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November 2006 - Posts
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Fundarising update: WE DID IT!!! On Wednesday, 11/29, it was announced that we were the first team in the history of the event to raise over $200,000!
Click here to see photos from the MS 150 Appreciation Bash at Cowboy's Dancehall.
Winner of the raffle for the new cruiser bike.
Captain Laura Vaccaro and Team Treasurer Patricia Jones picking the winning raffle ticket.
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On Saturday, November 18th, a few of us rode the Mission to Mission route to check it out. The Mission Trail is one of the cultural jewels in San Antonio. Whether you are a native of the city or just visiting, you should take time at some point to see the Missions. It is a journey into San Antonio's past, and one that provides scenes of awesome tranquility only minutes from downtown. And, the best way to experience the Missions is from the seat of your bicycle on a crisp fall day.
...I've always had a soft spot for the Mission Trail because this is where I started cycling almost 8 years ago. John, Zora, Sharon, and I would ride the trail together on Saturday mornings. We'd do 10 miles and call it a day. I had a heavy, steel frame hybrid bike, and actually walked up some of the "hills". Life was simpler (and the rides much shorter) then.
Enjoy these photos! Hopefully they will inspire you to visit the Mission Trail. (Note: The Mission to Mission ride is on 12/02 if you are looking for the perfect opportunity to ride the trail!)
Pausing at a waterfall along the way.
Riders in front of the Espada Mission.
The legendary San Antonio ghost tracks. Much scarier at night. You know you are a San Antonio local if you know the story of the ghost tracks. Click here if you're curious.
Public sculpture along the way celebrating San Antonio culture.
 
More views of Mission Espada.
 
Views of the Espada Aqueduct, which is still providing water to the local community hundreds of years after it was built.
One of the many narrow bridges along the trail. These bridges always make me feel like I'm in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Birds resting along the river. Note the crane to the far left.
 
Views of Mission San Jose. The Missions aren't museums or dead relics. They are a living part of the community with active parishes. On the day of our training ride, a funeral was going on.
In front of Mission San Jose.
At the back of San Jose.
 
Two views of Mission Concepcion.
See ya' on the road!
- Pete
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 The Mission to Mission Ride is rapidly approaching. It will be held in San Antonio on Saturday, December 2nd. Here's the latest and greatest news on this event.
 John "the Punisher" Tennison is leading a training ride on Satuday, 11/18, to check out the route prior to the actual event. The ride departs from the Mission County Park No. 2 parking lot at 08:00 am. The distance will be 50 to 55 miles, with plenty of c-stores along the way. Click here to access the route map, and click here to see a map of the route start. All Velo Valero team members are welcome to do this training ride. The weather in San Antonio is supposed to be mid-70s and sunny - it should be a great ride!
We are still looking for a few more volunteers to assist in this event. If you are a Valero employee, go to the Intranet and select My Workplace + Sign-Up to see the positions that are available. As of today, 5 volutneers are needed for the 08:30 am to 11:00 am shift, and 8 volunteers are needed for the 11:00 pm to 1:30 pm shift. Friends and family members are welcome to volunteer! If you are not a Valero employee and you want to volunteer, go the the event web site and contact Mission Rotary using the Contact Infromation at the bottom of the page.
If you haven't registered for the ride yet, there's still time to do so. If you register on-line, the cost is $18 per rider. (Make sure you register with team Velo Valero!). 100% of the registration fee goes to the local charities associated with the event. There is no minimum fundraising you have to do for this ride beyond your registration fee, although you are welcome to make a donation to any of these worthwhile organizations at any time for any amount. Click here to register for the ride.
As noted before, the Mission to Mission is a family friendly ride that is a great way to introduce friends and family to the sport of cycling. The family route is 12 to 15 miles, but there are also longer routes designed by "the Punisher" for you folks that want to get more distance in. If you know any Scouts, encourage them to ride, because they need 15 miles on a bike to earn their camping badge. Click here for more details on the Mission to Mission.
One last note - as Laura mentioned yesterday, we are rapidly approaching an incredible milestone in fundraising for the MS 150 Bike to the Beach. We are within $3500 of raising $200,000, which is a record for a single team in a single event for the MS Society. Plus, its a heck of a lot of money for a truly great cause. Between now and the team fundraising deadlne on 11/29, we'll be running a number of fundraising activities to help us reach this goal. One of the things we're going to do is raffle off one of these trendy new cruiser bikes - stay tuned for more details! Click here to see our latest fundraising totals. |
See ya' on the road!
- Pete/Zora
 
