A Dream Come True

Jeff and I met in Feinstein on Monday to begin the tape to DVD conversion process in the media lab.  Luckily, Shaun spoke to Matt Marchant at the beginning of last week who informed him that this was a somewhat time consuming process.  This was good information to have, because it allowed us to plan our time accordingly.  I also passed this information on to Chris Braga.

(Shaun was unable to attend Monday’s meeting because he was studying for finals.  For this reason we planned another meeting for Tuesday, so that we could all be present.)  Jeff and I weren’t entirely familiar with the software, nor how long this process was going to take, so we wanted to get a head start. Upon arrival, the tech people on site were helpful.  Going into the meeting Jeff and I knew we were going to have to cut out one major component of our event out of the tape. The taping of the event included the Room to Dream DVD.  This is an absolutely wonderful piece which shows some of the RTD children, the before and after of their rooms, and the construction process.  Unfortunately, due to HIPPA laws we are not allowed to show the DVD to the class, and had to edit it out.  However, Jeff, Shaun and I wanted to maintain a copy for ourselves.  So before we began to cut and edit our tape, we wanted to convert the unedited original into a DVD.   While we were waiting for our uncut tape to convert into a QuickTime, Jeff and I began to plot out our presentation.  This was an enlightening process for both Jeff and I as we were able to reflect on our project together, and come up with things we would have done differently, and the tremendous lessons we learned.

One of the lessons that we learned, which I was able to directly relate to a past theme was the utilization of technological resources, which we discussed in written response 6.  This was something our group did not properly take advantage of until later in our project.  As I have discussed before, once we smartened up and used the other blogs/wikis, we obtained some of our best information, which undoubtedly enhanced our event. The ideas that were generated by our peers far outdid anything that a Google search brought up. Looking back, Wikinomics was a great source of examples of people and companies that are adjusting accordingly to a world fueled by technology. What many of us fail to realize is that we do not and will never have all the answers.  Instead of hoarding information, it is time to open our eyes to the exponential progress that comes from sharing knowledge.  The modern organization is not about hierarchies and downward management.  Today’s organizations call for people to be prepared to build sustainable firms by managing intricate webs of collaboration.  Oftentimes, these organizations will utilize tools such as blogs and wikis to create an open system that embraces the free flow of ideas.  This project then gave us the most relevant experience with technology and collaboration that I have had to date.  It also provided us with concrete examples of the benefits that can be attained from utilizing these tools.

A key component in this environment is trust.  Our class was initially extremely resistant to the utilization of these resourceful tools, and ultimately lacked trust.  We were clearly still very much trapped in our bubbles, and were incapable of seeing the utility that could come from sharing our findings, and learning from others’ findings.  Inside the bubble it makes absolutely no sense to share successful practices, or ways to advance.  However, outside of the bubble, it was easy to see how information from say PC Youth Outreach’s blog could help our event.  Once we began to actually collaborate with one another, we were able to increasingly build trust.  This then translated into our discussions and posts.  Eventually, everyone was willing to share useful information with one another.  It was great when we could finally come to a point where we would have open dialogues where questions were asked, and advice and pointers were given. I now see how imperative it was for us to realize that we could attain significantly more success in conjunction with one another.  Towards the end of the semester our class began to take the shape of an organization, whose departments were mutually accountable for one another.  We even went as far as to base our success on the collective.

