Day 220: My Letter to Claudia

Hi! It is Sophia! Today I made a bracelet and wrote a letter to my friend in Mexico, named Claudia. We sponsor Claudia through the CFCA organization. My parents give CFCA a monthly payment (today's the day for that!) so that Claudia can go to school and her family cant buy food, etc.  And then I reach out to Claudia through sending letters and sometimes small, handmade gifts.  Today I made bracelets from a paper bead kit I got. I rolled up a strip of paper until it got to the thickness  of the bead where I could slip it on to the string. I used my best materials, and I think she will really like it. In my letter, I thought about using some of my beginner phrases that I learned in my new Spanish class, but I thought I would save it until I knew more than, "Where do you live?" and "What is the weather like?" I can't wait until we get a letter back from her, they come as fun surprises! 

Day 219: Halloween Carnival Volunteer

Hello!

Today, Loyola had a Halloween Carnival! We hosted adults from the Gallagher House (People with Austism and Developmental Disabilities) to a fun day of games, arts and crafts! Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures, but the room was set up with musical chairs, multiple arts and crafts tables, and snack tables. Nicole and I wore our costumes from Friday afternoon, and some of the guests dressed up too! We had to have a talk before the event started to discuss volunteering with those with disabilities, but I already had a familiarity with it since I have worked with students who have disabilites as a Special Education Minor. The event was really successful!! The guests had such a fun time experiencing a Halloween-related event, and the volunteers were all excited to help out!! I was sitting at the bat-making table; I remember doing this activity when I was in Elementary School! We cut out bats, and stuck two of them together in between a string, creating a line of bats! The guests seemed to enjoy this activity, and I was enthusiastic helping explain it, so we all had a good time.

Off to a meeting!!

Olivia 

Day 218: Supporting Sherborn Boy Scouts

Each year, the local Boy Scouts organize a "Holiday Wreath and Candle Sale" fundraiser to help finance troop activities.  We are always happy to purchase a wreath to support the cause, and today was "The Day."
Although I am a  very content mother of only awesome daughters, I am particularly partial to Boy Scouts as my Dad, Buppa, was the Scout Master for years in Waltham.  I know that his gentle guidance, unwavering commitment to any cause he suppports and his umcompromising love for two sons,  made him a terrific master of  the troop he lead for many years.

Day 217: Trick-or-Treating

Hey all!!

Today, Loyola hosted multiple outreach programs for nearby elementary schools, where the kids came here for a fun day of Trick-or-Treating in the campus dorms! My floor was involved, so we bought lots of candy in preparation for the kids showing up. Nicole and I were volunteers who brought the kids around. However, the ratio of volunteers to children was quite large and Nicole and I, along with one other girl, ended up having to watch about 15 hyper, excited children running through the hallways. It was very stressful making sure we didn't lose anyone as we traveled from floor to floor, but it was certainly good practice for me as a future teacher! I bought a Smurf costume, and Nicole is on the right as Minnie Mouse. (This costume was actually made by her grandmother for her mother, who gave it to Nicole years later!) Emily, on the left, was able to stay in the room to hand out the candy! The kids were so cute, and it brought back memories trick-or-treating when I was little!

Happy Early Halloween!

~Olivia

Day 216: Bristol Lodge Day

Today, the 4th Thursday of the month, was Bristol Lodge Day when our Parish, St. Jude, feeds the hungry. As almost always, the weather does not cooperate and it was pouring in our neck of the woods. Our leader, Ruth, is back in the hospital, so I was Ruth and Buppa took my "job." The few people that drop off at our house, did so on time and we were off in the rain. At the first stop, there was no answer. Even though we all are volunteers, we should make a call to save the drivers an unecessary stop. On to the next. This woman can be funny in that she half forgets, then remembers and today when I appeared, she said "oh, I forgot!!" When I said you were making the brownies on Tuesday when I called, and she said "oh yes, I have them." Three more stops and each was all prepared. Some of the customers came out to bring in the food. Buppa started slicing meatloaf and I was setting up. One grandfather was subbing for his grandson who usually serves and then a mother and young son came in. All seemed to be under control, so we left for home and our own "meat loaf" dinner.

