Team Oliver and Ian: Strategies for Building and Raising Funds for our Family Team

 The Wolk Children (Ian, Oliver and Serenity) 

Marla Wolk and her Family Team have raised over $110,000 for March for Babies. Marla is a dedicated volunteer that has worked with both the MA Chapter and with the organization on a National level. Team Oliver and Ian has been recognized as a National Top Family Team for their fundraising efforts. We are very thankful for their years of hard work on behalf of the March of Dimes.

My name is Marla Wolk, and I am the mother of two little miracles.  My sons, Ian Trevor and Oliver Brett, are identical twins who were born on July 28, 2003 at only 26 short weeks and three days due to a condition called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.  They will celebrate their eighth birthday this coming summer.  Their journey into this world has not been an easy one, and many challenges and uncertainties still lay ahead for all of us as a family.  Despite it all, my children are my heroes.   No mother could be prouder.  Each and every day my children teach me about courage, bravery and determination, and it is their strength, fighting spirit and adorable dimples and smiles that remind me why we so passionately support the March of Dimes.  It is my personal mission to make sure that Ian and Oliver’s journey makes a lasting difference, and hopefully to ensure that no family ever needs to travel this road alone.

Ian and Oliver spent 106 days in the NICU struggling to survive, and on October 30^th, just one day shy of their original due date, we brought our children home.  Close to 6 months later – 6 months of feeling isolated and alone – my husband and I went to our first WalkAmerica, now called March for Babies.  At this point in our story, we knew very little about the March of Dimes, and certainly had no idea of the life saving role they had already played in our babies’ survival; we simply knew that this walk was somehow related to prematurity, and it felt right to go.  Within 15 minutes of walking around the walk site, I was no longer alone.  I was suddenly surrounded by people who understood my story, either through personal experience or a profound commitment to the cause.  In a crowd full of strangers, I felt as if I had finally come home.

I gave my first donation to the March of Dimes that day, and what I got in return is almost too difficult to describe in words.  I was given hope – hope that one day another baby, another family would not need to know of the pain that we had to endure – and I was given a sense of belonging.  I cried that night.  I hadn’t been able to cry much since my babies had been born: I had been too scared, too empty and too afraid to feel.  To me, March for Babies was one of my first experiences of coming out of a long hibernation.

The idea for our family team was born that day, as was our profound gratitude and appreciation for the March of Dimes.  March for Babies has now taken on a new meaning in our family.  It has become part of our journey.   When we walk, we become part of a profound circle in which we give, yet we also receive.  We walk to raise funds for future research.  We walk to bring awareness and help educate society on the realities of prematurity.  We walk to put a face on this national crisis.  In return, walk has allowed us to heal, reflect and connect, and most importantly it has allowed us to honor and celebrate our two little miracles and the road that we have traveled as a family.

I would like to share with you how we have gone about fundraising for March for Babies, and how we use our personal story, our passion and our dedication to make a difference in saving babies.  Although I am not a natural fundraiser (I would even say that it is not something that I was not previously comfortable with), our family team (“Team Ian and Oliver”) ranked sixth highest family team in the country a few years ago.  This accomplishment speaks solely to the profound impact of a mission family’s story.  It is my boys’ story that touched everyone who read about them.

 

Our fundraising strategies:

1. Reflect on what March for Babies means to you: March for Babies is a very special day for our family.  In trying to find meaning in our boys’ difficult and early entries into this world, we have found peace in acknowledging that they have accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime, and that they are our little heroes.  I visualize walk as a day in which we honor Ian and Oliver. 

2. Make it personal: If this is your first year walking, I suggest that you start by writing your story.  Not only is this a wonderful fundraising tool, but it also can be a cathartic means of healing.  By sharing our story with everyone we reached out to for fundraising, I was able to educate them not only about the mission of the March of Dimes, but also about how the March of Dimes touched our lives on the deepest of levels.

3. March of Dimes online fundraising tool (OFT): For those with no background in fundraising, the March of Dimes has made our lives very easy.  Thru OFT, you can easily personalize your own March for Babies webpage to include a picture, a short story and your own individual fundraising goal.

4.  If you’re still looking for more ways to personalize your fundraising: While the Online Fundraising Tool is a terrific way to distribute information, it only allows a limited amount of your family’s story to be displayed.  To counterbalance this, what I have done is compose a separate letter in which I include the link to my March of Dimes home page, and share more of our story.

5. Encourage family and friends to join you on walk day: Invite them to walk alongside us on the day of March for Babies.  I believe this is one of the most significant keys to our fundraising success.  While I ask for support through a monetary donation, my focus lies primarily with my invitation.  I encourage everyone on my email list to join us for March for Babies and be part of our family team. 

6. Day of…For the past two years our family team has given out inexpensive t-shirts to everyone who joins us for walk.  The t-shirts offer a means of connecting us and once again honoring the two reasons we walk – our children.  In addition, we use these shirts to say a special thank you to everyone who has helped us along the way.

7. Thank you!!! About one week post-walk, we send out a thank you to all those who joined us and all those who supported us.  I share highlights of our March for Babies day, attaching pictures of the celebration (maybe somebody who didn’t join us this year will decide to join us next year!).