Jeff and I also discussed how much more energized we became once we were closer to the cause.  The closer we were to the cause, the more energized we became, and that was the point when our project really took off. Chapter 10 of Senge’s book really spoke to me.  I was engaged in this project from the beginning, but our first meeting with Stefan and Bill created a devotion I never knew I had in me.  Stefan and Bill had so much knowledge to offer Jeff and I.  Through talking to them we gained invaluable information. I vividly remember getting home from that meeting and feeling different, unlike my usual self.  I came to realize that this was because I finally felt genuinely connected to cause, and motivated to make a difference. This fundraiser allowed us to work toward something that was so far beyond ourselves.  I personally felt like I finally found my niche.  The meeting made such a tremendous impact, that that night I decided to “[take] stock personally,” and found myself constantly re-affirming that this charity, and others like it, are what are important to me, what energize me.  I genuinely care about creating a better, more sustainable environment for these children, and at our event, we were able to see how our efforts were going to improve their lives. Our group was fortunate enough to have dealt with inspired people and ultimately, leaders, whose energy was so captivating and contagious, that we could not help but be drawn to their ideas.  Because of the wonderful relationships we had with our partners, our visions were possible.  With this said, I wish we had created this passion earlier in the game.  Reflecting back on everything has been a very enlightening process, and I know I could go on for days.  Reading some of my past blog posts, I am also trying not to repeat myself.  I am happy to say that my group did a pretty decent job reflecting on areas where we could have improved, and lessons we learned all along.  I also don’t want to bore anyone, as we will be discussing a lot of this in our presentation.  I could talk for days about the lessons that were learned while doing this project.  But I will leave some of that to Shaun.  Thank you for an interesting and insightful semester everyone! I look forward to presenting, and hearing everyone else’s presentations.  Good luck next semester : )

Jeff and I met tonight to fine tune the excel spreadsheet containing our finances.  Our main agenda though was to write thank you notes to four individuals who were crucial to the success of our event.  We wrote thank you notes to Kristen Kuliga, who is my boss, Kelly’s contact, and the donator of the Doug Flutie signed photographs.  We also wrote a thank you to Dean Gemma, for all of his insight, his charitable donation, and for attending our event.  Our next thank you went to Joann Suletenfuss, Executive Direction of the Room to Dream Foundation.  Joann was more than willing to help us, and ultimately got us all of our printing materials for free.  The last one went out to Bob Rothenberg, our contact at the Ronald McDonald house.  As Jeff and I were writing his thank you, we realized all over again, what an amazing person Bob really is.  Bob didn’t know Jeff and I from a hole in the wall, but volunteered his time to meet two complete strangers at Starbucks to discuss a fundraiser.  Jeff and I discussed that we rarely cross paths with generous people like Bob.  It was refreshing and admirable to know that there are people like him who are willing to share their wisdom.  Bob was resourceful, and a breath of fresh air compared to what we had dealt with throughout this project, and we wanted Bob to know how much we appreciated everything he had done for us.

We still have one last thank you write.  We need to write a thank you to our guest speaker, but after writing four thank yous, we were pretty burnt out.  Although we realized after the fact that we should have written Kris’ thank you first, it’s okay that we didn’t, because we want Shaun to be apart of this one.  Shaun didn’t have direct contact with the other four individuals, so it wasn’t a huge deal that he couldn’t make tonight’s meeting.  We also have not yet written a formal thank you to Stefan or Bill Hughes, because we want to wait until our debrief to present them with some sort of token of our appreciation.  I think Jeff mentioned in a previous post that him and I met after the event to write a quick thank you email to both Stefan and Bill, where we expressed our gratitude, and explained that we were excited to extend a more formal thank you at our debrief.

Reflecting back on the event, overall, we were extremely fortunate in the help and guidance we received.  Jeff and I realized that we made some amazing contacts throughout this project.  After coming to this realization, we not only wanted these individuals to know how much they impacted us, but we wanted to ensure that we kept in touch with them by keeping the communication channels open.  As we mentioned very early on, one of our main goals of this project was to create relationships that would extend beyond the scope of this project, and we feel as though we will be able to genuinely accomplish this.

As I was writing this I decided to take a quick peek at some of my past posts and I naturally ended up reading four of them in their entirety.  I hadn’t realized what a tremendous amount of information was contained in them.  It’s funny to read those posts, and only now realize that we had no idea how resourceful the information in those early posts are.  If I wasn’t so exhausted I would apply some of the materials now, however I can barely keep my eyes open.  I will surely be on soon to correlate that information to our fundraiser.  I just thought it would be important to keep everyone updated.  Jeff, Shaun and I will be meeting early next week to plan out our presentation.  In the meantime, Jeff is going to speak to his father about ways to appropriately thank our guest speaker.  Also, prior to our next meeting, we must convert our camcorder cassette to DVD.  We are still waiting for Stefan to contact us, so that we can schedule our debrief dinner. I know he has a Gala coming up, so I can only imagine how busy he has been, but we look forward to hearing from him, and will keep everyone updated as soon as we know when we will be meeting.

