Ramada Conference Brings in 100 New Childreach Sponsorships

Childreach
Friday, 1 June 2001

Since 1994, Childreach has been invited to participate in the annual Ramada conference. We've been enthusiastic participants as the forum enables us to meet current Ramada sponsors, gain more visibility and recruit more sponsors. We also have the opportunity to interact with some great people who are totally dedicated to our mission of helping children. This year was no exception. Among many positive results, we were incredibly excited to assign 100 new sponsorships.

This year's conference was held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada from May 21-25, 2001. Childreach team members Janet Moretti and Paula Dias were on-hand as Childreach Representatives. Our staff put in an incredibly busy week and came away exceeding the goals and expectations we had set.

For the first two days of the conference, Janet and Paula worked the Childreach booth at the InfoSource/Trade Show. The purpose of the booth was to promote two programs, Project Planet and Buck A Night. Each of these programs raises funds which are donated to Childreach. Our objective was to promote the programs to hotel owners and general managers who are not yet participating. We were successful in gaining commitment from 72 properties for the Buck A Night program and distributed many applications for Project Planet.

The Buck A Night program is just a few months old, but already one of the fastest growing and successful initiatives. It's very simple and easy to maintain. As guests check-in to participating hotels, they are asked to add $1.00 to the cost of their lodging per night. Those extra funds, $65,630 to date, are given to Childreach for the Children's Emergency Fund. We definitely look forward to the participation of additional hotels! We gratefully acknowledge the Ramada Plaza Resorts - Orlando/Ft Lauderdale Vacations for championing the idea for this terrific program, especially Jim Verrillo, Dan Lambert, Marty Lebu, and Jim Wallen.

One of the special guests attending the conference was Heather Borquez, Country Director for the Dominican Republic. Last year, Heather worked with Ramada CEO, Steve Belmonte on the plans to rebuild a school in the village of San Juan destroyed by Hurricane Georges. A new school and playground are now complete and the children were even on a live phone connection so they could thank Mr. Belmonte and all for their generosity. This project was made possible by funds raised from the 2nd Annual Ramada Yard Sale. A model of the new school built by the children was presented to Steve Belmonte.

To wrap up the day, Mr. Belmonte invited hotel owners and general managers to come up on stage and take a sponsorship packet for a child from the Dominican Republic. The day started with 100 photos displayed and all were sponsored.

Throughout the conference raffle tickets were sold for various prizes given away by Ramada Franchise Systems. The funds raised by the raffle - $16,105 - are being donated to our Children's Emergency Fund.

So, yes, our goals were exceeded and we are incredibly thankful to our friends at Ramada for helping us to help more children. They are making a world of difference.

For more information, or to contact Childreach, see their website at: www.childreach.org