By: Sabrina Blajos
Hey Friends,
I just wanted to give you guys a recap on the event, this past weekend we had our 5 families over at the Midtown gym to receive their dinner sponsored by Outback Steak House and all their gifts/necessities. To say my heart is full is an understatement. MetCon for Hope will always have a special place in my heart, the impact that we have on these people’s lives is so unreal and it wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for you and our Welded Community. It still amazes me how great of a Community the Reno/Tahoe/Truckee/Carson area is. These 5 families have definitely had life happen to them, but seeing their eyes light up in overwhelmed joy makes the process of MetCon for Hope that much sweeter.
I just wanted to break down the steps that go into MetCon for Hope.
- Creating the Committee: As you will learn there are many little parts to MetCon for Hope that not 1 person could do. I’d like to thank the Double Edge Staff; Kris, Sharae, Alvie, and Joel for donating so much of their time to making sure that every part of the competition was covered. From advertising the event, to getting food and sponsors to donate, to running a successful/fun competition to make sure you guys keep coming back for more. This staff were rockstars and truly made the competition smooth.
- Finding the Families: I know it’s hard because we aren’t able to give out much information on the families, but you must try to understand that they are people too and just because they had the unexpected happen to them, or made some choices along the way doesn’t mean their story always needs to be told/shared. We try to provide just enough; I want to give a huge thank you to one of Double Edge’s very own member Cassi for helping us in getting the families. She has been our go to girl for the past two years. Cassi still has a full work load on her plate, yet she still managed to find time to get help for these families by being our main contact with them.
- Running the Competition: I wanted to give a HUGE thank you to ALL the volunteers who helped with the day of competition. It was definitely not an easy day and you all crushed it and did more than I could ever ask from you! I also want to say thank you to all the coaches who donated their time, its not easy to judge back to back to back and they all did it like champs. Lastly, I want to thank the Welded Community for coming together. I am still so overwhelmed by the outcome. This all wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Community.
- Assign Coaches to Families: After the competition is done and we have an idea of the budget we get our list from the families and each family is assigned 4 coaches who go out and shop for their families.
- Wrap Party: After all the families have been shopped for the whole Double Edge team gets together to wrap all the gifts for the families.
- Delivery Day: How this worked this year, was we had 2-and-a-half-hour blocks for each family. They came to the gym, the kids played around on all the equipment, the coaches showed them around and taught them some movements. Then we ate dinner all together, it was our way of getting to know the families better. Lastly, they opened their gifts under the tree. Like I said it is such an awesome experience to see some kids who weren’t expecting to have a Christmas get to open like 15 presents.
I cant express how awesome MetCon for Hope has been this year! I appreciate all the help and support we had gotten along the way! Looking forward to another awesome year!