Jeff and I managed to get to the bowling alley approximately two hours before it started.  Although it sounds like a lot of time, I think it was necessary.  This amount of time gave us the opportunity to eat something prior to the event, set up our tables, and take care of any last minute things that we may not have considered until we got there.  I can almost assure you that there will be things you will entirely forget!  For instance, as Shaun was driving to the bowling alley he luckily remembered that the video camera didn’t come with tapes.  Fortunately, he was able to stop at a Walgreens and pick some up! I’m sure this was useful information for our MADD volunteers, who have an event coming up.  Shaun also brought us a case of water, which was much needed after a day of running around!  I also recommend brining scissors, markers, poster paper etc. You never know if you may need it!

Although the founder of Room to Dream did this for us, I think it is helpful to wear matching shirts the day of the event.  We had Room to Dream shirts on, and so did our volunteers, and this certainly helped our guests out.  If anyone had a question, they knew they could come to the people wearing the gray ‘Dream Team’ shirts.

As far as posters are concerned, we tried to make them very clear, concise, and informative.  We had three main posters, which contained, entrance information, sign up information, and raffle information.

From here on out, this post will be very similar to my written response number 13, but I feel as though the material here is prevalent, and should be shared with the other class as well as anyone else who has been following our blog. Because this was our first event, we were extremely anxious.  We weren’t particularly nervous about the amount of money we would raise, but instead, we were more nervous about bringing in a big crowd.  Looking back, we were a little hard on ourselves, but it was because we thought our remarkable speaker deserved a respectable crowd.   We managed to have approximately 35 people listen to Kris’ inspirational story, and 55 people overall, attend the event.

As we all welled up, I realized what an amazing person Kris is.  As Kris explained the various ways that Kayla’s life has improved, her motivating words clarified the tremendous impact that the Room to Dream Foundation has had on the lives of these families.  It was at this point that I became fully aware of the difference our little event will make in improving the life of another child.  The changes Kris had explained in Kayla’s behavior and demeanor were subtle, but made the world of a difference.  While reading, I was captivated by the Lakes Project, and I felt a connection to Senge’s comment, which states, “What is possible when talented people breathe life into products for a regenerative economy.”  Although the Room to Dream Foundation clearly has a different cause, Stefan’s initial passion has made enormous impacts, and his message/actions are contagious.  Essentially Stefan is trying to demonstrate what Senge is, a little can go a long way, every contribution counts, and there is no limit as to who can participate.  In fact, I think both would say the more the better, because Jeff, Shaun and I would agree that we didn’t realize until Wednesday, that we all have the potential to make a difference.

My group realized that as Senge explains, theory in practice gave us the absolute best understanding of what is/isn’t effective when planning a fundraiser.  Working alongside Stefan and Bill was an invaluable experience, and what we learned while going through the motions of organizing our event, we never would have learned in a book.  What’s even better is that Stefan wants to take us out to a post-fundraiser dinner.  Stefan explained that he would use this as an opportunity to tell us what we did well and where we could improve.  Reading Senge, I realized what an ideal situation Stefan has created for us.  Clearly we don’t have all the answers, and I’m sure this debrief will put us at an advantage to learn.

Ultimately, our group wanted to make a difference, get involved with a good cause and create awareness.  Our vision did just that.  We included and reached out to students that didn’t realize this foundation existed.  These students now have an interest and connection to this foundation that they previously lacked.  Stefan told us that he would be posting a picture of all of our attendees on the Room to Dream webpage in hopes of motivating others to contribute to the cause.  Stefan wants people to see that if we were able to do this, so isn’t everyone else.  It speaks to the fact that people can make a difference through their individual choices.

As usual, technology is used to facilitate all of this.  By Stefan putting us on his website, we’ll hopefully motivate others to raise money.  We are going to write something for this column and leave some contact information.  We realized the benefits of sharing information, and want to extend our knowledge and experiences to others.

*Jeff and Shaun will soon be blogging their perspectives of the event.  Until then I would like to thank our volunteers!! They were absolutely wonderful and crucial to the success of our event!

