News & Events

Calendar of Events OCTOBER 2010 Breast Cancer Awareness Month DECEMBER 2010 8th Annual Tour 4 the Cure @ NeoCon® East December 15-16, 2010 Baltimore, MD For information email: sbbray@internationalfabrics.com APRIL 2011 9th Annual The Common Thread for the Cure Golf Tournament April  29, 2011 Rumbling Bald Resort on Lake Lure, Lake Lure, NC For information email: janeb@wrcp.com     Click here to view the current issue of The Common Thread Newsletter

SUN SHINES BRIGHT FOR 8th ANNUAL GOLF FUNDRAISER

Once again the weather looked threatening as participants started their journeys to Lake Lure, NC and the 8th Annual The Common Thread for the Cure Golf tournament on April 23, 2010. What the players did not know, was the sun was shining on the golf course, and as you can see by the pictures everyone had a great day. In spite of the conditions in our industry, it was a successful tournament and we raised $32,500 for The Common Thread for the Cure to assist breast cancer survivors. It takes a group effort to make this happen and it represents the best in our industry. The following sponsors and donors deserve our sincere gratitude.

"Which way to the first tee?"

Tournament Sponsors
Richard J. Fasenmyer Foundation, Tandus, MacThrift Office Furniture, Versteel, the Steelcase Group of Coalesse, Details, Nurture, and Storr Office Environments of the Triad, Mayer Fabrics and CMH Flooring.

Dinner/Beverage Cart Sponsors
Walter Robbs Callahan and Pierce Architects, Mohawk Industries, Scott Miller and Associates, Momentum, Workplace Strategies, Carnegie, DBA Sales Associates/Philmark, JSI/Community/Michael Murphy and Associates and Ideon.

"Three ladies in pink in the mountains."

Team Sponsors
Walter Robbs Callahan and Pierce Architects, Mohawk Industries, Michael F. Luther and Associates, The Contract Group, R.L. Vanstory Company, Peter Danko Designs Inc., Bonitz Flooring Group, Yontz and Sons Painting, Bowers Ellis and Watson Architects, BlueRidge/Mannington Carpets, John Miller and Associates, F.L. Blum Construction Company, Hinkel Inc. and Global.

Hole Sponsors
Jack Fetner Associates/OFS, Dauphin, Cartwright, Adden Furniture, Paul Brayton Designs, Contract Surfaces, Bentley Prince Street, Faulkner Flooring, KI, Interface, BLS representing Leland International, 9 to 5 Seating, Paoli

"Who said you have to play golf to have fun?"

Monetary Donations
Sherri Flinchum, Walter Robbs Callahan and Pierce Architects, Neil Farley Associates Inc., Nelson Jessup, Connie Carson, Armstrong Commercial Flooring, Lisa Ann Alexander, Legacy Furniture, Denise Brown, Woodruff and Associates, Richard and Marianne Guite, Michael Varljen, Warco Construction, Pat Blide/Forbo and I.L. Long Construction. Deb Hines and PSA honored survivors with their donations.

Prizes
1st place prize trophies were provided by One Design Center with cash prizes from Masland Carpets and BLS Sales Associates. Other prizes and raffle items were as follows: SitOnIt Focus Task Chair, Marquis McCall Chair, Flute Lamp from Herman Miller, leather iPod holders and a leather measuring tape from Edelman Leather, Spinneybeck baseball and key fob, DarRan side chair, Philmark Zen Chair, (2) bathrobes from Paoli, a bottle of champagne and a custom dog bed from Hinkel Inc., (2) Davis Thesis Chairs, a gift basket from Momentum, KI Strive Chair and (4) golf towels from Modular Designs.

"Don’t I look great in this chair?"

A very special thank you must go to the volunteers who drove the beverage carts, managed the dinner arrangements and made sure carts were loaded and players were well served thoughout the day. Momentum and Carnegie each provided snacks and beverages at strategic holes on the course and provided volunteers to man those holes. This is truly a team effort and this is the best industry to make something like this happen. The Common Thread for the Cure is extremely grateful to everyone who contributed their time and money to make the event a success.

"What a great day we had!"

If you missed the event this year, there is always next year. Mark your calendar for April 29, 2011 and join us next year for the 9th Annual The Common Thread for the Cure Golf Tournament. Requests for sponsorships have already begun!

For more information email: janeb@wrcp.com

FOCUS ON THE CURE

SitOnIt Seating, a division of Exemplis, and Contract Office Marketing held a “Focus on the Cure” promotion in the Twin Cities from January 1, 2010 through April 30, 2010. The purpose of the promotion was to introduce SitOnIt Seating’s new Focus executive chair and to highlight the important work The Common Thread for the Cure is doing in the furniture and textiles industries.

Mike Mekjian, principal at Exemplis, states "The "Focus on the Cure" promotion achieved its goals and SitOnIt Seating and Contract Office Marketing (Gerry Nelson, principal) collectively will donate a total of $1,000 to The Common Thread for the Cure foundation."

