January

Well, January is here and we begin our flurry of mailings, meetings, and phone calls! We all spent the holidays relaxing and spending time with our friends and family. The rest made us anxious to begin final preparations for Rylee's Rally 2009.

As mentioned in a previous post, we have a new venue this year-Huntington's Veteran's Memorial Field House. The space will offer plenty of parking for vendors and families, and around 20,000 square feet of space. The Field House is also graciously allowing us use of their large kitchen, so that we can once again feed everyone for free. The Rylee's Rally Committee is also very excited to say that the facility rental has been paid for, in full, by one of last year's vendors. We were once again amazed and thankful for the continued support of our community. There is absolutely no way we could do an event like this-without the full support and encouragement from our community and state agencies/vendors, friends, and family.

Last year we offered families information and services from fifty-seven vendors. In just four hours, we greeted around five hundred people. Our goal for 2009? To double all our numbers.
We want at least 100 vendors/agencies in attendance, and we want to meet the special needs families in the area! We met many people from Ohio and Kentucky who need services for their family, so an additional goal is to branch out into the full tri-state area.

On Monday, we will have our first committee planning meeting for the year. After the meeting we should have a finalized mailing/contact list for Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Then, we begin calling vendors and agencies, mailing brochures and fliers, and asking for financial support and 'in-kind' donations.

Until April, we hope that you all will begin to use the link to the right, "Tri-State Area, WV/OH/KY." The link will connect you to all our attending vendors from last year. This user friendly format is kept up to date by one of the organizing mothers. For any needs you may have for your own child, or if as a vendor/agency you are trying to locate a particular service for a client - you will find this to be a wonderful resource.

Please mark your calendars now-

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

10am-2pm

Veteran's Memorial Field House

Huntington, WV

If you would like to be a vendor, volunteer,

can help us with your donation of time or financial support,...

or just want more information-

please feel free to contact us:

ryleesrally@yahoo.com

(304) 691-1393

spe·cial–adjective

1.of a distinct or particular kind or character

2.being a particular one; particular, individual, or certain

3.pertaining or peculiar to a particular person, thing, instance, etc.;

distinctive; unique: the special features of a plan.

4.having a specific or particular function, purpose, etc.

5.distinguished or different from what is ordinary or usual

6.extraordinary; exceptional, as in amount or degree

7.being such in an exceptional degree; particularly value

The families represented at Rylee's Rally each year are special-not because of their child's diagnosis...but because of their strength, grace, and the extraordinary love they show everyday.
We hope you will once again 'Rally with Us' as we prove our children, our families,...are not defined by a diagnosis.

The Rylee's Rally Committee, 2009