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The following are proven contact ideas that work for getting a full field of 40 participants at C.A.S.T. for Kids events. Once contact has been made, email each an invitation describing the event and attach your participant flyer. You’ll find a sample email invitation below you can use as a template. You may find it helpful to track your contacts at these organizations on a spreadsheet. It can take persistence to get through. Be sure to send a weekly follow up email asking if they got your previous email and if they have any questions.

Three Months Prior to Your Event: (Downloadable Version Here)

  • Contact all the Children’s Hospitals in your area. If there are no Children’s Hospitals, contact the Pediatric Department of your local hospital. Call each hospital and find out who you should be contacting.  Some hospitals have a Recreation Program for their kids.
  • Contact Pediatric Physical Therapists. Google “Pediatric Physical Therapists” in your town. Call each and explain the event over the phone and then follow-up with an email. For those you don’t reach, leave a voicemail explaining the event, and find their email online.
  • Contact local organizations who provide programs and services to children with developmental disabilities. 
  • Contact the local county Juvenile Services Department. (Some counties call this Developmental Disabilities). Google “Juvenile Services Department.” Call and explain the event over the phone, then email them an invite and flyer.  You may get some kids in foster care participating in addition to kids with special needs.
  • Contact the Juvenile Services Department in two surrounding counties. Some kids will drive 1.5 hours to attend.
  • Contact the Department of Human Services. (The County Child Welfare Office for kids in foster care).
  • Call and email every participant’s family that attended last year and invite them. You can get a list of former participants from Eventsforce or by contacting our national office. Ask them to share with their group of friends or support group on social media. If you set up a Facebook event, this will facilitate the ease of sharing!
  • Contact your local public school district’s “Special Education and Student Services Department.”
  • Contact the private schools for children with special needs in your city. Google “private schools for children with special needs.” Call them and email.
  • Contact the local county chapter of The Arc. Google “the local county chapter of ‘The Arc.’”
  • Contact the Miracle League in your city. Google “Miracle League.” This can be another great contact. A C.A.S.T. for Kids event in Louisiana got nearly all 40 kids through the local Miracle League.
  • Contact camps for kids with special needs. Google “camp for children with special needs” in your state. There are large summer camps that serve specifically kids with special needs. Speak with their Executive Director and email him/her an invitation and flyer.
  • Contact Special Olympics in your area. Google Special Olympics and your city or state.
  • Contact Special Education classes at your local elementary and high schools.
  • Contact a few large churches within 30 minutes of your event. Call and speak with their recreation director or special needs director and invite their kids.
  • Contact local foster homes. Google “foster homes” in your city and call them and find out who you should email.
  • If there is a Military Base in your area, contact their Exceptional Family Members Program (EFMP). Every base has this program for Military members who have children with special needs.
  • Send a press release. Contact your local newspapers, local online news sites, and local radio stations.  Use this press release template.

Template: Participant Email Invitation

Hi Kassie!

I am contacting you to see if you can help share this event invitation with the families of children served by (name of organization).

I have partnered with the C.A.S.T. for Kids Foundation to host a “C.A.S.T. for Kids” event that is designed to provide a quality recreational experience for children with special needs, ages 5-17, through a day of boating and fishing.

With the help of volunteer fishing guides and experienced anglers, we will be able to take 40 children out on (name the location), teach them proper fishing techniques and help them land their first catch!

This free event takes place (date), at (location) and all participants must pre-register here: (link to your event webpage).

Please share the attached flyer with your organization and with the families who could benefit from this recreational experience.

Feel free to call me with questions (phone number) any time!

​Thank you!​

Finally, as registrations begin to come in, send an email to every registered participants telling them the event is not full and to please invite their friends to register online. Be sure to include the link to your event web page in your email.

*Initiating these contacts will take 6-10 hours of your time.  After initial contacts, you will have approximately 25 participants registered within 2 weeks.  About 3 weeks after your initial contacts, send a reminder email with flyer attached to everyone again from your contact list from the suggestions above. Your event should fill within one week.