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Building your Facebook event page participation
It’s easy! After you have been made as “host” of the event by Glenn you are ready to go.
Just click on the “Invite Friends” icon on the top right of the page. A box will come up with all of your friends’ names and profile pics. Click on the box beside each friend’s name – invite EVERYONE – even those you know are not able to attend – even those who live far away (I invited my friend Adolf in Hong Kong!). Why? Because although some may not be able to attend our event, they may be able to attend one in their own community AND because they may have friends on their friends list who may be able to attend our event. The more ways we can spread the word, the more participants we will have on Run Day!
Then, once people start to respond, make sure you post regularly on the page to keep them up to date. Perhaps post photos from last year’s Terry Fox Run and either tag the photo yourself or ask people to find themselves and tag the photos.
Post the videos (available on YouTube or on the Foundation’s Facebook page) and ask your participants to share them on their own pages to help spread the word.
Anytime someone commits to attending, “Like” the post so they know you recognize and appreciate them - or comment on the message.
Keep the page up to date with any news about your event – changes to routes, time, any new activities or pre-run events. Post any of your needs on this page – need a donation of food or a volunteer for a particular position? Send a shout out to the people who have already committed – we know they are supportive and someone is likely to help you find a solution.
Every step we take makes more people aware of our wonderful event, Terry’s dream and increases donations for cancer research.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. https://www.facebook.com/alison.stoneman.37
@astoneman
705-326-1404
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I had the opportunity to speak with Bill Vigars this weekend. I thought I would relay a few of the stories Bill shared with me about the Marathon of Hope Canada Day Weekend 31 years ago. Undoubtedly most of the eloquence, humour, kindness and humility Bill told the stories with will be lost in my translation. I apologize in advance…
After meeting the Governor General, where Terry, Bill, Doug and Darrell stood on a marble floor drinking pink lemonade from champagne glasses along side the kids from Reach For the Top (who were all wearing shirts and ties, Terry and the gang – having just come off the road - were in shorts and sweaty t-shirts), the plan was to then head over to Parliament Hill where they might get a chance to meet some high-level government officials. Around the same time Bill was asked if Terry had any interest in doing the opening kick-off for the Ottawa Roughrider/Saskatchewan Roughrider football game. The problem was the game was at the same time Terry was to be on Parliament Hill. Bill went over and asked Terry what he thought, and as Bill tells it, Terry’s decision was easy – Parliament Hill never stood a chance.
As they got to the stadium Bill and Terry were taken to the basement where Terry could practice some kick-offs - both were nervous. Terry was unsure he would be able to properly kick the ball (the mechanics of his leg didn’t exactly lend itself to kicking a football off a tee), Bill was nervous about the reception Terry would receive (as I’m sure Terry was). In fact Bill even remembers saying to himself “please let some of these people know who he is”. Before long someone came down and yelled “its time”. They walked up the tunnel to field level where fans got their first look at Terry. Before his named was even announced, or he was even close to mid field, 16,000 people were on their feet giving Terry a thunderous ovation, an ovation that seemed to last forever. It looked like some of these people knew who Terry was after all!
The Captains of both teams came out to meet Terry and shake his hand, all of them saying how proud they were of him, and that even though they were professional athletes, not one of them could do what he was doing. Bill also remembers looking up and down the rows of players, every one of them having tears in their eyes.
I wonder how proud Terry must have felt hearing that ovation. Not for himself, but for the seemingly impossible and selfless feat he had undertaken. It was working - the months and months of training, the thousands of kilometers he had already ran on those cold and lonely highways. The countless town hall meetings, the dozens and dozens of roadside pay phone calls to journalists. The Marathon of Hope was working. The Nation was watching, the Nation was responding, the Nation was with him.
As I was listening to Bill tell me these wonderful stories (some of which I can’t repeat!) I couldn’t help thinking to myself “he was there, like, he was really there.” I wondered if he, Terry, Darrell and Doug had any idea the impact their journey would have. How could they have? I thought of the four of them sitting in some roadside diner, Terry having one of his famous meals, the four of them laughing, joking, - not knowing how many people they would touch, not knowing how many lives they would save, not knowing how much hope they would give people all over the world. Then I think of 31 years later and my eyes watering as I tell my 7 year old daughter the stories that Bill had told me, and I think of the beautiful legacy that Terry and his friends started 31 years ago, a legacy almost every Canadian will pass to their children, a legacy that will be passed on for generations.
“He knew Terry?” my daughter asks, speaking of Bill.
“Yes, he was with him almost every day he ran” I say.
“Ohhhhh, daddy that’s cool”
“Yeah, that is pretty cool isn’t it”
…
I’ll end with this…
As the gang was leaving Ottawa someone noticed a newspaper box on the corner that had Terry on the cover, which up until this point they had never seenThey pulled over, Bill jumped out of the van and put a coin in. In his excitement, instead of taking one paper he took them all! Bill being Bill he didn’t feel good about this and called the paper the next day and told them that he took a few too many papers. They laughed and said. “No problem Bill, no problem”.
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