Fundraising Galore!

Whew- What a week! This week has been busy but it doesn't feel like it went by very quickly. It seems like so long ago it was Thanksgiving and the house was empty, but that was only a week ago. I am back into my routine and back to work, which is a good thing!

Grounds for Change coffee

This week at work, I submitted the final order for coffee though the organization Grounds for Change. First of all, I am incredibly impressed by this company! For fundraising, you email a form of what coffee you want, the number of ground or whole, and then call to confirm payment via phone. They are so friendly on the phone and say at least three times "Thank you so much for your support, you have no idea how much we appreciate it." Now, I don't know if they are incredibly busy all the time because it is based in Washington, but they always call me by name and seem so sincere! The coffee is roasted 24 hours before shipment and it has been roasted and shipped within 48 hours of my phone call. The most impressive thing was my last order. I am very excited to announce that the students of Dickinson pre-sold 228 bags of coffee! Which was roasted and shipped in two days and will be in Carlisle, PA by Thursday this week- A week before I was expecting it! Grounds for Change has gone above and beyond my expectations- this is the first time we have gone through them and I foresee going through them a lot in the future! I found them via Google when I looked for fair trade coffee. If you need organic, fair trade, shade grown, CO2 free, freshly roasted coffee, I would suggest going through them! Dickinson has sold almost 330 bags of coffee through this company, which for this fundraiser is almost a $2,000.00 profit, I am honored to have been the person to go between the students and the company!
I spent my entire Monday creating a spreadsheet that is color coordinated to the coffee and the student who sold the coffee, I will be making tags throughout the week for the coffee when it arrives and then it will be distributed to those who purchased it! Also, at work I have been working on a community service fair that will be happening sometime in February. This is a fair where members of the Carlisle community can come to Dickinson College and tell the students what they do and offer volunteer opportunities. I am in the very beginning stages of this, but it already seems to be going well, but I need to contact all of the community partners.
The St. Stephen's choir has been working hard on Benjamin Britten's: Ceremony of Carols, which we will be performing next Saturday at 4pm at St. Stephens. I had never sang it before, but this medley is not simple. It is a series of 10 songs, including a procession and a few solos. I am a little nervous that the concert is so close and we have never sang the whole thing through before. The church is going to look beautiful; they have six Christmas trees that will be decorated, a PowerPoint with the words translated into English (the song is old English with some Latin), a harpist, organ, piano, violin, and we will be proceeding into the church. The church will look gorgeous, I just hope our sound can compare to the look. We have one more rehearsal on Thursday, which is good because we need it. I have been having some trouble singing the high notes in practice because we go over it multiple times, but I am a soprano 2 and some of those high notes take all my energy and it leaves me sounding very hoarse at the end of the practice. I am very lucky that I am friends with some of the ladies and gents in the choir, I do not think it would be as enjoyable without them. They are keeping me sane and make singing fun.


Sycamore House at Liberian Meal Fundraiser

On Saturday, the Sycamore House hosted a fundraiser for Ebola Relief Efforts. One of my house members was born and raised in Liberia and her family made a traditional Liberian meal as a fundraiser. I have never had Liberian food, but it was delicious! There was fried rice, baked chicken, plantain, potato salad, and steam veggies. You got the meal with a free will donation and the fundraiser raised just shy of $900.00 which will all go to West Africa. The church has been very supportive of this event because they donated money to buy the food to prepare for the fundraiser as well as give us the space for the meal. Everyone that came to this event was from the church and donated money to the efforts as well. One thing I can say for sure is that the members of St. Stephens have been very welcoming to me and have been supportive of me. Many of the members know my name and can identify parts of my life, like where I am from and where I am doing my internship. I am lucky I have made some connections with the members!
As I get closer to going home to Iowa for Christmas, I actually feel a ting of sadness that I will not be around St. Stephens for Christmas. I am enjoying singing Advent songs and being around the choir but I am definitely excited to spend time with my family because it was been almost 4 months since I have seen them- which is the longest time that I have ever been away from them. I have already told my mother that when I get off the plane, I will cry when I see her. I have been in Pennsylvania for awhile now and I am starting to see the beauty of it more. When riding into work, I see the mountains from the distance and I am growing a much larger appreciation for them. In Iowa, it is very flat and you can see farm land for miles, but it Pennsylvania, the farm land stops because of the mountains. At first, I didn't like that but now I am seeing the fog off the mountains and the different way the mountain peaks are different from the rest, they almost roll from one to another. I am not completely prepared to go back to the Midwest cold. According to my friends and family, it was been in the single digits and below zero. Today, in Harrisburg, I was wearing a sweater and completely comfortable. I will have to break out the parka when I get home! Staring tomorrow, I am in the single digits until I return home. I am getting rather exciting!
My mom sent me a package this week that totally made my week. In it contained Eloise at Christmastime. Which happens to be one of my favorite holiday movies in the world. I didn't own it and my mom had been bragging to me that she has watched it on TV at home. To my surprise I opened the package to find Eloise and some chocolate! I am such a lucky daughter!
This coming week will be busy preparing for the concert on Saturday and the planning of the community fair, but nothing will be too out of the ordinary!
Till next week,
Katie