos beanies
One year subscriptions to SKI Magazine
Optic Nerve sunglasses
Zeal Optics goggles and product discounts
SOS/Sessions co-branded jackets
For any questions that you have about starting your page and the program, please contact Dan Hansen <mailto:dhansen@sosoutreach.org?subject=SOS%20Pledge%20Campaign> . As soon as sponsor relationships are finalized, we will send out the final incentive tiers for this program.

SOS Expands our Staff through AmeriCorp*Vistas and Interns We wouldn’t be able to introduce high quality youth development programs, register students, train volunteers, meet with youth agencies, etc., without our four AmeriCorps*Vista Members and Regional Interns. They work full time in Denver, Colorado; Summit County, Colorado; Eagle County, Colorado; and Seattle, Washington. They eat rahman noodles, love free T-shirts and work their “you know what’s” off out of passion and selflessness. Please let us introduce you to these “Community Organizers.” You never know which one could be President some day. To recognize these amazing individuals for their dedication, please send an email <mailto:sos@sosoutreach.org> to us. Our growth would not be possible without their dedication.

A Special Thank You SOS would like to recognize all of the individuals who donated to the Kenneth Gibbon Memorial Page <http://www.active.com/donate/SOS0809/KennethGibbon> . We are honored to continue Kenneth’s legacy and memory through our programs. SOS would also like to thank the following organizations who donated in the past month:
Allyance Clothing <http://www.theallyance.com/> donated $14,000 of product samples.
Bula <http://www.bulabula.com/> donated $15,000 worth of product to support program development.
Chaos Hats <http://www.chaoshats.com/> renewed their program sponsorship for 2008/2009 season with 1,200 custom SOS hats.
K2 Product Development Team for their generous collection and donation of boards, boots, bindings and softgoods.
K2 Sports <http://www.k2sports.com/index.html> donated $17,500 cash as continued sponsorship of SOS programs.
Northwave <http://www.northwave.it/dynamic/> donated $7,250 worth of snowboard boots.
Optic Nerve <https://www.nerveusa.com/index.php?> sunglasses renewed their program sponsorship for 2008/2009 season with 1,300 pairs of sunglasses.
Super Big Creative <http://www.superbigcreative.com/flash.html?#/news/> donated design work valued at $4,940.
Together, we are providing a program that is making a positive difference in the lives of thousands of youth nationwide. Thank you!