Latest and Greatest

Greetings friends! So what's new? Well, I was on vacation all of last week- went on an exciting trip to Miami and a Caribbean cruise. It was my first time to both places and it was amazing. It was lovely to get away and enjoy seeing somewhere new and spending time at some amazing beaches. It's amazing how wonderfully warm the water is down there! It is such a good thing to take time away from work. It helps give you a different perspective and it is a good time to think about things. I came back feeling excited and inspired. The only downside to coming back is that there is lots and lots to do when you get back. So, I'm trying to catch up and get back on track.

We are only a month away from our spring fashion show. The first major email blast to our Smiling Stiletto members went out today and that generated a nice little bump in ticket sales. I'm still looking for a few more models for the event and we have a few more spots available for sponsorship. We have a great partnership with Yelp for the event. They will be featuring it in their weekly newsletter the week before the event. Yesterday, I filled out the submission form. It took me a while because I wanted to make the posting as catchy as possible. You have to provide a sub headline of 10 words or less along with a paragraph of 100 words describing the event. I kept playing around with a different headline to see which one I would like the best if I was reading the event for the first time. It took me a while today to get the wording right for our email blast for the fashion show. I keep editing- sending sample emails to myself so that I could open it as if I was looking at it for the first time. It is amazing the difference it makes when you send it to yourself. You can keep staring at it when it's in the editing mode, but when you open it as if you were seeing it for the first time it sparks something in the brain. I sent it to myself 5 times and made changes after each time. The events are all so important to us and it takes a lot of work to get people to show up.  Everything needs to be done the best way that I can in order to ensure that we get a great turnout and raise the most money that we can.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to sort a few more stuffed animals that arrived in the mail- there were 16 boxes of stuffed animals waiting for me at the post office when I returned. Then, I need to catch up on a few emails. I had intended on doing some grant research as well, but my eyes are getting tired, so I don't think I'll get to that tonight. Until tomorrow friends...

A Very Special Request

Greetings friends! So I wanted to share with you a request for stuffed animals that we received. It's a request that sums up exactly why we do our work. Last Friday, I received an email from a police sergeant in St. Paul, Alaska. On Monday morning, I received a phone call from the sergeant. He was following up and said that he had found us online and asked for help with a donation of stuffed animals for the children they encounter in their community. He told me that St. Paul was an island located 300 miles off the coast of Alaska. The island only has 1000 residents and a very small police department- I think he said it was only 4 officers. He said that there is an alcohol problem on the island and they go on almost daily calls involving domestic incidents, with most of the calls involving families with children. He said they were in desperate need of some help for the children. The sergeant wanted to be able to give the children a stuffed animal to help comfort them. His email was so touching and his call was just as heart warming. This is exactly why we do our work, so that the people who respond to situations involving children are able to give them an item to comfort them and take some of the fear and anxiety away. It makes me so proud to know that a department so far away wants to be a part of our work and sees the value of giving stuffed animals to the children then encounter. I love hearing from police officers who really care and want to make a difference in the lives of children. It is tough work that they do every day and I am happy to be a part of their efforts to bring a smile to a child.

So tomorrow, I will be packing up stuffed animals with my new intern and zooming down to the post office with them. I'm not sure how many boxes yet, at least three. I also want to add some coloring books/crayons. It's expensive to mail stuffed animals and it's going to cost a lot to send them this island, 300 miles off the coast of Alaska, so if you would like to help with a donation towards the mailing cost, the would be much appreciated! You can make a donation easily with PayPal. Our email address to send a donation through PayPal is: cpisacane@projectsmile.org

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to catch up on some work and start brainstorming some ideas for an exciting event that I'm heading up with DCF. More info to come next week! Until next time friends...

Latest and Greatest

Greetings friends and welcome March! February was a pretty dreadful weather month with all the snow, so I'm happy that we are onto March and hopefully some nicer weather. The days are definitely getting longer and that is always  a good thing. It's been so long since I blogged and I'm happy to be back writing. So what's new? Well, things are chugging along nicely. I am so excited for our 4th Annual Step into Spring fashion show that we are working with Assembly Row on. It is going to be an awesome event on Friday, May 1, 6:30pm. Assembly Row is the new shopping and lifestyle center in Somerville. It is a great place and they have an amazing space for us. It is an open space that will eventually be turned into offices, but right now it is all bare bones, which makes it a phenomenal space for events.  Our sold out events at Copley Place had a max of 120 guests, but Assembly can hold 300 guests. We're also going to be doing a silent auction, can get sponsorship and we will be getting 100% of the proceeds to Project Smile, so that really opens it up to become a major fundraiser for us. I am so happy about that! Assembly is also handling getting their restaurants involved to serve appetizers and desserts along with specialty cocktails to the guests. This makes it even easier for me, because I had to get the food and beverage vendors before. Assembly has some awesome retailers, so we are definitely going to be having terrific fashions.

Danielle Vollmar from News Channel 5, Boston will be hosting the event again for us. She's hosted 2 of our shows before and always does a lovely job. We also have the RevGirls, Miss Massachusetts USA, Miss New Hampshire and Miss Maine USA as special guests along with the Miss Teen USA from each of those 3 states. The founder of UsTrendy, Sam Sisakhti will be returning as a celebrity guest judge for the Best-in-Shoe competition and I'm working on getting some more special guest judges. We're using the same DJ as our past events, he always does a good job. I reached out to our fall show event planner Mauryn and she is meeting with Assembly in order to possibly partner with them to work on the event layout/design. She has an awesome eye for detail, so I hope it works out for them to work together on the event design.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to catch up on some emails and do some more sponsor research. The Step into Spring Show is a wonderful marketing opportunity for sponsors that want to reach women and young professionals. We already have some sponsors on board, but I'm excited to get some more partners for the event. Until tomorrow friends...