Progress

Today was a good day- it was one of those days where real progress gets made- as opposed to those many other days where I work really hard and don't seem to accomplish much of anything. So what was the progress? A check for a million dollars! Kidding of course. I was focusing on contacting police/fire departments for donations and following up with departments that we donated to a while ago. I was able to get in touch with a lot of people and have 4 donations scheduled for next week. I did do some work on calendar sales today, but spent the most time focusing on contacting departments. I have to spend a lot of time fundraising in order to keep our program going, and that means time which isn't spend on our reaching more departments. It is a very difficult balance. If I didn't have to spend so much time fundraising, there would be a lot more that I could do.

I also scheduled our donation for the Goodwill children's holiday party for Thursday. Last year, we donated approximately 60 stuffed animals for the children's party, this year it will be over 100 and we're also donating books as well. Their party is Dec. 6, they need the items by Dec. 1. Amy, our awesome volunteer, was working on sorting the stuffed animals for Goodwill today, so it is easier for me to get them over to Goodwill this week, instead of holding onto them. Goodwill is working on getting gifts for 400 children- they have many more kids this year who need help and are having a harder time getting items. It is so sad to think of kids not getting Christmas gifts. In our family, there were always Christmas gifts- there may not have been a ton of gifts, we never had great financial resources, but we were always happy. Giving a child a holiday gift isn't about being materialistic, its an important gesture that matters to a kid. I was thinking today when I was driving to the supermarket, how it doesn't really make sense to be buying gifts for family/friends who really don't need very much, when there are thousands of children in our own state who will get little, if anything, for Christmas. Things are very difficult financially this year, so I can't manage to do very much for Christmas, but I was in a better position there is so much more that I would do. I know things won't be like this forever and when they improve, both for Project Smile and personally, I will do a lot more, especially to help children at Christmas time. We are also donating items for the Department of Children/Families for their holiday packages for children in the foster care system as well.

In another issue, which is only vaguely related to work- never underestimate the power of an apology. I had two incidents happen when people apologized for something recently and it made such a difference. I had made a reservation at a restaurant last week for 15 people, when we got the to restaurant, there was no reservation. I was, of course, annoyed- the manager came over and the first thing he said was, "it was our mistake and I'm sorry." It was such simple, sincere words that it made my annoyance disappear immediately. Tonight, someone apologized for remarks that they made last week. I hadn't even expected the apology, but it was a validation for my feelings that they had been obnoxious and it made me feel a lot better. Of course, there are certain things that no apology can ever fix, but it is important and when it is sincere, it goes a long way.

Well, that's it for tonight. It is 12:39 and I'm working on getting to bed early- or earlier at least. I did well with accomplishing my list items for today, so I'm going to write my short list for tomorrow- it is a holiday and I have a bunch of other non-work things I want to do, including reading my John Irving book that I love. I'm also going to the monthly DWC networking night tomorrow- that is a great group. Until tomorrow friends..