The Common Thread for the Cure appreciates the financial support of these companies and their help in raising awareness of our foundation in the furnishings industry.

NINETEEN HELPING HAND GRANTS GIVEN IN 2009

The Common Thread for the Cure assisted nineteen breast cancer survivors and their families with Helping Hand Grants in 2009. Nine of these women live in North Carolina, four live in Virginia, and the remainder live in Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Ontario, Canada. The Helping Hand Grants are greatly appreciated as is evident in the words of one recipient - "your donation alone has made life so much easier for me and has allowed me to concentrate on becoming healthy and having a better quality of life." Another grant recipient stated "you are all truly a blessing".

Thank you to all who have supported The Common Thread for the Cure foundation in 2009 for you helped make the difference in the lives of these women.

7th ANNUAL TOUR 4 THE CURE @ NEOCON® EAST RAISES INDUSTRY AWARENESS IN 2009 Twenty-five exhibitors lended their support to The Common Thread for the Cure foundation by participating in the 7th Annual Tour 4 the Cure @ NeoCon® East held at October 28-29, 2009 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD. The primary goal of this special fundraising event was to raise awareness and help unite the furnishings industry in the battle against breast cancer.
Participating exhibitors were —
AIS (AFFORDABLE INTERIOR SYSTEMS) ALTRO FLOORING ARCADIA ATLAS CARPET MILLS CENTERCORE FURNITURE CROSSVILLE DAR•RAN DAUPHIN DAVIS FURNITURE ENCORE SEATING INTEGRA SEATING INTERNATIONAL FABRICS KIMBALL OFFICE		KRUG INC. LEARMAN MOFFA MAYER FABRICS OFFICE INSTALLATION SERVICE PAUL BRAYTON DESIGNS PEOPLE SIGNS PROBLEM SOLVER STEELCASE, INC. TEKNION TRENDWAY CORPORATION TRINITY FURNITURE VERSTEEL

To be identified as a participating exhibitor in the Tour 4 the Cure event and have their booth location at NeoCon® East listed as a destination in the Tour 4 the Cure passport, a tax deductible donatoin of $300 was made to the foundation by each participating company. Upon entry to the show, a free Tour 4 the Cure passport was distributed to all show attendees who were encouraged to visit these tour destinations throughout the two-day show to fill their passport with stamps. Attendees who participated in the event had the opportunity to win instant prizes at each tour destination and qualify for the Grand Prize drawing for a Wii Fit™. All proceeds benefit The Common Thread for the Cure.

In addiition, everyone at the show was encouraged to visit The Common Thread for the Cure's booth #800A during the show. At this location, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, "Friendship Card sets" were available to anyone that made a minimum $28 donation to The Common Thread for the Cure. Each set contains: 5 Friendship cards with envelopes and 5 monthly breast self-exam stickers.

Friendship Card		Breast Self-Exam Sticker

The Common Thread for the Cure appreciates everyone that participated and helped make the Tour 4 the Cure event a success. A special thank you to Merchandise Markt Properties, Inc. for their support in bringing exhibitors and attendees together in this fundraiser.

MANY CELEBRATED MOTHER’S DAY BY HELPING OTHERS

This year, on Mother's Day, many people chose to honor the mothers in their lives with a donation to The Common Thread for the Cure. This donation was encouraged and acknowledged by The Common Thread for the Cure's Honor Card created specifically for Mother's Day. This is the first year that this greeting card fundraiser was held and the response from family, friends and those in the furnishings industry was very receptive. As always with our fundraising events, one of our goals was to create public awareness of the Foundation. The colorful Mother's Day card acknowledged the donation to The Common Thread for the Cure and celebrated Mother’s Day in a way that made the card applicable for individuals to send to not only their mothers but any lady in their lives that they chose to honor. The card also provided information on the Foundation serving not only as an awareness of the donation but also provided information of how the Foundation could provide assistance through our Helping Hand Grants.

We wish to thank everyone who contributed to the success of our Mother's Day card fundraiser. The cards were distributed around the country with 23 people accepting cards to sell. A minimum of $5 was asked for each greeting card although several chose to make larger donations. Every card that was sold made a difference by potentially making someone new aware of the Foundation.

Special kudos to the following individuals who took and sold more than 100 cards!
Christi Barbour - Barbour Spangle
Bonnie Momsen Brill - Architex
Renee Gervasi -  Ideon
Susan Russell - Alfred Williams & Co.
Christi Spangle - Barbour Spangle

An exact count has not been finalized, but we anticipate that approximately 750 Mother's Day cards were sold. To date approximately $4,000 has been received through this fundraiser with monies still coming in.

We anticipate making this Mother's Day greeting card an annual fundraising event. By expanding the number of sales people around the country we will significantly increase our opportunities to raise funds and spread the word about The Common Thread for the Cure. If you are interested in participating next year, please contact Karen.Kontoulas@kimball.com