Here's the thing about the past couple days, they've been stressful. What with the e-mails, and the last minute homework assignments, and the planning for the Haiti trip and San Francisco trip, I've been a bit busy. Remember that buffer I mentioned earlier? About having a few posts kind of ready to go so I don't miss any deadlines? Yeah, I never wrote them, I didn't think I'd need them. I was so very wrong. Anyhoo, stressful is the name of the game, though I suppose that having an upbeat attitude and finding some sense of enjoyment in the constant calls and e-mails and texts streaming to and from my blackberry. I felt like one of those wall street guys that you see in the movies that are constantly just walking around and doing something on their phone. Wanna know a little secret? I always kind of wanted to be that guy.
*gasp*
I think I know what you're thinking. Why would you, The Un-friggin-believable Ken, want to be one of those guys that is portrayed as having everything but having nothing? The guy that's usually a dick to everyone and you're happy when a man in a panda suit falls on him after a sky diving accident?
Well the answer is rather simple really, it's not that I was fond of his personality type or his ignorant thoughts of "I'm the best thing to happen to this world" (Take note that I don't just think I am, I know I am. There's a difference.) It was the concept that he was important. People wanted to talk with him (perhaps needed would be more appropriate here.) That's the thing I found attractive about being that guy.
Being put in charge of the Spring Break Planning Committee was something that I didn't think would be too difficult, especially since from the sounds of things in the past trips were put together the week before hand. I was positive that the responsibility given to me, though important, would be small. Consequentially, I didn't push too hard to even really begin meetings until late december for when we got back. I figured we could easily do the work of a week over the course of a couple months. Now, mind you, if I were to do this again I'd definately have done things differently. I would've begun meetings ASAP and ideally semester 1 would be all the planning and semester 2 would be all of the fundraising so we can get as many people to go as possible. But that's not what I did. I procrastinated. So when we met in January for the 1st or 2nd time soon after Haiti was devastated by it's earthquake, we were very ready to begin plans for Haiti since planning had just barely begun to get off the ground the change wasn't that difficult. Thus began our planning.
At first we had very little information, and it was not until the first week of February that we learned more information. Thanks to Ryan and his connections to Missions Door, we were able to communicate with Missions Door to set-up the trip. However, it soon became apparent that we would have to pay much more than for just the ticket since a large number of volunteers were showing up and going, "Here I am to help! I didn't really think things through though and didn't pack any extra things. Oh, and what do you have to eat? I'm starved!" Well needless to say this type of volunteer became much more of a burden than a help. So the goal was to be completely self-sufficient once we got there and during our trip there including food, water, and lodging. This was going to cost significantly more than the cost of the ticket with was sitting at around $700. So, we set our initial estimate at $1000 and began fundraising.
We set up a sign-up list to see who was interested and we brainstormed. Some ideas went through, some didn't. We needed to raise a lot of money in a very short amount of time. The three fundraisers that ended up going into action were: an Art Show, a Benefit Concert, and a Yard Sale.
The Art show was extraordinarily successful and managed to raise around $700. Ingrid was the person in charge here and with the help of many creative volunteers around the church the night was full of pieces to bid on. Kris, Tim, Rachael, and others spent a large amount of time in the wee hours before hand setting everything up. A major thanks to Expresso Art Cafe for being so awesome and letting us use their facilities for free AND doing a percentage night with us.
The Benefit Concert was also rather successful, and some talented artists and their fans had a chance to give their support to our cause. Colter was the person who concieved this and ultimately put it together along with all of the performers from each group. The final amount raised from the concert after venue fees was around $150. Thanks here to The Rock Cafe for hosting the event.
The Yard Sale was the last major form of fundraising and went off pretty well. People had a chance to do some early spring cleaning and donate to our cause. I believe the totals from the event was around $200. Ryan was the person in charge of putting this together and he did a great job. The actual event was run by Josh S, Renay, Jeremy, and a couple other people I believe. Thanks goes to Ryan and Liz for allowing us to use their carport as a marketing venue.
So there you go, those were most of the fundraisers. A couple weeks ago a table was set up on the mall that asked for donations, a huge thanks to those that assisted with that endeavor on such short notice. Even though not much was raised, every little bit counts and it was a great way to help boost morale and show dedication to the cause.
If you're good with math you'll notice that we didn't raise enough money to cover the expenses of everyone, thus people were responsible for their own fundraising. The primary method of fundraising in this respect was in the form of support letters. Letters that go to friends, family, acquiantances even. Simply posting an update on facebook asking if people wanted to get a letter was a huge boost for my wife and I. It was surprising to hear from people that we'd not spoken to in a very long time asking if they could get a letter. And here's the key to support letters. The goal isn't to get all of your money from 3-5 sources, the goal is to send out 100 letters and get like $20 from each person. It's not a huge amount, but it adds up fast. We had the money, now we needed a plan.
The thing about Haiti is that it was, and still is to a degree, chaos. There's very little infrastructure and what needed to be done wasn't exactly clear. So whereas at first we were told that we'd be in tents and probably be building latrines and that the cost was a $1000, I feel like it's understandable that within the last couple weeks the informations solidified into us staying in some sort of volunteers' facility with guards, rebuilding a secrity fence around a school and probably some of the school itself, and the costs jumping up to $1200. Now while understandable, it doesn't help those going as far as planning is concerned very much, especially when the price keeps jumping around between $1000 and $1500. It wasn't until a week ago that all of the information was truly solidified, and that's not because of anything else besides the fact that things over there are changing constantly and there is not exactly a huge gameplan where we fit into yet.
Now that pretty much brings me to where I am now. After shopping, packing, sending out countless e-mails, texts, and phone calls, and doing last minute assignments I'm 30,000 feet in the air on a rapid descent. It's sobering really that we've all made it this far and that we're all about to go on adventure.
Now, I'm supposed to be writing about something that I've learned today. Well instead, I'll note what I've learned from my experiences this far. Ultimately, I think I've accomplished my goals a little bit of being a good leader. At the same time I realized what the meaning of sacrifice is in terms of time a bit better, what it's like to be doing something for a good cause, the supreme amount of dedication that people can have when they put their hearts into it. I've made a number of mistakes putting this whole thing together, and to be perfectly honest I really feel like I did a bad job and didn't pull my weight. It's alright I suppose since everything worked out, however if things hadn't I don't know what I'd have done. I could have done a much better job of staying on top of communications than I did and for that I feel true regret. I'll be sure to do my very best in the future to stay on top of communications 100%. There were a couple other things I could've done better and I've taken note of them and am looking to change those things as best I can to become the best leader I can.
The thing is though, I really didn't make this happen. Sure, I hold the title of being in charge of the trip and all, but really it was those I worked with that made this whole trip happen. Thus I want to especially thank the following people:
-Ryan for being our contact person and doing a ton of research.
-Ingrid for the Art Show and her continued assistance on the planning committee.
-Colter for the Concert and his continued assistance on the planning committee.
-Camille for her assistance with the research and assistance on the planning committee.
-Kris for working herself too hard.
-David for playing and setting things up.
-Renay for helping to man and set things up.
-Josh M for helping to man and set things up.
-And countless others who've contributed, those are just the people that are off the top of my head.
These are the people that really deserve all of the credit for their hard work.
I'll most like be unable to really blog while in Haiti, but I'll still write and just send it when I get back to the states. Stay tuned and send us your prayers.
-Ken
