Visiting the charities was very surreal and to see how enthusiastic the volunteers were was really cool. Seeing how things worked was also very cool and to play with dogs was also a plus. What I will remember the most is the stories the home for good dogs told us about what happens down south. I’ll remember blogging I guess, although I hated it i’ll remember it. Yes, I am more likely to donate my time.

I interviewed my mom and I learned about how she spent and saved money when she was my age for the most part. She told me some tricks she did that worked and how sometimes she was careless with her money sometimes as well. It changed be in the way that it gave me more insight to who she was when she was my age and how she spent her money and saved it. It was also a different time back then and everything was cheaper and there were less regulations in banks and that kind of stuff.

Yesterday during class we called the charities to check in and run our ideas for fundraising by them. We talked about our one idea which is to get gift cards together and raffle them off. We would be doing it during lunch and announce it on the school speaker. We also decided we could do some caning and outside a local super market with a dog possibly.

Listening to the young women talk was very surreal. The women seemed to be very passionate about their causes and rightfully so. It was kind of cringy when the woman would not stop talking knowing they were pressed for time. Meeting them was also very nice, the older women was lovely and very sweet.

In class yesturday we looked at quantitative analysis for main street and we saw what went where and how much was gained and lost. We also discussed cold calling and the fact that I called my charity 3 times and have not been able to speak to them. We are going to call more charities that I have listed and hopefully hear back. We also plan on partnering with paws for paws to do a fundraiser since we are both interested in the same thing. Me and my partner are also starting to plan our fundraiser and hopefully pitch some ideas for paws for paws and see of they are interested. I will also be lobbying to possibly join paws for paws in our quest to help animals, the combined group would be nothing but stronger then the separate groups alone.

In class on Monday we talked about calling and the logistics of it. We actually did call a charity and got a hold of the executive director of the charity. She seemed very happy to have been talking to us and respected our joy for wanting to try philanthropy.

For my team and I’s fundraiser we are hoping that we could go to a nursing home and glam up some senior citizens and hopefully make them feel  beautiful. My partner is in the process of contacting a local nursing home and asking if they would be interested in this program. If they are interested we will hopefully charge $1 per person to get slammed up. And our hope is to do this more then once. Another idea we have in mind is to get donations through gift wrapping for the holidays. Where I work, we wrap endless gifts around the holidays, so with permission from my boss I am hoping that if a customer wants a gift wrapped they can donate $1 or 50 cents. We still have to work out the numbers, but and idea that I am more passionate about is slamming up the senior citizens. For the makeup we would need to get products up front, my partners mom has generously offered to give $100 for our starting products which will be very helpful.

So today in class me and my group member decided to physically split from our original group. I understand that in life I will not be able to choose my own group and conform it to the way I would like. However I feel I should not be stopped from helping a charity that I truly care about. If the final decision was for me to be in my original group, I would work just as hard as I would if I was in my second group. I just feel that putting 100% into a charity that is not my first priority is not what this organization is teaching. It wants us to help non-profit charity’s and to find what we are passionate about in life, what I am passionate might not be someone else’s passion which is how life is. But why could I not be able to help a charity that I love because its not what my group feels is necessary.

Deciding on a group name was rather difficult, I thought I had a good idea  but instead some of the people in my group wanted to do something “funny”. They decided to do PCPS, a mok off of the drug that kills people. I fought for my idea which failed because the team captain which was randomly decided, went with the drug name. I decided to let it go because it was my team but I soon realized the charity that I am very passionate about would not appeal to them. So me and another member of the group decided to make our own group and support the charity music and memory. It helps people with dementia and alzheimers remember things they have forgotten through music.

Today was an amazing day, I spent the whole day in the city with my Irish cousins who came in on Friday. But here is the crazy part, I had only met them for the first time the day before. It was a spur of the moment thing that my dad offered to do and I figured I would go along as well to get to know them after not meeting them for 17 years. The ice broke really quickly and we were able to laugh and tell stories together. Me and my cousin Kira have so many things in common its scary and we really clicked. The middle one Sean is the sweetest kid ever at only 13 years old with the coolest haircut. And the youngest, Daniel, who is three and is funniest most charming three year old I have ever met. Their accents were extremely intriguing and hearing all about their culture was fascinating as well. Seeing them so fascinated with every little thing they saw in the city was so funny. I will definitely be going to Dublin this summer to visit them, because believe it or not, I already miss them.