Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tuesday Progress

A whole week since I blogged- yikes! I was planning on blogging last night, but fell asleep at 11pm instead. So what's new? Well, today was a pretty good day- we have a new date auction sponsor that I'm pretty excited about, Newbury Comics. We are moving slowly towards our sponsorship goal. We also got a commitment from another calendar sponsor, I was worried about their support because I had been leaving messages and sending emails without getting any response, but I manage to get through to them today and they are back on board. I was stressed about trying to find a replacement sponsor for their calendar month, so I'm glad that is taken care of. I still have a long way to go though. I also need to start reaching the police/fire departments to start organizing photo shoots for the calendar.

I have so many things to catch up on, it is getting a little overwhelming. Besides all the emails and letters that need sent out, donors to contact, I have a bunch of grants that I need to work on that are due next week. I was planning on working tonight, but I'm so tired I don't think I can get much done. Everyday, I've been planning on having as a catch up day, but there are so many things that need to get done, I don't get to half of them. I need to get better with organizing time for certain tasks. I've also been slipping with my list writing lately and that makes things harder for me to stay focused during the day without a list. I've been stressed about some personal things lately and that has affected some of my focus on work. I can't believe that we are almost in June- there is so much to get done with the calendar and our big fall events.

Anyways friends, I know this is a short posting, but I'm going to bed. It is only midnite, but it feels so much later. Maybe I'm getting old and can't stay up late anymore! I will be sure to write my list for tomorrow- I need help staying focused on my tasks. Until next time friends...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Upside

Well, I'm happy to report that day was the opposite of yesterday- it was back on the upside of the roller coaster- the best place to be. It wasn't a phenomenal day by any means, but progress was definitely happening. To make things even better, I received a $1,000 donation from a company in South Dakota. They donated the same amount last year. I totally wasn't expecting their donation, so that was a very pleasant surprise when I went to the post office this morning.

The singles event tonight was terrific- they had a really good crowd, about approximately 130 people. I'm really happy that they Project Smile to benefit. Jeff at Boston Event Guide is so supportive of our work, it is great. The new dating service that hosted the event seems really good too, I would definitely like to do more events with them. I'll keep you posted as to how much money was raised tonight. Events like this are perfect, basically all we have to do is show up- it doesn't get much easier than that.

I reached out to some new potential date auction sponsors today- they sounded really interested. I also got some more ladies signed up for the date auction and another guy- he did it last year and is so handsome, so I'm happy to have him back on board. I also got some tentative gift certificate commitments for the date auction. We're behind on gift certificates, so that was good to make progress.

Well friends, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, I have to pick up auction items for our silent auction on Saturday, then I have a networking event in Boston in the evening. Before the networking, I have to pick up a gift certificate in Watertown and then 2 others in Boston. It's not that I enjoy running around picking up certificates, but sometimes people have said they mailed things and I never receive them. At least if I pick them up, I know we have them.

So that's it for tonight- tomorrow will be another day of progress, I'm going to make sure of that. Until next time friends..

Monday, May 17, 2010

Downside of the Roller Coaster

Well, today was not the best of days. It started of badly and only made a bit of a recovery. I opened my emails this morning to find out that Project Smile was not chosen as the charity for a particular womens organization to support for the next 3 years. I had spoken at the state meeting for this organization a few months ago and then last month at a local chapter. They had supported a large non profit for the past 3 years and instead of choosing to go with us, they are continuing with the other charity. That was very disappointing. Then less than an hour later, I get a phone call from one of our board members who said she is no longer going to be on the board and won't be able to sponsor a month in our calendar. There's nothing I can do about either one of those things- and each one separately is not that big a deal, but together is was upsetting. It sucks to lose a board member, but you can't force someone to do something they don't want to do and there is nothing worse than people making false promises. It just amazes me sometimes how easily people walk away from things.

I still haven't found a guest speaker for our Anniversary Celebration. I'm running out of people to ask. It took me until July last year to get a speaker, so it's not like I'm behind. I have approached some interesting people that I'm still waiting to hear from, so please keep your fingers crossed for me! Hopefully, we will be getting some good news really soon.

So what else is going on? I know I sound like a Debbie Downer- things are not all bad, it's just today was rough. I was making other calls, but not really getting anywhere. I did sign up with an organization that helps identify grants, it was highly recommended to me and from what I've seen, I think it will be really helpful. In other good news, we are on track with our sponsorship goal for the Anniversary event and we're getting cool auction items donated at a decent rate. On the downside, I'm way short on gift certificates for the date auction and I still haven't reached our sponsor goal. I also need some more ladies to be auctioned, 8 more ladies to be exact and we still need quite a lot of men, but it always takes a while to get the guys signed up.

I know I need to relax about things- everything that I'm stressed about now is the same stuff that I deal with every year, it isn't anything new. Things have always worked out in the past, so I shouldn't get so anxious. However, just because things have worked out before, it doesn't necessarily mean it is going to work out this time. When I get stressed, I need to go back to baby steps- break down the big tasks into small manageable pieces and gradually the bigger things fall into place. That has always been how I get things done.

Anyways friends, I'm off to eat some more watermelon (my favorite fruit), then write my list, I've been slipping with my list writing lately, then bed. Tomorrow will be a much better day. We also have the singles event organized by BEG at Splash- we are getting the $10 ticket proceeds. They already have 100 people signed up, so that will be great. Events like this are perfect- all we have to do is help promote and show up- we need to get more events like that.
Until tomorrow friends..

