United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Awareness 2002 Plans are now underway!!

WHAT IS AWARENESS ?

Awareness, in general, is an opportunity to educate the public, inform parents and professionals about the services available, and to reach out into the general public, thereby making a difference in the lives of those with brachial plexus injuries.

Awareness 2002 specific goals are:

* to increase awareness of brachial plexus injuries among the public at large;

* to increase the participation and involvement of the medical community for awareness;

* to increase the participation and involvement of the brachial plexus communities throughout the nation so that more state proclamations are requested and processed;

* to make a sincere and conscious effort to reach new families, individuals affected by brachial plexus injuries and families with newborns, so that they may become aware of our support and informational network;

* to enhance our community involvement and sense of belonging.

In order for these efforts to be successful, we need YOU to play an active role. There are many ways to become involved in this program and we hope that you will pick at least one thing that you can do to bring awareness to your family, friends and community.

YOU CAN START HERE...

STEP ONE

Read this letter about our plans for this years Outreach Awareness Special Issue and how you can take part in it. The letter is found at this link (which is in the awareness section of this site, right on the home page, linked on top):

http://ubpn.org/awareness/A2002dedletter.html

STEP TWO

Send in your story and personal dedications by the deadlines. Last year's personal dedication section of the Outreach was quite wonderful - if you read them, then you know what we are talking about. If you have not received a copy of last year's Outreach, contact UBPN at info@ubpn.org and request one (include your address).

STEP THREE

Watch the message boards for more information about how you can get involved in Awareness.

We've only just begun! The information currently found in the Awareness section will be updated for this year. The Outreach Awareness Special Issue will be packed with articles written by medical professionals around the world and will be available once again for bulk purchases. Jewelry ribbons pins and handsewn ribbon pins will also be sold.

The last two years have laid the foundation and each year it gets bigger and bigger. This year's Awareness is going to be FANTASTIC because we are one strong community. We're going to work together and make this happen together.

Any questions? You can either post them here or in the Awareness message board or email a co-chair privately.

AWARENESS 2002 CO-CHAIRS
Nancy Birk (nancy@ubpn.org)
Francine Litz (francine@injurednewborn.com)

Just wanted to post once again about the deadlines:

Share-A-Story Deadline is JUNE 1

Personal Dedication Deadline is JUNE 15

~~this means that we must RECEIVE it by those dates~~


The FASTEST way to send in your story is to email it to one of the co-chairs.

The FASTEST way to send in your personal dedication is to fax the form in and pay by PayPal.

(Paypal does work very well and is safe. We've been using it for a long time.)


Any questions?? We're here to answer them all.

AWARENESS 2002 CO-CHAIRS,
Nancy Birk (nancy@ubpn.org)
Francine Litz (francine@injurednewborn.com)

These make really nice (and positive) additions to the baby book! Think how your child will feel when they get older and read all the loving dedications.

Plus, grandparents LOVE this kind of thing. This is a great way for them to contribute to the cause!

We're excited here in Ohio about awareness plans for this year! I'm sure there are many families who will contribute dedications and perhaps share a personal story.

I like the June 1st deadline for dedications...we can give them to you at the Ohio Picnic!!!

We're looking forward to the Awareness Session at our Ohio Picnic, too!

Last year's dedications were very special, I cried typing them all in to the computer, they were so special and beautiful.

What a great way to honor your child or family member, community members who have made a difference for you, doctors, therapists, babysitters,
or even yourself!!

Thanks to the Awareness committee for deciding to give us this opportunity for sharing again this year.

Bridget

Just bumping this back to the top.

Deadline for Share-a-story is June 1st.

Deadline for Personal Dedications is June 15th

Nancy and Francine will BOTH be at the Ohio picnic to take your dedication form and payment.

All funds raised from the Personal Dedications in the Outreach Awareness Special Issue is earmarked to be used ONLY for UBPN's Awareness program.

Thanks for making your contribution!

I had a question about the opportunity to share a story in Outreach...so I went to the letter in the link on the first message in this thread, and it has some good information, I am copying it here so that perhaps more people will see it:

Share A Story: Share with us a story about you or your family member (someone who has a bpi.) It could be a funny story, a story of triumph, a story that will give thought, or just something you really want to share with the community. Include a picture if you have one that will reproduce well. The Awareness 2002 Committee will go through all the submissions and choose the ones that will be used. Space is very limited so please try to keep the story short.  Email story and picture to either co-chair (email addresses listed below) OR mail your story and picture to UBPN, Inc., 1610 Kent Street, Kent Ohio 44240.  Deadline: June 1, 2002.

This is such a neat opportunity to tell a story and reach a much wider part of our community. Only a fraction of us are online, but so many people receive Outreach in the mail...consider sharing a story that is meaningful to you!

Bridget

The stories share last year were just amazing. The bee story! learning that you can get a bpi from lymes disease (yikes!) seeing picture of Brittney, and of a little one on horseback. These stories really MAKE the publication! and it's those that I come back to read over and over!

The personal dedications gave my parents a chance to say what was in their heart. I think it really helped them feel like they were finally able to do something to help...even though it was small. They live many states away and have not been present in a physical way to what we have gone through.

They are both wonderful opportunities to share.

-francine

Hi,

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed all the wonderful stories in the last issue of the Awareness Outreach! I hope to read many more this year!!

Krista )

One more week for Share-A-Story!

June 1st is the deadline.