I apologize for not having posted sooner. I have been so busy! The night before the fundraiser I sat down and wrote a checklist of things that needed to be done prior to the event.  This was extremely helpful, and definitely better prepared us for the event.  I called Shaun, and the two of us went through all of the things that needed to be done the next day.  Our checklist included: picking up our technical equipment from media services, buying raffle containers, two cash boxes, two donation containers, markers, posters, pens, clip boards, envelopes etc. While Shaun and I were talking on the phone he quickly drafted a sign-in sheet for our event.  We also wanted to determine how we would price the event.  We knew we were going to have teams of four, but we wanted to offer our attendees a fair amount of games.  Shaun came up with a pretty good system.  We decided to give three games for $10 and five games for $15.  Since we were awarding the team with the highest two combined scores the winning prize, we felt as though our pricing system would give people a nice option.  If a team decided to choose the $10 option, they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage, because they would still be able to have their best two out of three games considered.  Unfortunately, Jeff wasn’t able to join in on the discussion; he had made plans prior to our selecting the date of our event.  We left off that we would talk about our checklist with him in class the next day.

Both Jeff, Shaun and I had the entire next day roped off to purchase the necessary materials, create posters & signage, and organize ourselves.

So everyone has left the bowling alley and the three of us are in the banquet hall alone….glowing!  We realized that we raised at least $1,500!!! We couldn’t be happier with our success.  Although we wished we could have had a larger crowd, we managed to bring in 53 students, and raised a substantial amount of money.  Based on the feedback we received throughout the event, people said they had a great time.  We truly couldn’t ask for more.  It is such a relief that our event went smoothly.

We are now looking forward to our debrief with Stefan and Bill.  They would like to take the three of us out to dinner and tell us what we did well and where we need to improve.  We are extremely excited about this! As we have been discussing the importance of avoiding complacency.  A performance evaluation is crucial, and we are lucky enough to have experienced people provide us with their knowledge and insight. In addition, all of our attendees loved Stefan, our speaker, and the Room to Dream DVD.  Anyways, this probably sounds like rambling.  I am too excited for words…I’ll blog something more coherent tomorrow.

Just a quick update on our aggressive marketing effort: I emailed one of the HR managers at my internship and asked if I would be able to post a flyer in the break room.  She wrote me back and replied that although she thought my fundraiser was a ‘great project,’ I would not be able to advertise anywhere in the stadium due to a ‘no solicitation’ policy.  This was kind of a bummer, but I managed to get flyers out to all of the people who I am friendly with.  Based on all of their feedback, it seems as though they are really excited about the event, and they are all spreading the word for me!

I also received a response from Katharine Moore, the Director of Sports Marketing at PC.  Her response went as follows: “We would like to be able to help you, however we get many requests from many students and outside organizations trying to raise money for many great causes. It would be impossible for us to fulfill all these requests. It is the Athletic Department policy to not allow fundraising at athletic events.”  I understand that based on volume of requests it is difficult to accommodate everyone, however it doesn’t make sense to immediately deny everyone either.   Again, we have another prime example of PC acting as the definition of a barrier.  The athletic events are a perfect opportunity for Providence College students to reach out to the community, and PC makes it literally impossible.  I don’t think it would hurt for the department to review each request on a case-by-case basis.  Unfortunately, at this point my group doesn’t have the necessary time to appeal the decision, and here we have strike out number two.

On a more positive note, I was able to send my landlord an electronic version of our advertisement. Mark had Shannon, his office manager quickly review it and send it out.  Within an hour of me sending the advertisement to Shannon, approximately 125 students had received an email about our event.  I think our email was well received.  When I was at McPhail’s on Saturday night, three different people said they received our message from The 02908 Club and were definitely coming to our event.  It is funny that this should happen as we are discussing social networks, because it was a perfect example of a crossing of networks.  Although the majority of Bob and Mark’s tenants are Providence College students, they are people that my group doesn’t have much contact with on a daily basis.  Going through The 02908 Club’s network allowed us to access a larger demographic, and hopefully strengthen some once weak ties.