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 From Team Captain, Laura Vaccaro:
Dear Velo Valero -
I have some exciting news to share! As of today, we are at $196,000 total fundraising for Velo Valero! We are just $4000 shy of breaking a national record for team fundraising. Unbelievable huh??
I need your help! We still have over 20 people who owe their minimum pledge amount. If we can get everyone to finalize their fundraising commitment, we will easily pass the $200,00 mark and go do down in MS 150 history as the all time TOP Fundraising team.
OR, if you have any ideas regarding friends, family or business colleagues that we can approach for donations, now is the time to ask! The awards party is in a little less than 2 weeks...Wednesday, November 29th. Our goal is to hit the $200,000 mark by then. Please help us by getting your money turned in as soon as you can. We will make runs to the MS Office for you if you can get checks turned into me before next Friday. Please call me if you have any questions. You can check your total by calling Tony Ralf at the MS Office, (210) 494-5531.
Also, for VALERO SAN ANTONIO EMPLOYEES. I wanted to let you know that all volunteer hours have been turned into Lisa Short for input in to the official volunteer database. Only those employees who met minimum fundraising targets have been given volunteer hours. If you are still shy of $300, your hours were not submitted. As funds are turned in, please be sure to contact me so that I can add your hours and reconcile our total volunteer hours.
Thanks again everyone! Again, THINK $200K! We can do it!
Laura
History of Velo Valero fundraising for the MS 150
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Message from Team Captain Laura Vaccaro -
Dear Velo Valerians -
I hope this note finds you doing well! As we just passed the official fundraising deadline for this year's event, I wanted to take the opportunity to bring you up to date on the latest team news and recognize a few special people who worked so hard to make this year a great success.
The fund-raising prize calculation deadline passed at midnight Wednesday, and Velo Valero has once again established a new historic-high record for Bike to the Beach fundraising. As of today, our team fundraising total stands at $189,000. That's not only the largest-ever dollar amount ever raised for a Bike to the Beach team ANYWHERE but it's up a whopping 74% from last year! (And we still have money coming in!) WOW!!!! We also happen to have the event's top fundraiser as our teammate. Valero CEO Bill Klesse solicited friends, family and colleagues to raise $36,700. Way to go Bill! Thanks for setting such a positive example for our team.
We still have several folks who have not yet turned in money. Although the fundraising deadline has passed for prize determination, the money is still due. Remember that money can be accepted any time. Velo Valero takes our fundraising commitment seriously. We view this aspect of the MS 150 event as our top priority and hope that you will share in that important team value. Recall that in order to ride again next year, or in any future MS event, you must at least have met your minimum fundraising goal for the previous year. We would be so disappointed if we were not able to have EVERYONE join us again next year. So get your $$$ in now and help us boost that total over the $200,000 mark.
With our contributions and those of the other teams, it looks very likely that the Lone Star chapter will hit their event goal of $1.5 million! Together, we are making an incredible difference in the lives of those afflicted by MS.
In closing, I want to let you all know how very proud I am of all of you. Thank you sooo much for putting such incredible effort into your fundraising and into participation during the weekend of the event. I had an amazing time and truly felt honored to be part of such an amazing team. Thank you for a great 2 years! It has been an experience full of rewarding and fun memories that I will cherish always. I am thrilled to be passing the baton to Peter Ray who will take over as team captain for 2007-08. Peter is full of passion, creativity and commitment to taking this team even further, so I leave full of pride and positive anticipation of an even better team in the future. The other reason I leave feeling proud is that there are an amazing group of people who are now serving as board members. You know who they are and you know how wonderful each and every one of them are. I could never have survived the past two years without them. They are all truly talented and giving individuals who served every day with 115% effort and commitment. Thanks so much to all of them for being such an inspiring team. You are all heroes in my eyes!!!