Day 215: Bake Sale for Relay for Life

Between my first clinical and studying for my anatomy test, I was able to whip up some brownies for the Relay for Life bake sale tomorrow. The theme is breast cancer awareness, so a lot of the baked goods are going to have pink frosting. Unfortunately I did not have time to attend the baking party, but I will be taking a late night shift tomorrow night (possibly at 2am!) for the bake sale tomorrow night. Since it is the beginning of Halloween weekend, lots of students are going to be out on the town, so we are going to set up our table on a popular corner on campus. Last year we made about $400 in one night at our bake sale, so hopefully hungry costumed students can partake in our little version of trick or treating (translation: if you pay us we will give you a baked good).

Day 214: Save Lids to Save Lives

Hi it is Sophia today. I just finished redeeming my pink lids from Yoplait yogurt to the "Save Lids to Save Lives organization". All over the country, Yoplait has put pink breast cancer caps on some varieties of their yogurt. I usually take a yogurt in my lunch so when I saw the pink yogurt in the weekly grocery store sales circular, I was reminded that I did this promotion last year, and that I could do it again.  The company gives 10 cents per cap to the "Susan G. Komen for the Cure" and you can either enter your lids online or by the mail.  I hope that you all can be a part of this quick, easy and yummy way to donate to fight breast cancer.

Day 213: Walpole Library

Public libraries are one of the best bargains around.  I am fortunate to work so close to the Walpole library.  I have picked up books for book clubs and the girl's classes and projects, plus many many DVD's.  One of my favorite uses is Books on Tape which I use on my long business trips.  Like most organizations, they are always fund raising.  Walpole is building a brand new state-of-the-art facility just a few blocks away from the old location, so they are desperate for funds.  Today I purchased a few items from their book sale.  I just added a few items to my "someday I'll read this"  list.  Maybe I can read them and then donate them back to the library for their next fund raising effort.

Day 212: Saved by The Transfer Station!

An insane weekend of commitments for all 7 family bloggers left little time to coordinate an interesting or different volunteer effort for today's blog.  Lucky for us Sherborn-Cuts that we can always dash down to the Transfer Station to contribute  a box of empty, refundable bottles to the Lion's Club collection where they will be redeemed to support research for eye care!

Day 211: "Magic Circle"

Hello!

Today I volunteered at an event called the "Magic Circle" at the Children's Library of Philadelphia. Right down the street from me, the library hosts this event every month for children of the area to come read books and do arts and crafts for each month's theme. A lot of these students are those living in the center of Philly and do not have a backyard where they can play on the weekends, so it is good that Penn students are able to host a fun activity for them. The event generally consists of the volunteers reading stories in the "magic circle" to the kids, and then helping them with a craft. This month's theme was of course Halloween, but unfortunately, no kids showed up for the event! The coordinator said that there is always a showing of at least a couple children, but I guess it was just an abnormally busy weekend for many families! Still, one of my roommates (Jessie) and I sat with the two other coordinators for the first quarter of the hour event before deciding to head home. A disappointment, but hopefully next month's Thanksgiving theme will have a better showing!

Day 210: Auction Quilt Complete and Delivered

Last April, I donated a complimentary MemoryWrap to the Pine Hill Elementary School Auction.  The woman who won the gift certificate was quite excited to have me design a quilt using her two daughter's baby clothes.  Very cute stuff; those little girls outfits always send me down memory lane!

Today, I completed the 10 hour project and offered to personally deliver it to her home as she still has a little baby, and we all know how those  non-negotiable infancy schedules can complicate even the simplest of errands.  So I brought it to her home and she was thrilled, and as she says, "I can't wait to show all my friends."

Which of course, would be a lovely commercial for MemoryWrap!!

Day 209: Donating My Old Winter Coat

Hello, it is Sophia. Today I donated my old winter coat to the coat drive at St. Theresa's, our parish. I heard at church that they were collecting gently used winter jackets that they were donating to a homeless shelter in Boston.  I knew that my winter coat from last year was too small for me, and I could give it to the coat drive.  So today my mom kindly dropped it off because I was at middle school. I know my coat will go to good use with the bitter winters in Massachusetts.