Luckily, Stefan was able to quickly get back to me concerning our dilemma with the printing materials.  He forwarded my email, his response to my email and some instructions to the Executive Director of the Room to Dream Foundation, Joann Sueltenfuss.  He asked Joann to help us obtain some free or discounted printing work.  I then informed the group that we needed to outline our printing needs and get that information to Joann ASAP.  Shaun hadn’t been able to attend our last two meetings so he volunteered to draft a flyer.  The two of us discussed what information needed to be on our advertisement, and Shaun hastily put together a wonderful flyer.

On Sunday I had emailed Joann, spelling out exactly what we needed. Shaun and I had decided that we wanted 250 flyers, and five posters.  I sent this information along with the attachment to Joann, and had a response by Monday morning.  Once Joann and I were able to find an accommodating time to chat, we tweaked a few minuet details.  Other than that, Joann said we had a pretty solid advertisement.  Today Joann contacted me and said that the materials were all set!! This news was such a relief.  Our group is at a point where we want to stop talking and start acting.  We are so eager to create awareness for our event, and know we can only do so much until we actually have our promotional materials in our hands.

As if Joann hadn’t done enough, she was unable to get a printing company to do the job in time or for free, so she had the materials printed at her husband’s work!  Never in my life have I worked with such accommodating people!  Joann not only had our advertisements printed for free, but she is also delivering them to the stadium tomorrow!! This organization has been nothing short of phenomenal.  Their commitment to our cause is inspiring.  I cannot wait to see what our final product looks like.  It is also reassuring to know that Shaun got the okay from S.A.I.L. to advertise on campus.

People have seemed genuinely interested in our event and I am beyond excited to begin promoting!  Before I began writing this post I emailed Joann to see if she would be able to provide us with an electronic copy of our advertisement so that we can also advertise via email.  Hopefully Joann will be able to get this to me by tomorrow so that I can send it off to my landlord, and he can send out a mass email to all of his tenants.  While we’ve been waiting for our paper products to come in, Shaun and I met on Monday to create a facebook event invitation.  All in all we are being extremely proactive about spreading the word for our event.  I’m sure Friday will be a big day for us!

Tonight I am going to write an email explaining our event to the Director of Athletic Marketing at PC.  We are hoping that she will allow us to have a table at the upcoming basketball/hockey games. Wish us luck!

It seems as though we are all finally experiencing success within the scope of our events, which is ultimately bringing us closer together as a class.  Gladwell’s article on The Tipping Point, described the three main factors that preclude a tipping point.  After today’s class it has been compelling to look back and see our classes’ and projects’ progression through these points.  Our behavior in this class is certainly becoming contagious, and this is prevalent through the commitment we are beginning to see from every member.  We even discussed ways that we can bring what we have learned in theory to our other classes! Also, the little changes we have made in our behaviors by having the buddy system, and by having members of the other class sit in have had big effects.  Lastly, there was a sense of urgency.  The urgency came when Tom told us that a.) more than half of the class was failing, and b.) that there was a chance that we were going to have a more traditional class.  All of these combined undoubtedly created a tipping point, and there is no denying that our class is finally on the right track. Today we acted more like an organization, than we ever had before.  I feel as though we all have a vested interest in one another’s projects, and I can only hope we keep the momentum alive.

I would like to inform anyone who may be interested that we now have a shared email account.  Should anyone have any questions/comments/suggestions etc. concerning our event please do not hesitate to write us at

pcDreamComeTrue@gmail.com

I don’t even know where I want to start.  Between last night and this morning, I have literally been on cloud 9.  Everything is starting to fall into place and I truly couldn’t be any happier.  Last night Jeff and I met with his father, Bill, and Stefan Nathanson, who, as we’ve mentioned, is the founder of The Room to Dream Foundation.  We had our meeting at CBS Scene restaurant at Patriot Place in Foxboro.  From the first few moments of our meeting, I knew it was long overdue.  The impact of “having everyone in the same room” was powerful.  We were so involved in our conversations that I believe it took us an hour to even order our appetizers.  At that point, the last thing on my mind was food, because we were making astronomical progress.