Finally, I wanted to again thank everyone for the amazing gifts given to me during the Friday night team dinner...the yearbook and the weekend get away to La Cantera. The gift certificate will be put to great use!!! Can't wait to use it!!! The yearbook will become a permanent fixture on my desk that makes me smile every time I see it. Thanks so much for your kindness. I am so grateful to everyone for your generosity and thoughtfulness. Thanks for spoiling me and making me feel so special.
Hope you all have a very blessed Holiday Season. Please mark May 20-21 on your calendars for the Tour de Cure event and for those in SA...hope to see you on Dec 2nd for the Mission to Mission ride to benefit Meals on Wheels!
Take care and have a great weekend!
 Laura
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 Here's an update on fundraising for the Valero MS 150 by Velo Valero from Tony Ralf, Development Director for this event:
“Thank you” doesn’t seem to say enough, Valero, for what you’ve done for us again this year to help free the world of MS! But while the phrase “thank you” seems inadequate, it’s sent to you all with deep and heart-felt sincerity from everyone at the Lone Star Chapter. The fund-raising prize calculation deadline passed at midnight Wednesday, and by my calculations Velo Valero has once again established a new historic-high record for Bike to the Beach fundraising, and you also secured the bragging rights to the event’s top fundraiser, courtesy of Bill Klesse. Congratulations!
Team captain Laura Vaccaro provided an inspirational success story this year and secured another well-deserved team entry in our record books. Laura’s leadership in 2005 saw Velo Valero become the first Bike to the Beach team ever to break through $100,000, and went on to raise in excess of $108,000 that year.
Always searching for ways to motivate, Laura pushed the envelope (and the team); the team total for this year so far stands at $188,000 today, that’s not only the absolute largest-ever dollar amount for a Bike to the Beach team, but it’s up a whopping 74% from the team fundraising total last year…and I know you’re not finished for this year!
In addition, your team membership totaled 270 this year, more than twice the size of the next largest team on this year’s tour.
Meanwhile, Peter Ray left our National Conference in Orlando this weekend empowered with all kinds of new fundraising ideas from his networking with other national team captains. I detect that as Peter takes over the team leadership for the next 2 years, his focus is on setting more records by breaking through the $200,000 level for the 2007 Valero MS 150 event!
Event income today shows us at about $1.33 million, up 11% from the entire event last year, and funds continue to arrive in major ways…a team captain walked in $11,000 on Wednesday night, and other fundraisers walked in $1,200, $1,500 and $2,000 in the span of 2 hours that same day! The Top Fundraiser grouping, the 100 Club, is still up for membership grabs! We don’t calculate membership until Feb. 1, allowing matching funds to pass through corporate 2006 4th-quarter processing, in addition to more outright fundraising to arrive for this hotly contested membership.
We’re currently looking very strong to pass our budgetary goal of $1.5 million for the 2006 event.
Best regards. Tony
History of fundraising for the MS 150 Bike to the Beach by Velo Valero
History of Velo Valero team size for the MS 150 Bike to the Beach Event. It's not about the size of the team, it's about the dollars. We had a smaller team in 2006, but our average fundraising was up.
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Laura was gracious enough to allow me to attend the MS Society National Team Captain's Rally in her place last week. This was an incredible event! Over 160 MS bike and walk team captains from all over the country were there. There were worksessions on everything from fundraising to new rider programs to jersey orders. We all need to be proud of the fact that we have become one of the largest, best run teams in the country, and we are rapidly moving up the ranks of the top rundraisers for the MS Society. I met a lot of great contacts, and took plenty notes on ways we can improve an already exceptional team.
Here are a few photos from the event and my weekend at Epcot Center.
Pete shaking hands with MS Society CEO Joyce Nelson during the "Parade of Captains".
A pumped up Pete after walking across the stage. I was so proud to represent Velo Valero at this event!
Pete encounters a hungry Shamu during the Friday night event at Sea World for conference attendees. Notice the Valero MS 150 t-shirt!
Pete's half-sister Helga and friend spotted at the Norway Pavillion in Epcot Center.
See ya' on the road!
- Pete
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