Satisfaction

I have never done a lot with charities in the way of fund-raising, but I feel pretty good about the level of success I have found in the past month.

The company I work for has two charity drives per year. In the Spring it is for the American Cancer Society and their Relay for Life and in the Fall it is for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In April and May I was working in a store where my store manager was the district coordinator for charitable efforts, so we worked together, trying to set up a casino night as a major fund raiser. It fell through, but we organized a poker tournament instead, using prizes donated by vendors we work with in our retail business. We had no costs on our end, the bar that hosted the tournament aid the tournament director and we raised $750 in a night's work.

I changed stores in May and at the store level a volunteer "captain" is needed. Because JDRF is an organization I have close ties to, and because it looks good to my district manager, I volunteered to represent my store.

To open things up, we set up a table with 8x10 photos I have taken over the years and sold them for $4 each or 3 for $10. Next, we held a bake sale with employess making the treats and we sold those to our staff and guests over a weekend. Between these two efforts, we raised $120. Outside of the store I coordinated another poker tournament. Our top prize was donated from Chick-fil-a and I used the $120 to buy Visa giftcards to use as 3nd and 3rd place prizes.

We had fewer people turn up for the JDRF poker tourney, but we managed to turn the $120 into $580!

In addition to the above, it was made possible to create a walker's account at JDRF.org and people could log in and make a donation to support me as a walker. Our store goal was to raise $500, and I considered that to be a goal to be met by forming a team of walkers each with a goal of $100. I only found 2 other willing employees, so I set my goal at $300. I then went about emailing friends and promoting my walker's goal on this sblog and on my facebook account. Amy helped too, hitting up her blog readers and friends from work and school.

As of this morning I was at $210 and we have until Saturday morning before the walk (which will be at Centeniel Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. Tonight I received a very generous donation that brought me to my goal. I want to thank this person (respectfully anonymously) for the donation. The weird thing is I have been thinking about him a lot recently. We had a falling out earlier this year when I said some thoughtless things, thoughtless as to how they would be taken and as to how they could offend.

I have been thinking for about a week about posting a public apology. I have been thinking about him quite a bit as a lot of my attitudes towards others are changing. Part of it is probably due to better mental health as a result of better physical health. Part of it may be a change in my awareness of how God wants me to be. I am really trying to improve as a person, with the biggest part trying to be less judgemental of others. It's difficult especially when we find ourselves being judged so often. And is it just me or is this intensified due to the fact we're in the peak of the political season?

I digress a bit, but here's the point. I want to thank everyone who has made donations. If you still would like to or can help, you can find the link in the post above. Just because I met my goal does not mean I can't exceed it too! And to my friend who I wronged, I am sorry. I hope that in our limited interaction you can see the changes I am efforting, and I hope you can not only forgive my words but re-establish the relationship we were developing before I was such a jerk.