I was fascinated by Bill and Stefan’s eagerness to learn all about the project.  They wanted us to bring them up to speed and include all the details.  We had so much to cover and discuss that our conversation covered an array of topics.  We naturally spoke in great detail about our event, but we also discussed many of the topics we are learning about in class.  It just so happens that The Room to Dream Foundation is currently involved in an organizational theory adjustment.  Jeff and I briefly explained Senge’s book to Mr. Hughes and Stefan, and Stefan actually whipped out his iPhone and wrote a note reminding himself to purchase it the next day.  As Jeff and I rattled off the main themes and topics we have been learning about, both Bill and Stefan were in agreement that we were learning some extremely relevant material.  Collaboration was a theme we spent a great deal of time on.  Our meeting couldn’t have been a better indication of the implications of collaboration, and the success that comes as a result of it.

Going into the meeting, Jeff and I had pretty much decided that the school idea was not going to work.  We didn’t have enough time to get everything together, and schools weren’t being responsive to our ideas.  We told Bill and Stefan that we had booked a bowling alley, but that we weren’t satisfied with that being our main event.  Jeff explained that given the fact that two other groups were also having a bowling event, we were scared we wouldn’t be able to generate enough awareness and cash.  Bill and Stefan almost instantly put our fears to rest.  I can’t even isolate the exact moment when it happened, but it was like the floodgates had opened up.  All of a sudden, a million ideas blossomed.  If I had to say, I think it all happened when Mr. Hughes and Stefan decided they wanted to donate a high profile raffle item to our fundraiser.  The two collectively decided that they wanted to donate a signed and framed picture of Jonathan Papelbon pouring a beer over the World Series Commissioner’s Trophy. Jeff and I were floored.  At this point we were beyond confident that we had the edge we needed to make this an extremely enticing event.

Mr. Hughes then offered to donate some Cheesecake Factory gift cards on behalf of Shawmut that will be used as prizes for the winners of the bowling tournament.  Along those lines, Stefan is also donating Room to Dream duffle bags as the game winning prize.  Stefan spent half of his time giving us his undivided attention and insight, and half the time on the phone getting things done for OUR PROJECT.  I must say, I thoroughly admire his work ethic.  He may be the single most efficient and successful multi-tasker I have ever met.  It would be safe to say that he defines multi-tasking.

As if their presence, dinner, and donations weren’t enough Stefan and Bill actually came to the meeting with a surprise for Jeff and I.  Stefan had arranged for a remarkable woman to speak at our event.  This woman’s child is not only chronically ill, but she is also a widow, and a brain cancer survivor.  I really don’t think there are any more adjectives to explain the emotions I was experiencing at this point in the meeting.  Our event had every major component that a great event needs, and then some.  Stefan went on to say that he had every intention of not only attending our event, but also saying a few words at it, and showing The Room to Dream DVD at it.  We will also be privileged enough to have Bill at our event, along with employees from Shawmut.  Shawmut is also donating video equipment to the event.  As of right now, I am waiting to hear back from Stefan regarding printing/advertising materials.  Stefan recently had brochures made for one of his own upcoming events, and he said that he was pretty sure that the printing company he used would be glad to help us out as well.  For the first time in a long time, I was utterly lost for words.  Everything was coming together beautifully!  Our group is truly indebted to Mr. Hughes and Stefan.  They are the key components we were lacking.  I went home that night and I was literally glowing.  I haven’t been this happy in a long time.  The passion was always there, but after speaking with Bill and Stefan, I realized not only how much I love planning and being apart of something bigger than myself, but also how amazing it feels to know that these efforts are ultimately going to help some pretty amazing children.

Jeff and I learned something funny while speaking with Stefan.  Stefan has apparently been loosely following our project from the beginning.  Apparently, Stefan has some sort of agreement with Google, which allows the company to notify him when there is any mention of The Room to Dream Foundation online.  Stefan informed us that he had no idea who the bloggers were, but he was thrilled with their (our) energy haha.  He also made it a point to tell us that he was frustrated that he couldn’t respond to our blogs.  We need to fix that right away!  In the meantime, we are focusing all of our energies on advertising, and obtaining some more sponsors/gift cards.

