gcvmom
Here we go again!
Sort of.
After being up to my eyeballs in one ridiculous fundraiser "opportunity" after another, I am officially DONE. Almost. Just have some things to return to the store and some number crunching to do. The chocolate festival was... interesting. Turns out it's only their 2nd year and the gal who gave me this "opportunity" to have a free booth to raise funds for NAMI only started working for them in AUGUST. So this was essentially a case of the blind leading the blind. And it showed.
I did NOT need to bring 1,000 chocolate-oriented samples to hand out at this event. Probably 200 would have sufficed. So that chaps my hide a bit, considering what I spent on cookie dough, mini muffin cups, and all the mini muffin tins I borrowed from people, not to mention the TIME I put into it and the time my friend who also helped bake put into it.
My t-shirt designs were very well received -- sold over $400 worth, though even with the straight cash donations I did NOT cover my costs for the shirts. So eBay, here they come! The blinged shirts were the most popular, even with the higher price tag (they read "Hot 4 Chocolate"). I had many plus-sized women (like myself) who walked away disappointed that I didn't have anything larger than a 2XL -- they understood when I explained that since I paid for it all out of my own pocket I could not possibly afford to cover every size, even for myself!
I think that despite the stress and exhaustion of being on my feet for 8 hours on Friday and 11 hours on Saturday, the best part of the show was talking to people about NAMI and mental illness in general. It was split about 50/50 between those who had and those who had not heard of the organization. Some listened politely to my explanation for why I was there and then smiled and walked away. But many, many lingered a while to ask questions out of curiosity, or because they were newly-diagnosed, or they wanted to share about a family member or a friend they had who was either struggling or already had a diagnosis. When I told people about my own personal connection for being there, being the parent of a child with bipolar disorder, there was an immediate response on a much more personal level. Suddenly the impact of mental illness on someone was very real. Making that connection with people was really the best part.
After being up to my eyeballs in one ridiculous fundraiser "opportunity" after another, I am officially DONE. Almost. Just have some things to return to the store and some number crunching to do. The chocolate festival was... interesting. Turns out it's only their 2nd year and the gal who gave me this "opportunity" to have a free booth to raise funds for NAMI only started working for them in AUGUST. So this was essentially a case of the blind leading the blind. And it showed.
I did NOT need to bring 1,000 chocolate-oriented samples to hand out at this event. Probably 200 would have sufficed. So that chaps my hide a bit, considering what I spent on cookie dough, mini muffin cups, and all the mini muffin tins I borrowed from people, not to mention the TIME I put into it and the time my friend who also helped bake put into it.
My t-shirt designs were very well received -- sold over $400 worth, though even with the straight cash donations I did NOT cover my costs for the shirts. So eBay, here they come! The blinged shirts were the most popular, even with the higher price tag (they read "Hot 4 Chocolate"). I had many plus-sized women (like myself) who walked away disappointed that I didn't have anything larger than a 2XL -- they understood when I explained that since I paid for it all out of my own pocket I could not possibly afford to cover every size, even for myself!
I think that despite the stress and exhaustion of being on my feet for 8 hours on Friday and 11 hours on Saturday, the best part of the show was talking to people about NAMI and mental illness in general. It was split about 50/50 between those who had and those who had not heard of the organization. Some listened politely to my explanation for why I was there and then smiled and walked away. But many, many lingered a while to ask questions out of curiosity, or because they were newly-diagnosed, or they wanted to share about a family member or a friend they had who was either struggling or already had a diagnosis. When I told people about my own personal connection for being there, being the parent of a child with bipolar disorder, there was an immediate response on a much more personal level. Suddenly the impact of mental illness on someone was very real. Making that connection with people was really the best part.