Day 208: Thanksgiving Donation

As I was grabbing a quick lunch in the cafeteria today between classes, I noticed a sign at the cash register about donating at least a dollar to help pitch in for a Thanksgiving Dinner for a low-income family. Last year, I remember the sign wanted those to donate $25 for a whole bag, which is a lot to ask of a college student. But this year, asking only for a dollar minimum seemed more than reasonable! I gave a few bucks extra while buying my fruit cup, and it felt good to know a family was going to get a great Thanksgiving Day dinner, even if it isn't as yummy as Nana's!!

Day 207 St. Luke's Baby Shower

During Respect life month in October, St Luke's Parish (where I go to Mass on Tuesday and Saturday) participates in the Archdiocesan Baby Shower Program to assist women and babies served by Pregnancy Help, the crisis pregnancy center administered by the Pro-Life Office of the Archdiocese of Boston. ( http://www.pregnancyhelpboston.org/) There is a playpen set up at the back of the church which already has many baby items in it. Today, I added 2 little 1 piece "sleep and play" outfits --1 for a girl and 1 for a boy-- to help the cause. This is a cause dear to my heart as when I was in my late teens, our Sodality in Watertown did this and since I was chairlady, I had the priveledge of collecting the money and then choosing all the different things for 2 layettes. Again, about 12 years ago, I suggested this at Parish Council at St. Jude's and it is still going strong there. It's always fun to buy for a baby!!

Day 206: Boston Rescue Mission

It's that time of year again, when the many local organizations dedicated to feeding, clothing and serving the area homeless will send their mass-mailing appeals for holiday support.  The Boston Rescue Mission just sent a note announcing their current campaign: Complete Thanksgiving Dinner Only $1.92.    Who knew that was even possible?!!  Clearly it's not like Thanksgiving dinner at Nana's, but equally clear is that a small amount of money goes a long way in certain circles where folks are just trying to put the basics on the table.  How can a family as fortunate as ours not contribute?  Happy to oblige.

http://www.brm.org/

Day 205: Akshaya Patra

Hey everyone,

This weekend I attended UPenn's Southeast Asia Society Performing Arts Group performance. This was Penn's 19th annual South Asia Society fall cultural show, where 12 groups put on spectacular performances of music, a cappella, and dancing. Two of my best friends are in the Penn Dhamaka dance group (one of the the most prestigious and impressive performing arts groups of Philadelphia) so I went to go support them. I am always awestruck by their dances; I would say that their level of skill and entertainment is similar, if not better, than that of a broadway show! Generally, their performances always benefit an international organization. Tickets for this exceptional performance were rather pricey, but the money was going towards an organization called "Ashava Patra," which is a group whose vision is that "no child in India or the world be deprived of an education because of hunger. It serves this dual mission of addressing malnutrition and promoting education by providing midday meals to schoolchildren in India. This gives them the incentive to come to school, stay in school, and provide them with the necessary nutrients they need to develop their cognitive abilities to focus on learning. In ten years, the foundation has grown to become one of the largest and most innovative school lunch programs in the world." They now distribute healthy meals to 1.3 million underserved children, and aim to serve 5 million students by 2020.

I had never heard of this cause before, and I was so happy to not only make a donation to this wonderful organization but also support some of my closest friends as they showed off the success of their hours and hours of training.

http://www.akshayapatra.org/

Day 204: Church Fund Raiser

Tonight, St.Jude Parish had a "Fund Raiser" for the church at a local hall. It consisted of cocktails, a delicious chicken dinner and dancing (for those who are interested.) There were 32 prizes on raffle tickets and 10 larger items that were done on a silent auction. Needless to say, Dad and I didn't win anything!! Some of our church friends wanted to attend but don't drive at night (we're all getting to that age!) so we said we'd pick them up. The "cab list" got longer and all of a sudden there were 5 that needed rides which meant 2 cars. So, Dad and I said we'll do it-he would pick up 2 and I would get the other 3. Well, our good intentions were overturned when 2 got a ride from someone else and our friend Ruth was ill and couldn't attend, so we could all fit in one car. The hall was festive and around 200 attended. A fun time was had by all and hopefully, it was a financial success.

