Halloween Only 5 Days Away

Halloween is only 5 days away! OK, I know it's not the real Halloween, but it is the Project Smile Halloween. I finished all the elementary schools on Friday, that is where the vast majority of our guests come from. I was back in Worcester today, met with Carolee, the marketing director at Paul Davis Restoration (she is an awesome person). We went over the layout for the event, table placement and finalized our list of what needs to be done, then we went to B.J.'s- our annual trip to load up on Halloween candy. We've done it so many times now that we can load up the trolley with the exact amount of candy that our budget allows, without even counting. I'm not in Worcester tomorrow, but I'll be back there Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I still haven't heard back from a number of safety participants who had committed to participate and I've had some other groups flake off, but we're going to work with what we have and no one needs to know about what we could have had. It will be great.

A funny thing happened today- I was in a bit of a bad mood when I came back from Worcester. I was making follow up calls- trying to reach Halloween participants who won't respond and some other things that weren't going very well. I hadn't gone to the post office to get the mail and part of me didn't want to bothered- I was feeling pretty frustrated about things and didn't feel like looking at anything else today. Anyways, I decided that it would do me good to step away for a couple of minutes, so I got the mail and there was a check for $1,000! It is amazing what an affect money has on a gloomy mood- talk about a miracle drug! It was from a company that had their annual BBQ event in the summer and also hosted a fund raising event at the same time. The company chose Project Smile as the recipient from over a dozen charities. During the event they had a dunk tank, employees could make a $1 donation and choose a manager who they wanted to try to dunk. The company would then match the donation up to $500. How cool is that? The company's head had originally planned on coming to our anniversary event to present the check, but wasn't able to make it. I had no idea the size of the donation when they had called last month to inquire about the anniversary celebration. So that was really good news and a nice surprise.

I did hear back from the event planner tonight. I decided to call her in case she had emailed me and I didn't receive it. So I left her a message following up with her and she sent me an email with 3 really good fundraising event ideas. I'll look at them more closely tomorrow and get back to her. We'll be choosing one event to work on for right now- there is one in particular that she suggested which I really like a lot.

So what's on for tomorrow? Our October newsletter- it needs to be done urgently, some grant work, police/fire contacts, calendar sales and getting out the Halloween decorations and costume prizes in the office which need to head to Worcester (I have a collection of Halloween stuffed animals as well that were donated over the year), then I have to work on pulling volunteers out of thin air and hounding more safety participants. I can't wait for the Halloween event so I can wear my Halloween outfit which I am totally in love with. I have other things to do as well tomorrow, but can't remember right now. I need to go and write my list- I've been slipping somewhat with my list writing recently and that is not good. My list book focuses my day and controls the overwhelmness (I don't think that's a word is it?) that can set in sometimes.

I'm off to bed- until tomorrow friends.