Our team decide on the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight organization as the charity we want to donate to. We all believe in their goal of flying veterans from all over the country to see their memorial in Washington D.C. I think it’s really cool that an organization in Wisconsin offers this, because it is unlike any other in the United States or even in the world. We gave all our fund raised money to Honor Flight, because we feel it was such a cool and great cause. I enjoy working in an group environment, because the amount of thoughts and ideas going around is incredible. The group I got to work with was very easy going, and we really didn’t disagree on many things at all. 

Last week Thursday, we had a brand new panel of non-profit leaders and organizations. I would have to say my feelings towards the panel were the same as last week. I loved the back and forth conversation and I learned a lot about Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, and The Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. My group invited Mr. Kent Rice, a director at Honor Flight in Milwaukee. He talked about what they do for the veterans, and I couldn’t imagine donating our funds to a better cause. I’m glad I have received the chance to build a relationship between my group and Mr. Rice. I would recommend the Main Street Program to everyone, schools and families should reach out more in their community.

The panel of non-profit leaders was a very eye opening, fun experience. Many things surprised me, one being how different each organization is. Here, I thought most, if not all these organizations were pretty much the same, but they’re not. Each group and leader brings a different set of skills and focus on different topics. The other thing is that each person that came in all shared some similar characteristics. Each and everyone of them is by definition a leader, or someone that wants to make a change.

This fundraising experience has been a lot of fun, and I’m glad I have gotten to know Mr. Rice from Honor Flight. It has also helped me make friends with the people in my group.

There are many ways to evaluate a company. It can be from how they react over the phone, or what their 990 tax forms look like. A good organization will have volunteers that are excited to be there, helping and giving their time for the cause. If they answer the phone, and sound upset and mad that you called, they probably are not a good business to be donating too. I find more value in talking over the phone or face to face, because you can more accurately tell if their representatives believe in that organization. I find it pretty easy so far to judge whether or not a organization is worth donations. It will always be somewhat difficult of course, but so far, our group has found no flaws in Stars and Stripes Honor Flight.

I learned that Honor Flight is a great non-profit organization that really changes the lives of veterans. Taking them to the memorial in Washington DC is something that’s a once and a lifetime experience, and being able to do so with their fellow comrades is really cool. The more that I looked into their 990 form, I saw that they’re truly a good organization to donate too. Personally, I have had my great grandpa and grandpa go on Honor Flight, and both have said its an awesome experience. It’s important to look at a groups 990 because it shows what they spend all their funds on. If a charity is giving more to salaries than it is to its cause, would you still want to donate there? I sure wouldn’t, but that is why you don’t blindly donate to companies/groups.

In our third week of Main Street Philanthropy, we created our Purpose, Vision and Mission statements. They took a lot of thought, because your answers are what is supposed to help guide you throughout the class this trimester. They are important because they help you set goals for the class and have something to achieve. Overall so far we have had a pretty successful fundraiser, and the next step is reaching out to our donation place and figuring out a time and place to meet. I think when we reach out, the organizations will be grateful we contacted them. Personally, I am also reaching out to other small businesses to see if they would be willing to donate as well to our charity.

The brown paper bag activity was a pretty cool way to get to know more about my classmates. I learned that many of my classmates are very attached to their phone and electronics. I also learned that some of my classmates hunt, so that was pretty cool way to find new friends. Our team fundraiser is a school wide March Madness Bracket. We hope to use the school wide interest in march madness to raise money for the our groups charity. Overall this was a good way to learn more about my classmates, and also a way to understand what my group wanted to do for a fundraiser. 

In our first week of Main Street Philanthropy, we had a lot of discussion and group activity. We played a game with the MAD (Make A Difference) Cards, in which we had to pick 3 cards that meant the most to us. Out of the 21 cards, the class variation in answers was awesome, because not one person had the same three cards as someone else. Personally, my top 3 causes or choices were the Health Research and Education, Veterans/Service Personnel, and Social Justice/Civil rights. All of these things that I chose I felt connected to personally in some type of way. This activity helped classmates interact and learn more about each other. For me, I now first found out that one of my fellow classmates was in the hospital for a long period of time at the beginning of this year, and that was new information to me.

Overall, I hope to gain more knowledge and insight of the community and its leaders through the Main Street Philanthropy group. I hope that we as a class are able to make a difference here, and hopefully our good deeds carry out through others. My goal is to learn from this program and grow individually as a leader before my senior year and college.