So a lot has happened in the last 48 hours.  At one point on Saturday, I thought about the fundraiser and how much we still had to accomplish.  The urgency of the situation was so overwhelming that I was compelled to act.  Jeff has been waiting for a phone call from one of the elementary schools for some time now, and I simply couldn’t stand waiting for anything anymore.  I took it upon myself to make some phone calls, any phone calls.  I was aware of the fact that it was Saturday, and I would be subject to voicemails, but I didn’t care.  I figured that if I left a voicemail over the weekend, people would be able to get back to me on Monday.  Luckily for me, all three of my contacts did just that.

On Saturday I called three of the contacts that Dean Gemma had suggested, those being, the PR department at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Dr. Joe Amaral, who was once the VP of the Rhode Island Hospital, and The Ronald McDonald House of Rhode Island.  After leaving the voicemails I felt a little better, at least something was being done.

Today was a busy day.  Before I had even left my apartment to go to class Dr. Amaral had called and we briefly discussed my group’s fundraiser.  He is currently away on business but said that he would love speak to me via phone tomorrow night around 7:00 PM.  During our conversation I had also mentioned that we were looking to try and get Chris Van Allsburg to help with our event.  I was surprised to find out that Dr. Joe is actually acquainted with Mr. Van Allsburg.  This was tremendous news that made me all the more excited to speak with Dr. Amaral tomorrow. Then, during the hour between my first class and Tom’s class, I made several phone calls to local elementary schools.  Two of the principals have not returned my phone call yet, but I did get to speak with one principal at the M.I. Robertson School in Central Falls.  She informed me that the school has already taken on several fundraisers this year, so that they unfortunately would not be able to accommodate us.  In the meantime I plan on searching for more schools that we can try to contact, all while keeping my fingers crossed in regards to the two schools I called today.

After Tom’s class today, I had a voicemail from Bob Rothenberg, a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House.  Bob does the majority of the event coordinating at the House.  After giving Bob the synopsis, he seemed eager to meet with us.  He even said he would come to PC if he had to.  His exact words were, “whatever it takes,” which I was truly grateful to hear.  The Ronald McDonald House has had such extensive experience with fundraising, that we would be honored to obtain any insight they would be willing to provide us with.

Moments after getting off the phone with Bob, a gentleman named Steven called, and he was calling from Lifespan, which is the corporate overhead of the Hasbro Children’s hospital.  Honestly, to maintain whatever sanity I have left, I will not completely rant about this conversation, but it was disappointing to say the least.  This has been the very first time that I have had a personal experience with a person/organization that is so completely trapped inside of a bubble. To make a long story short, Steven told me that he did not think it would be good business practices to share who their corporate sponsors are/what type of events they have held, because it would take away from any funding that the hospital works so hard to obtain.  I informed Steven that we were not trying to take any of their resources, but ultimately we were trying to gain any insight we could from an organization that has been successful in their commitment to raising funds for children who are ill.  I tried my best to explain that we simply wanted any suggestions/resources he could provide us with that would allow us to better our event.  I also told Steven that I contacted Hasbro, because as a children’s hospital his organization, and my group were working towards the same goal, the RECUPERATION AND HEALTH OF ALL CHILDREN!  Steven’s response was again shocking, as he continued to explain that Hasbro’s goal was to help the children of Rhode Island before being able to consider a foundation that works with children in Boston.  I mean at this point my head was spinning.  I completely understand that hospitals are always short on budgets, but it seems absurd that he would withhold information because a.) We would be “taking” from the hospital’s resources, and b.) We wouldn’t be helping the children of Rhode Island.  I don’t know if this man understood how ridiculous he sounded. I informed him that The Room to Dream Foundation has also done work in RI.  I continued by saying that my group believes that children’s health is a matter that requires collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. Although I was extremely professional and polite, I couldn’t wait for the conversation to be over.  There was clearly no convincing this man.  It boggles my mind that he genuinely believes that by us contacting one of their sponsors, we could hurt their fundraising.  Anyways, I don’t entirely blame him for his mindset, as we have learned our society is trapped in a bubble, and within this bubble, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge are alien concepts. As I reflected on this conversation I realized that before this class, I probably had the same outlook as Steven.  I’m glad that I began to realize how insane this is before it was too late!