Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2022 Talk-a-thon. Through the generosity of our supporters, we were able to raise over $20,000 to support our cause and help bring relief to lonely senior citizens. By all metrics, the 2022 Talk-a-thon surpassed our 2021 campaign. Not only did we have more donors than last year, but these donors included our student volunteers, parents and family members of students, seniors in the program, families of seniors, caregivers and, of course, individuals who were not affiliated with Conversations to Remember, but were moved by our mission.
This year, for the first time, we had members of our Conversations to Remember college clubs attempt to raise money in the Talk-a-thon. Additionally, groups of students who do not have a Conversations to Remember club at their school banded together for their own fundraising events. We also had our own dedicated team of volunteers working on the planning and execution of the Talk-a-thon, spreading our message early, and helping to sustain it throughout the Talk-a-thon period.
For the 2022 Talk-a-thon, we made some changes from 2021. We eliminated the logging of calls, so that people could focus more on the calls themselves. We eliminated the daily raffles, after receiving feedback that volunteers really didn’t want them and to clear up the perception that we were wasting precious funds on the prizes. For clarity: in the past, the raffle prizes were all donated by generous businesses. Lastly, we also extended this year’s Talk-a-thon until the end of December in response to feedback we received.
We are already starting to think about the 2023 Talk-a-thon and how we can improve upon 2022. Anyone with suggestions for improvements or who wants to assist with the planning or execution should reach out to info@conversationstoremember.org.