As long as I can remember my company, ddm marketing & communications has participated in the annual March for Babies in April. Though our ddmers were rising in numbers, our participation largely remained flat (boo… boo…). Three years ago a few of us took a stand, established the MOD SQUAD
from left Lisa, Jewel, Caroline, Christa. Photos Courtesy of ddm. Fully aware these lovely ladies will kill me once they see what I’ve designed in Word.
and brought the baby competition into the office. Our “season” begins in March and generally runs through the end of April, culminating at the March for Babies event, on April 26.
We devised various activities through a creative brainstorm that has since fueled fierce competition, trash talk and a nice amount of funds raised. Some events were a success others felt like a failure (lottery for babies, not so much, beer and wings for babies, nope…), but each year we review and consider what will be worthy of our inner-office competitors.
So how is this done? Glad you asked, let’s review shall we?
Mark and Mike weren’t supposed to be wearing any pie, Jordan surprised us all. It also surprised the clients Mark and Mike were meeting 10 minutes later.
We have three partners at ddm: Mark, Mike and newbie Jordan. Jordan’s introduction to his rookie year (MOD 2013) as team captain was done through a pie-throwing contest, which had gone horribly wrong. (see photo). But now he’s a leader and even in his rookie year his team took top honors (we are still reviewing the numbers.)
As each year passes we learn from our mistakes, 2013, too many events, too quickly. People were overwhelmed. This year, MOD 2014, brings in a level of familiarity with three mainstay events and a new toss up.
1. Potluck Cookoff – March 28
(more on this in my next post)
2. Silent Auction for Babies – April 18
(babies are not being auctioned, non-ddmers are encouraged to participate, online bidding will be available.)
3. March for Babies – April 26
(help me become the ultimate overachiever. Or just come and join us!)
4. NEW to us… Bowling for Babies – Early May
(we will not use babies to bowl.)
Our process is simple, if you are a ddmer you are automatically assigned under one of the three teams, blue, gray, or purple. Your donations, tips, personal fundraising count toward your team’s total.
The team with the highest total will be hailed victorious and the losing teams will have to take the ultimate trash talking.
Through various means of fundraising, both inner-office and personal, ddm has raised between $4,000 – $7,500 each year. We are pleased with the results and hope that each year our fellow ddmers will embrace this tradition of saving babies through fierce competition. Check back with me to see how our events roll out and what results they yield.
To learn more about how the March of Dimes is helping your community and its families in need, please visit their website for additional information.
VIVA BABIES!
Sincerely,
Caroline Ramseyer
MOD SQUAD
Ramseyer Ramblings, Rants & Reflections 
Fantastic blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers?
I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on
everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option?
There are so many choices out there that I’m totally confused ..
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Thank you. I am glad you are enjoying it. Great question regarding aspiring writers. I am by no means established, but I realized that I observed enough unique situations in life, or things I found interesting and considered them worth of bringing attention to others. Being a parent has definitely fueled my library of experiences. So I write in the same tone as I speak in person and I share those experiences with anyone who is willing to read what I write. There is no magic formula. My readership has gone up a bit now that I note on Facebook if I have a new post. I also make sure to tag all my posts with categories and keywords, then people, like yourself can find my topics in the great wide open space. There are things you can do to promote the fact that you wrote a post. Four years ago when this writing journey started, I thought people would find me. Yeah… 3 readers later, I realized I needed to remind people I am here and I have quirky things to say! As for a writing platform. Definitely start with WordPress, the admin section is easy to use and is quite intuitive, and there are thousands of great free blog templates that you can use so you aren’t shelling out big bucks for a professional design. If you need something specifically branded then go to a paid source. But to be honest the company I work for will sometimes use a WordPress blog template that they then modify to help a client with a smaller site need. WordPress is quite flexible. Hope this helps. And please keep a running list of topics, you’ll be surprised how many things you might find worthy of sharing with others.