Monday, May 10, 2010

Updates

I can't believe it is almost a week since I've blogged- I'm not doing well at all lately with my blogging. There have been some personal changes lately and that has affected the time that I usually spent blogging, but I do need to do better. So what's happening? Well, things have been up and down. On the up side, we have a cool event coming up next Tuesday in Boston, it is a singles themed event called a People Scavenger Hunt and we're receiving the $10 ticket price at the event. All we have to do is help promote it and show up, so that is pretty simple. It looks like it will be a really fun event. Boston Event Guide- the company that we partner with to help promote the date auction- is organizing the event and they chose PS to be the charity. Jeff, who owns the company, has been really supportive of our work- he makes an effort to include us on lots of different things that he does. He is hosting the Spring Wine Fest in a few weeks that we are holding a silent auction at.

On a downside, one of the magazines that donates an ad for our date auction will not be able to donate this year. The marketing director was very nice, he said that their budget has been slashed and there wasn't anything he could do. I had been reading lately about the difficulties that the company has been having, so it isn't a major surprise, but it is really disappointing. I need to find another way to make up for that loss of marketing. I don't think we can afford to buy an ad in their magazine.

I've been working on calendar sponsors, but that is going slowly. I do have some commitments, but there is a long way to go. I'm having trouble reaching some people that usually sponsor. It gets frustrating when you spend a lot of time trying to reach people.

Tomorrow, we're donating to Hartford PD, it is our second donation there. Then I'm speaking to an association in the evening. I'm looking forward to speaking, it is always great when I can get the word out about Project Smile.

Last week, Oprah had the brothers from New Jersey that inspired me to start PS on her show. I was so happy to see that they are doing really well, they were adopted by a family and look like they are really flourishing. I did email the Oprah show- I was hoping that there was a way to let the boys know that their tragedy had inspired me to start Project Smile. I didn't get a response, so I don't know if they will ever know, but it would be great to be able to tell them.

Well, I should go back to work. There were a lot of things that I didn't get to today and considering that I'm going to be leaving at 12:30, there is a lot that I won't get to tomorrow either. I had intended to go back to work, but I've been hanging out watching the Yankees (lose again!), Real Housewives of NJ, Jay Leno and the Lakers game and chatting on the phone- not exactly the hours of productivity I had planned for myself. I'm getting tired now though, so I might just eat my grapefruit and head to bed. I promise to blog tomorrow- no more slacking! Until tomorrow friends...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Happenings

So what's new? Well, a date auction sponsorship check and an anniversary celebration check arrived today, so that was good news. This week we also received our first donation check from Capital One- we have a Project Smile credit card and receive an initial donation when a person signs up for the card, then we get 1% of their purchases. Thank you very much to those who have signed up for the PS credit card, I really appreciate it! I need to keep promoting it so we can get more people to participate.

I was back at work on auction items today, mostly for the anniversary event. The TV Diner certificate arrived, that is one of our best items. I had intended to work on certificates for the date auction, but I didn't get a lot accomplished. I did follow up with one restaurant company that usually donates and they are sending something this week.

Quick update- I still haven't heard back from the financial services people that I met with last month about sponsoring the date auction. I don't understand what happened. I left another voicemail today, trying to follow up. They said they wanted to sponsor, told me they would let me know by the following Friday, but haven't responded to messages or emails. It would have been nice to at least be told that they changed their mind or if they needed more time- it gets a little frustrating when you keep reaching out and don't get any response.

There are a lot of other things going on, but I am getting so tired. I have been awfully tired lately. It is only 11:45, but it feels like much later. I had all these plans of things that I was going to do when I got home tonight- including catching up on work, but I've only managed to blog- and it isn't exactly my most fascinating blog post. I am going to eat my grapefruit, then make it a really early night and go to sleep. Until tomorrow friends..

May Already!

Well, here we are, May has started. Can you imagine? I feel like I need 3 more weeks in April to catch up with where I want to be. But then again, I always feel like I'm working from behind. So what's been happening since I last blogged? By the way, I've been dreadful with blogging lately and really need to get back on track. Well, good news- we are on track for recruiting date auction fire fighters and we added another date auction sponsor, which brings us almost 60% towards our sponsorship goal. I am way behind on gift certificates for the couples. I did get another commitment for dance lesson gift certificate, but I still have a long way to go to reach the 40 certificates. We will be getting another donation of sample packets of coffee for the gift bags, which I'm really happy about. It is funny- most of our gift bag donations so far are food related- chips, coffee, vitamin water.

Continuing on the good news band wagon- it looks like we will be involved in a Boston dating event this month. I don't have all the details, but all we have to do is to help promote the event, then show up at the event and we will receive the $10 ticket price donation for Project Smile. I love simple fundraisers like that- help promote and show up and collect the money- perfect! We are also going to be doing a silent auction this month at Boston Event Guide's big wine fest event and we're going to be doing raffles again this summer on their harbor cruises. The cruises were only a small fundraiser last year, but every dollar is important for us.

We also got another sponsor on board for our Anniversary Celebration. It is a large local company. They sponsored 2 years ago, but didn't sponsor last year. We are now 75% towards our sponsorship goal for that event. Miss Massachusetts will also be attending too. She has always done a lovely job as a special guest for our anniversary events. On the downside, I still don't have a special guest speaker. I've been working really hard to find one, but not getting anywhere. I did reach out to someone else today, so keep your fingers crossed for us please!

Well friends, I am awfully tired and need to sleep. It is only 12:30, but it feels like so much later. There is a lot more to write about, but I can't think of much right now. Tomorrow, I need to spend some serious effort on getting calendar sponsors. We are pretty far behind on that task. I'm off to quickly eat a grapefruit, then write my list and bed. Until tomorrow friends...