Donate to NAMIWALKS PA

NAMIWALKS PA Home | Walk Facts | Sponsorship | Contribute
| Family Team | Business Team | Resources | Letters | Forms |

NAMI Walks Family Teams

NAMIWalks for the Mind of America
Position Description

Position Title: Family Team Captain

Works With: NAMI staff walk coordinator and/or volunteer walk committee member in charge of working with family-based Walk teams.

Position Summary: Responsible for recruiting family members and friends to gather pledges and participate in the Walk as a member of their family’s team. Most family teams dedicate their participation in the Walk to a loved one who has mental illness.

Major Responsibilities:

• Get a Team Captain’s Instruction Folder and follow the team building instructions in it.
• Select a name for your team and complete and return the Team Registration Form that will be in the Team Captain’s Instruction Folder.
• Recruit assistant team captains (maybe an aunt or uncle from both sides of the family) who can help you organize your team.
• Set a positive example by being the first person on your team to officially register for the Walk. (The walker registration forms will be in the fundraising pledge brochures that all team captains will receive in the mail.)
• Distribute these fundraising pledge brochures to your family members and friends and recruit as many of them as possible to participate in the Walk. (Each walker that is recruited is responsible for gathering their own pledges in support of their participation in the Walk.)
• Consider increasing the size of your team by trying to involve your church, company or any civic organizations that you may belong to. (These groups can participate in the Walk as a part of a family team or they can form their own team.)
• Keep close track of the walkers that you recruit by collecting their registration forms, maintaining a master list of who is walking on your team, and then sending the forms into the local NAMI Walk office.
• Communicate often with the NAMI staff member or volunteers organizing the event, and with the walkers that you recruit for your team. Make sure that everyone knows why raising money for NAMI is vitally important to you and hundreds of other families in your community.
• Lead by example by sending a fundraising letter or email to everyone that you know asking them to either participate in the Walk as a member of your team, or to support your participation in the Walk with a donation to the NAMI. Encourage all the members of your team to write a similar letter or email.
• Design and order a special Team T-shirt that all your walkers can wear the day of the Walk. Having a team T-shirt is a great way for team captains to thank all of their walkers for their support, and to have their team stand out in the crowd the day of the Walk.
• Follow-up with all of your walkers to make sure that they are gathering pledges and will be attending the Walk. Plan activities, such as a pre-Walk breakfast or a post-Walk barbecue that will make the day of the Walk special for the walkers on your team.
  

More than any other single factor, team T-shirts help build a team prior to a
Walk, and unite a team the day of a Walk.

Here are some key tips
to keep in mind regarding team T-shirts…

1. They should be bright and colorful so the team wearing them STANDS OUT as much as possible on the day of the Walk.

2. The designs, logos and slogans on them should be as creative and unique as possible so they are a conversation piece both during and after the Walk. Team T-shirts are (in effect) walking billboards for your company, organization or family team.

3. A great way for a company team of any type to develop creative and unique designs for its team T-shirt is to sponsor a T-shirt design contest for its employees or team members.

4. Another great way is to tap the talents of the family’s in-house “artist”.

5. Good team T-shirt designs almost always include both the company or family’s name and the name and logo of the Walk (NAMIWalks for the Mind of America)..

6. THERE WILL BE A BEST TEAM T-SHIRT CONTEST WITH THE WINNER SELECTED AT THE WALK! WATCH FOR MORE INFO ON THE PRIZE THAT WILL BE AWARDED TO THE WINNING TEAM!

7. An especially key point to remember is that team T-shirts are paid for by the team so that every dollar raised in the Walk will go to support NAMI and its programs.

8. Another important thing to remember about team T-shirts is that they are a very effective WALKER RECRUITMENT TOOL if publicized and promoted by the team captain prior to the Walk. PEOPLE LOVE T-SHIRTS, ESPECIALLY COOL ONES!

9. Although creative, unique team T-shirts are best, having a bland, uncreative T-shirt is almost always better than having no team T-shirt at all. Most teams usually get better at designing their T-shirts as the years go by. Get started with a team T- shirt this year, and get good at designing it next year!

10. NEED HELP DESIGNING OR ORDERING YOUR TEAM T-SHIRT? CONTACT THE NAMI PA STATE OFFICE AT 800-223-0500 or 717-238-1514