Day 203: Share Your Delight....Coats or Toys for Kids

You never know what you'll discover when you stop to read the labels on your morning coffee creamer!  I routinely drink International Delight French Vanilla creamer in my daily coffe, and I recently noticed a new wrapping around the neck of the bottle. 
After I've thrown out (no, make that recylced) at least five empty bottles,I finally read the new label and it shares the good word of a holiday program where the company will donate money to two terrific organizations; Coats for Kids or Toys For Tots.  All the consumer needs to do is visit http://www.shareyourdelight.com/ and register the UPC number on the creamer bottle.  For each bottle registered, the organization of my choice gets 50 cents.   Of course, when signing up, I had to spend the extra time answering surveys and the like (this is America, afterall) but from here forward, I can just quickly log on and off the site to enter codes and contribute.  The promotion runs through January 15th.
And as you can see from the picture.....I have a full fridge of my favorite coffee creamer, and it's only October.   What an easy way to give...and it was literally, discovered right under my nose!!

Day 202: Donating Blue Jeans

Hello, it is Sophia.
 At my school, there is HELP Club, a group of students that put together fundraisers, donation sites and bake sales, to support needy communities. I originally wanted to join the club but with my schedule, it wasn't possible, but I'm still happy to contribute to their causes! HELP Club is starting off the year with 2 collections for A Place to Turn in Natick.  This is a local food pantry in Natick that provides emergency food and clothing to people in Metrowest Bosto, especially blue jeans. They say that, kids grow out of jeans awfully fast and jeans are one of the most in-demand items at shelters and food pantries across the state. So, today I dropped of my bag of jeans in the lobby in the 6th grade donation box. They seem to have a lot of families donating too! Later this month, we also hope to be a part in the Halloween Bake sale for our school.
Donate your jeans!!!

Day 201: In2Books Response

Today I wrote my first book response to my epal! Just as a refresher, Olivia and I signed up to be online pen pals through an organization called In2Books. I was paired up with my fourth grade student a couple weeks ago, and through the course of  the academic year, we are going to send several letters back and forth discussing his reading books. It is pretty much an online book club but with just two people. The genre for his fall curriculum was fiction, so he chose an Andrew Clements book that I read earlier this week. I just sent him my thoughts about the book and my "supporting points," and also asked him some critical thinking questions. The book was about bullying, so I asked him a lot about certain aspects in the relationship between the main character and the bully. Hopefully my response will engage him and he will come up with some thoughtful opinions on his own. He should be responding within a month and I can't wait to hear from him.

http://www.in2books.epals.com/

Day 200: Contribution to Christmas Seals

Every year, the American Lung Association sends us a packet of cute seasonal items...stickers, personalized address labels and holiday gift tags. Yet I don't quite remember ever receiving them this early....in October, when I haven't even bought the Halloween candy yet!

Although there is no obligation to send a donation to the ALA in order to keep and use these free items, we are happy to make a contribution to this most deserving cause......especially since we are sure to use the holiday inspired address labels on the zillions of  Christmas cards we send!
http://www.lungusa.org/

Day 199: Blood Drive Check-In

Hi!
Today was the big day--the Loyola Blood Drive!!
My friend Nicole and I sat at the check-in table today after lunch. We had the blood donors sign in, asked them to read a booklet about donating blood, and gave them stickers. It was quite fun! We were able to talk to the donors before their appointments, and got to know who was or was not a frequent blood donor. We chose the check-in table because we didn't think we could handle the snack table, where the volunteers had to keep running over to the donors who were feeling faint and/or weak! We were lucky that no one fainted while we were on duty either. There were so many participants in the Blood Drive. Two hours into it, already 50 people had their blood drawn, which was really impressive. Maybe next year I'll volunteer more time at the table!

