Reality Rally

(Lily Holland, Celebrity Relations Director)

Today’s blog will be a bit of a “Behind the Scenes” feature exploring the nuances behind Reality Rally and all the work that goes into putting it on!

I was privileged to get the deets from Lily Holland, our Celebrity Relations Director for all the wonderful reality stars that attend our event each and every year. This will be her sixth year volunteering for Reality Rally and her dedication truly shines. She spends, on average, five hours each day working on making Reality Rally what it is, and we couldn’t do it without her. A lot of coordinated effort goes into “rounding up” the stars and planning for multiple celebrities from all over the country to descend upon Temecula!

“Every year we have well over a hundred stars sign up. Not all of the stars that sign up attend because we require that they raise $500 to attend. If they don’t make the $500, then they don’t make our final list. The final list is usually 100 to 120 stars. This year we have 108,” Lily explained.

Starting in October, the stars work to fundraise, knowing the stipulation for their attendance. When the stars sign up, they are asked to provide a picture and a biography of themselves. They have until February 10^th to raise the necessary money, and thankfully, plent do.

“Once they get to $500, they have a few options. They can have their flight paid for, or they can raise $100 and pay for own flight. Either way they have to have $500. It all works out to $500.”

Lily has developed a program in the last few years to get all the celebrities’ information together quickly and efficiently.

“It works like clockwork. We don’t usually have any problems. It works great. They do what they have to do to fundraise and we end up with our final amount. If they do not raise enough, they do not come. So we end up with our final amount. It’s a charity event, so that’s how we handle it, and we have a great time. And we have a high return rate of our stars. They come back year after year.”

After the stars are signed up and confirmed, Jill Hiers (http://www. customtravelprofessionals.com/ index.html)takes care of all the travel arrangements. Once the travel arrangements are solidified, Jason Osborn makes the ground transportation arrangements to move over 150 people from airports to the event venue. When the stars arrive in April for the event, several “handlers” are put in charge of 12-14 stars each, and are responsible for helping the stars navigate through the entire weekend. If stars are returning stars (and have previously attended Reality Rally), they get the same handler every year. Some of our handlers are featured in a fun picture below!

 “We make sure that they’re happy and that they are where they’re supposed to be throughout the whole weekend,” Lily said.

First and foremost, the stars are taken to Michelle’s Place.

“Going to Michelle’s Place first really helps a lot to where the stars can really see and feel and have the emotions for what Michelle’s Place is, what they’re raising the money for, and why it’s so important. It’s why so many return, because of that visit to Michelle’s Place. They get to see exactly why they’re doing what they’re doing,” she said.

Michelle’s Place is especially dear to Lily, who has been cancer free for nine years. When she was diagnosed with melanoma, Lily felt the same fear that many women feel before discovering Michelle’s Place.

“It’s a very scary situation when you’re diagnosed with cancer. You’re on the internet looking for resources and any information you can. So when Gillian said she was doing this event for a cancer resource center, I knew I needed to help. It’s so nice to know when you have a scary diagnosis like that that you can have this information right at your fingertips. You can go get a wig, go get advice, and get what you need in order to help you. That’s my driving force,” she said.

And we’re glad Lily has that driving force to do the amazing work she does. Thank you Lily! And thank you for giving us a sneak peek behind the curtain of Reality Rally!

- Taryn Murphy