In 1988, Rye resident Bruce Cleland led a team that raised funds and trained to run the New York City Marathon in honor of Cleland’s daughter Georgia, a leukemia survivor.
The team of 38 runners raised $322,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Westchester-Hudson Valley Chapter.
At that moment, the society”™s Team In Training (TNT) was born. It has since grown into the world’s largest endurance sports-training program. The program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Since the TNT program”™s inception, 340,000 people have raised more than $800 million to support blood cancer research and patient services, said Greg Elfers, senior vice president for revenue development of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The society is headquartered in White Plains. It has 68 chapters in the United States and Canada and is the world”™s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing pertinent education and patient services.
“More important than even raising the money, is the statement of caring,” said Elfers.
Money raised through the TNT program accounts for about 40 percent of the society”™s total fundraising campaign each year.
“It has allowed us to make significant strides in our mission,” he said.
In the program”™s earlier days, volunteers were recruited primarily through direct-mailing. However, as the TNT program has grown over the years most of the volunteers come from word-of-mouth or referrals, said Elfers.
The amount of national exposure the program has received also has been beneficial to attracting volunteers.
Athletic apparel giant Nike has been a sponsor of the TNT program almost since it”™s inception. And Runner”™s World magazine has long advocated the program, and in 2004 named Cleland as one of their “heroes of running” for starting the program. Other corporate sponsors include the Coca-Cola Company and P.F. Chang”™s Chinese Bistro.
The program has also raised its profile due to branding efforts.
For example, every TNT athlete who competes in an event wears a purple singlet.
This was done in 1996 when the program had become large enough that it needed to institute standardized practices, said Nancy Klein, senior vice president of marketing communications for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“The use of purple as the signature color and the Team In Training logo help people to strongly identify with the program,” she said. “TNT participants proudly wear the color purple to highlight the cause for which they are participating. When people see the sea of purple singlets at a marathon or other endurance event they immediately know that these are people running, walking cycling or swimming to fund lifesaving research for blood cancers.”
The program has expanded from running only marathons to also include half-marathons, triathlons and 100-mile cycling events. The program sends people to several of each type of competition per year.
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A person who is interested in participating in the program and raising money would be set up with a four- to five-month personalized fitness training program with a certified coach.
Along the way, participants would be asked to raise money that would go towards leukemia and lymphoma research.
Depending on the event, there is a minimum amount of money that must be raised in order for it to be financially feasible for the society to send people to the event.
For the most part, raising the money is not a problem, said Elfers.
On average, an individual will send out 75 solicitations and is encouraged to approach friends, family members, business associates, family doctors and the like for donations.
“The easiest way to raise money is to ask,” he said. “We suggest that volunteers develop a list of people in their life who might be interested, and the response rate is usually very high.”
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