How to Sponsor a Mile!

There are less than 10 weeks until race day and we want to see every one of our 190+ miles dedicated to loved ones in our 22q family! So here is a step-by-step breakdown of how easy it is to sponsor a mile! This relay is one of the 22q Family Foundation’s biggest fundraisers and is critical to continuing to provide services and programming to our 22q family and to raising awareness in the communities in which we live and work! Here’s how to get involved

First – visit the sponsor a mile page HERE! You will fill out the form with your child’s name, submit a photo, pick a runner or a mile number (or let us assign one to you) and pledge to raise $100. Once that form is received, the team can begin the process of assigning miles and getting things ready for the race. Every picture is uploaded as quickly as possible to our WALL OF HONOR and those pictures will be carried with us during the relay.

Next – raising $100. Consider sending family and friends to our Mobilecause donation page where they can help you meet your goal! Your $100 doesn’t have to come all at once; you and your friends can send in $10 a week until race day!

In exchange for your donation, we will carry your honoree’s name and photo with us during the legs of the race in which their mile is run, their name will be on the back of our van and our running shirts, and you will receive a t-shirt commemorating the event! We’ll even be doing some fun raffles of awesome prizes for the biggest fundraisers; for example – Nate Nordmeyer and Eileen Boenning ended up with some pretty sweet Ryan Dempster 22q Chicago Cubs jerseys last year…

Your donations help us fund programs and services that help people in the 22q community of all ages – Education Station, scholarships for young adults with 22q, Career Accelerator, and more! 100% of proceeds go towards providing programming for our 22q family. 

Stay tuned for form letters to share with employers and care providers and family and friends to help you ask for donations, also keep an eye out for helpful guides to talking about 22q!

Why We Fundraise – The Nordmeyer’s Story

Seven years ago, our son Nate was diagnosed with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome at the age of 3 1/2 years.  This diagnosis hit us like a ton of bricks and like every other parent in the digital age, we frantically searched the internet.  Lucky for us, we found the 22q Family Foundation (then known as The Dempster Family Foundation).

Over the years, the 22q Family Foundations has supported us, and more importantly, Nate.  They have:

• provided education: for us, our son’s educators and medical providers via fact sheets, seminars, webinars and references.
• promoted awareness: which has empowered us to do the same in our own community. 
• advocated for appropriate educational services for Nate via the free Education Station.
• fostered a community: There’s such comfort in finding others who have shared experiences, learning from those that came before us and supporting those that are new to the diagnosis. 
• created hope for the future through scholarships for higher education and career coaching services.

Knowing that this organization is not-for-profit and run entirely by volunteers, fundraising for the 22q Family Foundation became a priority for our family.  The #werun22q Ragnar race is one of the foundation’s biggest fundraisers and is a powerful way to spread awareness.  Every year they raise funds to keep these programs running and provide the education, awareness, advocacy, support and community that have been so valuable to us and to make sure that these services are still there for the next group of frantic overwhelmed parents that are sitting down at their computer.

Putting the FUN in Fundraising!

We understand that a $100 donation is out of reach for some parents and we don’t ever want anyone to feel like they cannot participate alongside of us. We are going to share a couple of ways some of our community has been successful in asking friends and family for money. First up – Eileen and Nate Nordmeyer!

Last year we knew that we wanted to help raise money for the #werun22q Ragnar race, but wanted to come up with a creative idea that would attract the attention of our family and friends.  Their love and support for Nate is amazing, so we decided to get him (and his sister) involved!  We created incentives for each monetary level of donation that provided a “reward” from the kids playing to their area of interest and strength. Together we came up with the following structure: 
“For a donation of $10-$19, Nate will walk 22 steps on his stilts and send you a video of this impressive skill, $20-29 Nate will send you an inspirational message for 3 days with a different emoji each day, $30-$39 Claire and Nate will draw a personalized animal “Thank you” picture. One of a kind!,  $40+ Nate will give you a shout out as he shows off his American Ninja Warrior skills! Prepare to be amazed as you watch a video of his unbelievable skills.” 
We even promised to let Nate dye his hair blue if we met our fundraising goal of $500.  Amazingly, we almost tripled that goal.  Our family and friends were excited to receive their bonus for donating.  It was fun and easy and something you could definitely do with your own family.  

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