www.redcross.org

Day 198: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

 Hello everybody!
Well, the Halloween wig that mom bought me works! So, today after enjoying a beautiful day, we went looking for accessories for my costume. One of the stores we went into was Five-Below, a store with good bargains that we thought might have some things I was looking for. At the checkout, the worker kindly asked us if we would like to give a contribution to St. Jude hospital sponsored by MillerCoors and benefiting St. Jude Children's Cancer Research. Of course we said yes so I put my name on a little picture that was put up on the window with all of the other people who donated money. Around the country, thousands of retail locations will be participating in the "Pin Up a Pumpkin" program that will hopefully raise about $6.5 million, like last year,to help fight children's cancer. They have been going strong for a faithful 20 years with hopefully plenty more to go! Happy October! www.stjude.org/halloween

Day 197: Make A Wish Carwash

Hi! Olivia here.

Today I participated in a carwash benefitting the Make A Wish Club (called "Wishmakers") at Loyola. Make A Wish is a nonprofit company that helps sick, terminally ill children get their top "wish". My shift was from 12:30-2:30, and but I arrived at 12 to help out before it started. There were already cars lined up when I got there! There was almost a constant line of cars for the couple hours I was there. I this was a lot better turnout than last year, where only about 5 cars came in the 6 hour carwash. Each car wash was a minimum of a $5 donation, but many people gave us more! In fact, when I left my shift, we had already made $96!
Unfortunately, at first we didn't have the correct cleaning/drying supplies, so we were stuck with towels that shed and not enough sponges. However, some club members were able to go to the Family Dollar store and purchase supplies. After that, it was a lot easier to quickly clean cars. We had a system of people with sponges, the hose, drying, and using the Squeegie. It was quite effective once we got it down!
I don't know how much money we raised for the whole day, but if we made almost $100 in a couple hours, I can't wait to find out how much we raised for the entire day!

www.wish.org

Day 196: The Spirit of Children

Today, while shopping around for a pink wig for Sophia for halloween, I supported the most wonderful promotion going on in the Spirit Halloween store in Natick.  As you'll read, it's such a terrific concept it would take a real witch to not contribute!!
According to their website.......
Founded in 2006, Spirit of Children helps make hospitals less scary for kids and their families by providing fun during Halloween and funding all year long to Child Life Departments within children's hospitals.
Each year with the help of our vendor partners, Spirit sponsors and hosts Halloween celebrations in children's hospitals throughout the country. Members of the Spirit field team bring everything that's needed in order to have the best party possible from costumes to goody bags. Everything brought to the hospitals is donated by Spirit and our vendor partners. It's a remarkable event that touches thousands of pediatric patients and brings countless smiles and laughter to children who might otherwise miss out on the joy of Halloween.
This year alone we collected over $2.3 million cash and merchandise donations. All told we have raised $4.6 million for over 100 children's hospitals since 2007. What makes this program so unique is that at the end of each season, every dollar, 100% of the money collected in our stores or donated by our loyal and passionate customers and vendor partners is given to the Child Life departments.

http://www.spirithalloween.com/

Day 195: From Nana and Buppa; Supporting Causes in South Carolina....

One of the local churches (Bethany United Methodist Church) was having their Autumn Tea Room and Gift Shop Affair.They havea wonderful menu of different sandwiches, salads. shrimp and grits, etc and the desserts were" Southern Ladies' Specialty Desserts-----made with love! "

All proceeds benefit Outreach Ministries of their Church including Children in Crisis,

Meals on Wheels, My Sister's House, Carolina Autism Center and many more.  It was

a lovely affair held in the church hall which was decorated for fall and the waitresses

and waiters were all volunteers from the church. They also had a craft  room where

things were sold at very reasonable prices. I bought a kit for a Thanksgiving decoration

and an ornament for our Christmas tree, so we will always remember our visit to the

Tea Room. In past years, the church has made around $50,000.00 to use for all their

outreach projects.---might be a good idea for other groups to follow.

www.bethany-umc.com.

Day 194: Cards for the Ronald McDonald House

Today at the meeting for the Circle K Club, our in service volunteer activity was to make greeting cards for the children of the Ronald McDonald House down the street. The Ronald McDonald House provides comfortable hospitality for critically ill children and their families. Most of the children are getting treated at local hospitals, and families from all over the world stay at the McDonald house while their child gets the proper treatment. The president of the group brought stickers, markers, glitter, and paper for each of us to make a couple cards for the kids. These will definitely put a smile on the faces of all of the children at the RM house hoping to get better.

