On October 15th I held my very first fundraiser!
I decided to do this pretty much 5 weeks before the event date! I thought to myself - "Hey, how hard can it be??" I was so nervous, excited, and hopeful all at once! I decided to go with a casual happy hour event at a South Loop neighborhood restaurant called The Scout. Now, I have attended MANY fundraising events in my life time, but never really stopped to think what actually went into planning and hosting one all by myself. I contacted a friend, who is pretty much the queen of fundraisers and charity events, and had her walk me through it. Once I made my to-do list it was all I thought about!! I wanted to make it fun, and something people actually wanted to attend. I wanted to make sure they saw how important this was to me, and most of all I wanted to make sure I brought awareness to the world wide problem of bullying.
When I first began to build my personal platform I searched hours for an organization I felt I could connect with. I decided to search these websites as grade school me- looking for answers of - Why I was being picked on... What I could do to make it stop...How can I get these people to like me??
I came across PACERs and I stayed for hours. They had articles geared towards children, teens, and even adults. They had resources for teachers and parents. They had contacts for support and amazing campaigns that really connected with me. I knew that I had found MY charity. Even today, when I discuss bully prevention and awareness with classrooms and groups- I use a lot of resources from PACERs. PACERS has inspired me to be pro-active and take a stand. As such, I have taken the beginning steps to create MY OWN organization called BE KIND. MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Thanks to them, I have reached thousands of people from all over the world through my website and blog. Last time I checked, people from 10 different countries have visited!
The night of the event came so fast- I was so nervous as the day approached. Support from family and friends was SO important to me. Without a few of them, I think I never would have had the nerve to go through with it. ( I'm talking about you Janine and Christopher! ). We had an amazing outpouring of support from friends and family that wanted to help by donating gifts for the raffle. I felt so blessed and grateful for such amazing people in my life that wanted to help! People started to slowly trickle in. Nowhere near fast enough for me! That first hour I thought the event had failed. There were about 10 people there and most of them were family. My heart hurt a little bit and I kept saying to myself- "It's OK. I'll do better next time." As the second hour approached, I feel like I blinked and the room was full! People were actually coming! My goal was 50 people. Not only did we meet that number, but we surpassed it by almost 20! Best part about it? We raised thousands of dollars for PACERs!! I felt so proud- not for me, but for all of my friends and family that saw the importance in being there and showing they cared about what I was trying to say.
I want to take this moment to thank everyone who came that night. Everyone who took time to show support for my cause. It meant the world to me that you were there... and this is just the beginning!
Special shout out to the DePaul dancers that came, brought beauty and grace to my event, and then left to go work hard at practice! I really appreciate you ladies! :)
I decided to do this pretty much 5 weeks before the event date! I thought to myself - "Hey, how hard can it be??" I was so nervous, excited, and hopeful all at once! I decided to go with a casual happy hour event at a South Loop neighborhood restaurant called The Scout. Now, I have attended MANY fundraising events in my life time, but never really stopped to think what actually went into planning and hosting one all by myself. I contacted a friend, who is pretty much the queen of fundraisers and charity events, and had her walk me through it. Once I made my to-do list it was all I thought about!! I wanted to make it fun, and something people actually wanted to attend. I wanted to make sure they saw how important this was to me, and most of all I wanted to make sure I brought awareness to the world wide problem of bullying.
When I first began to build my personal platform I searched hours for an organization I felt I could connect with. I decided to search these websites as grade school me- looking for answers of - Why I was being picked on... What I could do to make it stop...How can I get these people to like me??
I came across PACERs and I stayed for hours. They had articles geared towards children, teens, and even adults. They had resources for teachers and parents. They had contacts for support and amazing campaigns that really connected with me. I knew that I had found MY charity. Even today, when I discuss bully prevention and awareness with classrooms and groups- I use a lot of resources from PACERs. PACERS has inspired me to be pro-active and take a stand. As such, I have taken the beginning steps to create MY OWN organization called BE KIND. MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Thanks to them, I have reached thousands of people from all over the world through my website and blog. Last time I checked, people from 10 different countries have visited!
The night of the event came so fast- I was so nervous as the day approached. Support from family and friends was SO important to me. Without a few of them, I think I never would have had the nerve to go through with it. ( I'm talking about you Janine and Christopher! ). We had an amazing outpouring of support from friends and family that wanted to help by donating gifts for the raffle. I felt so blessed and grateful for such amazing people in my life that wanted to help! People started to slowly trickle in. Nowhere near fast enough for me! That first hour I thought the event had failed. There were about 10 people there and most of them were family. My heart hurt a little bit and I kept saying to myself- "It's OK. I'll do better next time." As the second hour approached, I feel like I blinked and the room was full! People were actually coming! My goal was 50 people. Not only did we meet that number, but we surpassed it by almost 20! Best part about it? We raised thousands of dollars for PACERs!! I felt so proud- not for me, but for all of my friends and family that saw the importance in being there and showing they cared about what I was trying to say.
Special shout out to the DePaul dancers that came, brought beauty and grace to my event, and then left to go work hard at practice! I really appreciate you ladies! :)
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| Members of the DePaul dance team with their director Shanon Lersch |
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| My super supportive husband and my baby boy. |
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