I successfully planned my first event!!

First of all, I went to the inauguration in Washington, DC on Tuesday!! One of the most amazing and craziest things that my roommates and I have decided to do. But that's what happens when we all get an idea in our heads... :)

Back to VISTA life... Yesterday was the Mentor Appreciation Dinner. It was my first official Starfish event that I planned from the beginning. The theme was "The Magic of Mentoring" and the evening was complete with magic wands and tableside magicians! The dinner took place at Marian, Inc. in downtown Indianapolis and was catered by MBP catering. The food was delicious and the whole event was well received. It is such a good feeling to have actually accomplished something as a VISTA. And with my first event behind me I feel like it will only get better!

Our first College Fest is this coming Sunday at Butler (my alma mater) and I REALLY hope it goes smoothly. It was planned in a very big, chaotic rush and I think everyone that's been involved just wants to get it over with and move on to the coming months' College Fests. Planning faaaaaaaaar in advance is my new goal.

I'm starting to get back into the swing of the sponsorship part of my work plan. I plan on finishing my Marsh sponsorship letter in the next couple days and will hopefully be in the early stages of grant writing. I also need to contact more food places to donate for scholar meetings and smaller events that we have. I feel like I've been slacking because of my focus on the Mentor Dinner.

As my work day comes to an end, I wish everyone a good weekend and I'll update again soon.

A crazy week of phone calls

So far this week I feel like I've done nothing but talk on the phone non-stop! I've talked to 9 different hotels/ballrooms to book a venue for our fundraising breakfast, so many mentors that I've lost count (you would think adults would know what RSVP by January 13th means), 4 different people at Butler University to find a room for our first College Fest, 3 different Steak n' Shakes, 1 Jimmy John's and 3 different people in the Jimmy John's Indianapolis office to donate some food for College Fest. And I still have almost 2 days left in the week! It's kind of fun and I like talking to human being instead of emailing people back and forth all day. I'll keep the tally running...

We're starting to wrap things up for the Mentor Dinner which is next Thursday. I have a meeting at the venue today and hopefully everything will be smooth sailing after that! (Knock on wood!!!!) As for the Fundraising Breakfast, Bethany and I have 3 site visits tomorrow... Sheraton City Center at noon, Hyatt Regency at 1, and Marriott East at 2. I've never been to any of these hotels, I hope their ballrooms are nice and that we can choose one of them for the breakfast. My goal is to have the venue booked by the 23rd, hopefully before then.

On the sponsorship front, I started writing my first sponsorship letter for Starfish last week and I'm going to be writing a grant, hopefully starting next week! I'm excited about the grant... It's something I'm really interested in doing, or at least getting my feet wet. When someone mentions grant writing, people normally cringe and get a little scared (which was my first reaction), but I think if I'm at least a part of the process one time I'll get a feel for what goes on.

That's my update for now. I'll be going to the Inauguration next Tuesday!! I'm sure I'll update again when I get back!

It's a new year!

Happy New Year Everyone!! After being off work and out of town for awhile, I think it's time to post again. It's been hard trying to get back into the swing of things here at Starfish. Not only did we have our time off for the holidays, but I went on vacation and now we're packing up the office to get ready for our remodeling. I'm excited about the face lift the office is getting... Sheniece and I got to pick out the color of our new office!! :) And we cleared out the upstairs today.

Well, back to my VISTA world. First, I want to wish Katy K good luck as she starts her VISTA assignment at IUPUI! You'll do great! Here at Starfish, I'm moving along with our Mentor Dinner. The invitations are all sent and I'm getting some great feedback from the mentors about how cute and creative the invitations are. I spent A LOT of time tying fabric, gluing invitation, and stuffing mailing tubes and it's good to hear that people like them. Now I'm just hoping that the dinner turns out alright.

I'm also getting more into the sponsorship part of my work plan. I'm trying to get some sponsors for our fundraising breakfast in October. Also trying to book a venue for it. I'll keep you updated on that.

Starfish is starting a once a month College Fest for the scholars. We're hoping to visit a different college every month and help the students learn more about FAFSA, scholarships, applying to colleges, and other such important college information. We're also looking for some fellowship too.

That's all I have for you all right now. Hoping 2009 is treating everyone alright!