Journal

September 30: Looking for wax teeth to sell. Also looking for different products. Found on Operation Smile website that they sell temporary tattooes. Ordered teeth from Oriental Trading. 1 hour

October 2: Exploring Operation Smile website. Looked at different donations you can do. For the extra money you can pick out gifts to give to children who have just undergone operation. 1 hour.

October 4: talking to Mr. Vizza about project. Brainstorming different things to sell and ways to advertise. Told him that I found tattooes. 1/2 hour.

October 5: Interact Meeting. Introduced ideas of fundraisers. 1/2 hour.

October 8: Worked on proposal that is being sent to Mr. Puckett for approval. Mr. Vizza and I are using Google Docs to share ideas and edit things. []# 1 hour

October 13: Wrote an outline of things to do. Put it on Google Docs. 1/2 hour

October 15: Started a MixBook for my reflection project. Found lots of pictures. 1hr

October 21: Mr. Vizza informs me that I might not be able to hold my fundraiser in school. So we thought of ideas of stuff we could do outside of school. One idea we had was a candy bar/dessert party somewhere or even a baking contest. We are still floating around with more ideas. However, it is a little nervewracking to be looking for something else to do, with little notice of time. 1/2 Hour

October 25: Planning this possible fundraiser, looking at ideas online. Maybe I could do a silent Auction with raffle baskets, dessert and coffee party. $10.00 to enter. Have Interact make desserts and ask for donations from bakeries such as the Night Kitchen, Flourtown Bakery, Cake, Cafette. Coffee would be easy to get. My parents have a lot of friends who would come. I'm sure a lot of adults in the community could come as well. They can bring kids. Maybe I could get a representative from Operation Smile to come. 1/2 Hour

October 28: I met with Mr. Vizza and the other Interact officers. I learned that my project was not approved. November 2: My mom and I talked about all the possibilities for my project. We talked a lot about the baking idea with a contest and possibly bingo. November 3: Mrs. Ward and I were brainstorming, looking on Operation Smile website, trying to find a different idea. We were thinking that making smile bags would be cool. A bunch of people would get together and sew these bags that go to kids who just have operations. November 5: Right now I'm kinda frustrated because I still don't know what I'm doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 8: Mr. Vizza and I met for an hour after school to talk about different ideas. We talked about the smile bags and the possibility of a baking contest/dessert party. We talked it out and decided on the bake-off dessert function. []# this is a google doc of our plan. 1hr.

November 10: I wrote an email to Oreland Presbyterian Church asking if I could use their church for my fundraiser. This took me about 30 minutes because I wanted to explain what CLP is and what I wanted to do to help Operation Smile. Unfortunately they told me that they do not hold fundraisers in their church, which seemed funny because we always have our Interact Fundraiser there for the Nyaka school in Uganda. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a place, hopefully soon!!!!!!

November 18: Found a place and date for my event! It's going to be at my church, St. Philip in the Fields on January 8, 2010 November 22: Wrote an ask letter for the silent auction. 1 hour

November 28: Revised the ask letter I made. Then me and Maya Sabin went to Chestnut Hill and distributed them to local businesses. 3 hours. December 5: Made a flyer and a registration form. 1 hour Also conferenced with Mr. Vizza for 30 min. December 8: Conferenced with Mr. Vizza and tweaked registration and flyer. 1 hour

December 14: Went to Chestnut Hill and distributed more letters and flyers. 2 hours. December 19: Went to the Philadelphia Cricket Club to ask one of the golf pros if they could donate a free golf lesson. I also emailed my mom's book club to see if they could help out. Two of the women are part owners of the Phillies. I also created a facebook page and invited all my friends. 2 hours

