JUMP FOR THE CAUSE 2002
WIN-WIN

By Alex Kolacio

I'm not quite sure where to start writing about this great adventure, so I guess I'll start with a phone call I received one morning in May from Jenny Martin, asking if I would participate in the Women's World Record Attempt. I would be a huge liar if I didn't admit that I was super excited at the proposal. Jenny went on to explain that each participant needed to raise $2250 in donations to Jump For The Cause in order to participate, or that we could put that money in ourselves. The putting the money in ourselves put me at ease as I NEVER thought in a million years that I would ever be able to raise $2250, or much less want to.

As I thought more and more about it, I realized it wasn't about raising $2250 each, but this is all about bringing awareness to the public about the tragedy of Breast Cancer, and getting as many people as we know involved both mentally as well as financially. So I went on the JFTC website, printed the sample donation request letter, spoke to a couple of girls that are also involved in JFTC, and got busy making one of my very own. I have no family in the US, so I came up with a list of friends and acquaintances and started pumping these letters out. I sent out about 120 letters - all with Breast Cancer stamps - I had also downloaded the JFTC logo and combined it with the logo of my DZ and printed everything on cloud paper - it looked really nice. Anyway, after a few days, the donations started rolling in - I was excited to go to our PO Box every day! This is how I raised my first $2000.

My husband and I own and operate AtmosphAIR Skydiving Center, in Fort Atkinson, WI. I figured that all our students should also know about the Jump for the Cause, so I put a small sign at our manifest desk with a donation jar next to it. I found that most people that read the sign were in awe about a 150 person record attempt and it made our DZ look good, both as far as caliber of skydivers/instructors as well as about caring and supporting a charity. My donation jar has raised probably about $300 to date and I intend on leaving it up until the day I leave for Perris in October.

One of our skydivers/instructors (Mike Dunham) is part owner in a bar as well as a catering business. I sent a letter both to him as well as his business partner requesting a donation for JFTC. I did a radio interview on one of our local stations about JFTC - the charity, but it mostly turned into questions about skydiving - I figured no matter what, it was good PR. Mike and his partner, Randy, approached me one day about wanting to co-host a fundraising event to help support JFTC. This is how our SKYFEST was born. I have to say that what Mike and Randy did, is one of the warmest, most caring things that anyone has ever done for me. They knew this meant a lot to me and helped in their area of expertise. We decided to run the event on a Friday evening and have a Wisconsin Style Fish and Chicken Fry, you can't have Fish Fry without beer - so I had to appear before the City Council and request a Liquor License on behalf of JFTC (Thanks Richard Seymour for your help with the liquor license application). It was now up to my husband Bo and I to plan the air part of SKYFEST. We decided that we would attempt to make a mini air show in which the public would take part. We would offer airplane rides, powered parachute rides, helicopter rides, hang gliding tandems, tandem skydives, and skydiving airplane observer rides. We attempted to bring in a hot air balloon and an acrobatic airplane, but it didn't work out for this year (next year it will!). Needless to say, all pilots were more than happy to donate their time and their flying machines to the Cause. We did reimburse a few for fuel, and of course we bought them dinner! Numerous volunteers selflessly donated their time and resources. Most of our experienced skydivers gave up skydiving for that afternoon and evening and stayed on the ground to help run the event. Thank you all.

We advertised heavily - ran ads in two papers as well as on the radio for the three weeks leading up to the event, I did two more interviews on the radio, we plastered posters in the surrounding towns (especially in bars), and the newspaper also published a couple of articles about the upcoming event as well as about my upcoming Jump for the Cause. Most of the advertising was donated. The media loved the story of a girl being involved in SKYDIVING- they are just as excited as I am. I already have a scheduled live radio interview from Perris during the Jump for the Cause, and if I don't get cut from the team, when I come home, I should be somewhat of a celebrity! Ticker tape parade maybe?

SKYFEST was nothing but a success. On the beautiful Friday afternoon of August 16th, the Fort Atkinson, WI, Airport came to life. Over 700 people showed up to enjoy food, flying activities, and support The Cause. Everybody had a great time. We had music and a PA system, which helped contribute to the excitement. Patrick, one of our skydivers narrated a good portion of the event so people could understand what was going on in the air and what we had to offer. We served just under 500 dinners, and 70 people took part in flying rides; we ran out of daylight or that number would have been much higher. Never before has this airport seen so much activity.

SKYFEST raised $4071 for The Cause.

Everybody loved SKYFEST ! The City Officials, for bringing some meaningful excitement to Fort Atkinson; the Airport Committee for exposing the public to our sometimes forgotten Airport; our local pilots, for the opportunity to show off and do some good at the same time; our experienced skydivers, for having a huge audience for their hot swoops and being able to share the sport; the crowd, for the fun of it all! As for the Drop Zone, it was the best PR we ever had. I loved it for bringing out of me something beautiful I didn't know I have in me. WIN-WIN.

The only loser in the whole story is Breast Cancer.

Alex Kolacio
AtmosphAIR Skydiving Center, Inc.
Fort Atkinson, WI
www.diveout.com