The Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York is pleased to announce the debut of a new fundraiser – Talk About It! @ Dinner and we are asking for your help.   

What is Talk About It! @ Dinner?

Throughout the weekend of November 6-8, 2009 Epilepsy Foundation staff, board members, and friends in the twenty-two counties we serve will host “at-home” dinner parties to raise awareness and money for the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York and its mission.   

What is involved?

Specifically, we ask you to consider hosting a dinner party (see "Ten Ideas for Hosting" below for other ways to Talk About It!) with your friends, family, neighbors, and/or colleagues as a fun way to help us get the word out about epilepsy and the services and resources available through the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York.    

1. You decide what works best for you: dinner, lunch, dessert, informal or formal get-together, office party, or other ways to bring people together.
    
2. You pick the date you will host the Talk About It! @ Dinner event.  Our goal is 100 events the weekend of November 6-8.  You may host on another date in November (which also happens to be Epilepsy Awareness Month) if our target weekend is not available for you.
    
3. You decide whom to invite.  Your party can be large or small - it is up to you!  
    
4. We provide you with different templates you can use for your invitations and background information on the Epilepsy Foundation to include with your invitation. 
    
5. You provide something tasty to eat (we can provide you with a donation request letter if you would like to approach a local restaurant to donate your food), have a short presentation about what the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York does (we give you the information), ask guests to donate whatever they can to the cause (instead of bringing an appetizer, a bottle of wine, flowers, etc., you will be asking them to bring a donation), and encourage people to Talk About It!
    
6. You send us the donations received in a pre-addressed, pre-paid envelope and a thank you to those who attended your event! 

Why we need your help

The Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York is the voluntary agency solely dedicated to the welfare of people with epilepsy and their families.  We work to ensure that people with seizures are able to participate in all life experiences; to improve how people with epilepsy are perceived, accepted, and valued in society; and to promote research for a cure.  Thousands of individuals and their families turn to the Epilepsy Foundation each year for support.

The Epilepsy Foundation needs your help to accomplish our mission.  We believe that if we all give a little, together we can make a big difference in the lives of people facing epilepsy. 

Can you help us Talk About It! @ Dinner?   

Contact Lorraine Ferguson, Member, Board of Directors, and Chair, Talk About It
@ Dinner, today at 518.229.0516 or Lorraine@sandler.com to learn more about this exciting new fundraising event and how you can help. 

Please pass this along to others who may have an interest in hosting a Talk About It! @ Dinner bash, or who may benefit from the Epilepsy Foundation services.

For more information:

How To Video - more information on how to put on a Talk About It! event.

Our Northeastern New York affiliate will be providing a video about epilepsy and the services we provide locally for you to show at your event.

Click here for Ten Ideas for Hosting Talk About It! 

EpilepsyUSA talks about it! 

www.talkaboutit.org/flash.shtml