Final Journal:. It was only up until a month and a half ago that I really figured out what my hands on project was going to be. When I finally decided on having a baking contest and silent auction I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I was talking to Mr. Vizza, my mentor, and the first thing we decided we had to do was find a place. I know churches are normally free or cost close to free, so I decided that a church would be the right way to go. My church seemed like a great place because I am very involved there, there would definitely be enough space, and it has a friendly atmosphere. I’ve made various documents, such as a flyer and registration form. I’ve also made various “Google docs.” Mr. Vizza is very fond of Google Docs, so we use that a lot. Almost all our information is on there. Honestly, if I said I didn’t suffer extreme anxiety from this fundraiser I would be lying. Luckily I have two judges, my friend Ellen Gray who is a pastry chef and one of her friends. Mr. Vizza said I should probably have three and maybe I will get another, but I’m more anxious about the silent auction. Recently I have been going around asking businesses for donations for the silent auction. I have roughly seven items right now. I’m hoping to get around twenty. I get so happy when someone actually says yes to donating because most of the time businesses say no, especially around this time of the year. Mr. Vizza and I have had conferences via skype and talk frequently. Since all the information of the event is on Google Docs, we both always have access to it. Today I’m excited to go into Chestnut Hill and pick up some items for the auction. The event is so close, but I feel pretty good about it. I made a Facebook page a couple days ago and it seems like a lot of people are interested in coming, which would be wonderful. Tomorrow during study hall, I think I am going to try to hang up flyers around the school. Over break I am going to be away, but hopefully businesses that I gave letters too will maybe change their minds… My mom also has some friends who are part owners of the Phillies, so maybe they will donate. I emailed them a couple days ago to ask and they said they would try. So as of right now, I feel my project is going pretty well. I know I can pull this event off and I know it will work out in the end.

Reflection: My project was simply to fundraise for Operation Smile. Operation Smile is a nonprofit organization that gives cleft palate surgeries to children in undeveloped countries. At first I was going to do a “one dollar, one block” type fundraiser with sales during lunches. However that idea was denied by Mr. Puckett. My new project is a baking contest/silent auction called Sweets for Smiles. It is at St. Philip in the Fields church in Oreland on January 8, 2011 from 7-9. People will pre-register for the baking contest and be judged on their desserts. There will be general admission for people to go through the silent auction and eat tasty treats. All the proceeds will go to Operation Smile. My goal was to receive and donate $1000 to Operation Smile through my fundraiser. Because my original idea was denied by the administration very close to the date of the original fundraiser, I did not have a ton of time to fool around with my idea. I had to get straight to work. When Mr. Vizza and I decided on “Sweets of Smiles,” I had to immediately find a date and a place. Luckily my church was open that date and was free to rent for a couple hours. After securing a place, I had to go to local businesses to ask for donations for the silent auction. Through asking businesses, I learned how to make a thoughtful ask letter and I learned more people skills I guess you can say. I learned how to present myself to other people. I also had to explain everything I was doing, which will definitely help me with my presentation later on. Although my event has not happened yet, I have a very good feeling about it. I have gotten many people who are going to bake and I have many silent auction items for people to bid on. It will be very exciting! Through this project I have learned so much about making contacts appropriately. This is important, especially in this day in age. In the beginning of “Sweets for Smiles” I was definitely naïve in choosing something so big to accomplish. Having a baking contest is a lot of planning and work, which I don’t think I realized until a few weeks in. Along with planning and organizing being a lot of work, it is also very time consuming. There are hours of planning and getting others to go along with the idea. At this time of year, it’s very difficult to get businesses to donate because they might have already spent their “donation funds” for the year and it’s just an expensive time of businesses. I was not so prepared for all the “No’s” from businesses. “Sweets for Smiles” was also a lot of stress for me and Mr. Vizza. It was such a short time frame; it would have been a lot better if I chose to do this in the beginning. If I had more time, I feel more people would have donated. Of course, there is that hope that maybe people will donate more the week of, which is what I’m really, really hoping. Through all my research, I learned a lot more about cleft palates than I would have known. I learned all the psychological effects and medical problems that occur if the cleft remains unrepaired. I searched tons of different terms such as, “effects of cleft palates” and “children with deformities.” I needed as much information as I could get. Overall I think I did a great job with both my research products. I think they were both informative and insightful. From this whole learning experience, I feel that I have gained a lot of skills in organization and acting quicker on things. I had to get everything done quickly and I learned not to procrastinate as much. I don’t know if I have any real interest in planning events. We’ll see after the event is over.