More on the Ronald McDonald House is included in the link below:

http://www.philarmh.org/who-we-are/mission/

Bianca

Day 193: Blood Drive Sign Ups

Hey all,

Nicole and I are a part of the Community Service Council group at Loyola. This group facilitates some of the major events on campus, including the semi-annual Blood Drive. I highly dislike my blood being drawn due to scar tissue covering my veins from all the IV's as a premie, and Nicole went Africa over the summer, so she couldn't donate blood either. So instead, we decided to sit at a table in the Student Center and ask students walking by if they wanted to donate blood. Surprisingly, we got a lot of people to sign up! We felt that although we couldn't participate ourselves, we helped the American Red Cross and had many fellow classmates willing to give blood to those in need! www.redcross.org

-Olivia 

Day 192: The Patrick Dempsey Center for Hope & Healing

My good friend Tom Rist is raising money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing.  He is doing a bike ride in the name of his deceased brother-in-law, John Meinert.

The mission of The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing is to provide the highest quality of education, support and wellness services to enhance the quality of life of individuals, families and communities touched by cancer. 

It always feels good to donate toward a good cause, but it also feels great to support a great friend who has supported me in countless ways over the years.  Good luck Tom!

Day 191: Habitat For Humanity/Chico, CA

Once again, we are loving having a Guest Family Blogger, Aunt Debbie and Cousin Rachel Caphshaw who are sharing their community service efforts for Habitat For Humanity/Women Build ...coming to us live from Butte County in Chico, CA!  You guys are awesome!!

In between jobs and college demands....our West Coast family members helped coordinate and then participated in a Bowl-A-Thon organized by the Chico Association of Realtors (Debbie is a big deal in this group!).  The beneficiary of their efforts is Butte County's  "Habitat for Humanity's Women Build" program.  Deb and Rachel brought together a group of long-time friends who bowled for three hours and raised $175,  contributing to the collective $3,000 donated by the Chico Association of Realtors.

 

According to their website, "Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program promotes the involvement of women in the construction of Habitat houses. Women-built projects provide an opportunity for women to learn construction in a supportive environment, and to nurture, recruit, and train women to build and maintain simple, decent, healthy and affordable homes.The Women Build Program empowers women, enabling them to positively impact the lives of children by making home ownership a reality for families!  Poverty is a severe threat to children's health, growth and potential.  Women can realize that they hold the solution in their hands' to move children out of poverty housing."

Nice going Debbie, Rachel and all your team members!!

http://www.buttehabitat.org/ 

Day 190: Colleges Against Cancer 5K

(photo on right: Volunteers at the finish line)

Today, the UPenn Colleges Against Cancer organization hosted a 5k to raise money for the American Cancer Society. We were nervous that no one would show up because it was supposed to pour all day. However there was not a cloud in sight and we had 35 people sign up (25 registered online prior to the race, and we had 10 people register the day of). Apparently this was a big step up from last year, when less than 20 people showed up. My supportive roommate Caroline even registered and had a great race. To prepare for this event, I woke up at 8:30 and went with the co-presidents of the organization to carry a table across campus to our startingpoint (it was heavy and took a good 10 minutes). We sat there for about an hour an a half setting up and waiting for people to register. My job was handing out race numbers to our participants. After the start of the race, we moved our table to the finishing mark on Locust Walk and set up our table with fruit, water, and healthy snacks for the racers after they finish. The first 10 to cross the finish line got a free Relay for Life T shirt, and every participant got a free Colleges Against Cancer water bottle. Although I wish I could have been running, it was fun to see everybody running to the finish. The first racer finished just after 18 minutes. We ended up raising exactly $200...not bad for the first fundraiser of the year! As recruitment chair, I have some ideas to advertise our Spring 5k to get more participants- I would like to see us have at least 100 participants in the Spring!

Take your mark...get set....GO!

One of our co-presidents about to start the runners

(Left Photo:  Some of the first runners fighting to the finish)