The Holiday challenge was indeed challenging. It was the grueling self-reflecting process I thought it'd be. The first day of the challenge, I joined and wrote a blog post. Then on the second, invited as many friends to the facebook group and invited them to join the givology group. I'm used to writing about givology, but usually to strangers and new people but I'd forgotten about the many people on my email list that I hadn't directly asked to be a part of givology. It was a good experience in that regard to inform those I care about to take a look at our organization.
The next days past by and I wasn't sure of what to do for a fundraiser. Then I went to a viewing called "What are we doing here?" a documentary about the behind the scenes of western institutions efforts to aid poverty in Africa. The documentary was an eye opener, one that made me believe that it is still important to donate and help but to be critical and smart about knowing where the money goes. Although I didn't collect any money for minifundraiser yet, I did dogsit for my sister's indefatigable puppy which took up my entire weekend. How does this relate to Givology? Well, I see that postchallenge how during the period since I started the challenge, it enabled me to give in ways that I hadn't before. For example, as a college student, time is one of the most precious things to me, but it didn't seem to cost me so much to offer my time when I thought about how much my sister would benefit from it. Also, another example is how I've learned through this challenge the way that I've changed my way of looking at these organizations. I thought before it was okay not to give my money to big corporations because I had heard a lot about how the dollar doesn't directly feed the people or help them and this deterred me away from donating, but I realize that wasn't the only reason behind my distrust. The stories about their unreliability was an excuse for me not to care, or bother to look a little closer at the problem. Before I'm sure someone would have needed to physically undo my fingers from the twenty clutched in my hands, and honestly, would have felt as a loss, but I can say sincerely that this time, it was not at all. I did believe in the cause I was giving to but not mindlessly, it was because I could crtically think and know where the good was going.
As Sarah mentioned in her blog before, education and therefore awareness makes people active and capable of change. We cannot forget that although at times there are unreliable and ineffective methods being used in these NGOs, the problems do not go away. The people in poverty are still people in poverty. Face the issue, realize the power of caring and giving discerningly.

-Eunice

ps. eProps those who came up with this challenge. :)

Dear giving team,

My name is Eunice Kim and I am a senior at the University of Richmond. It is exciting to see that givology is constantly coming up with creative ideas for fundraisers. I think the Holiday Challenge is a great one that is incredibly easy to do but one that is very effective. A new beginning of the spring semester is giving me renewed hope for the future of givology, particularly the organization at our school. We have new members on board, who I'm sure will be an asset to building a community at Richmond that cares about children's education. I believe that education is an incredibly powerful too that changes lives everyday, one that every being holds a right to have and is the key to solving many of the social injustice we see in today's world.

I think that this holiday challenge is a brilliant way to help memebers to self-reflect on our experience in education and a way to continue to self-educate. One of the problems I've noticed in myself since starting the chapter at my university is that I find little time to learn more about the process of nonprofit-fundraising organizations and the vast information offered on this website and others about these social issues. This can become a huge problem, when one of the main goals of our chapter is to inform other students about the Circle of Peace School. I need to continue to be updated about the conditions and needs over there and be reflective so that I can do the best to inform and educate others. Precise and accurate information is what we need.
As our networking grows ever deeper and wider and our compassion for those who need our help to receive education can be nurtured and spread through the blessings of high technology, I hope that we will never stop educating ourselves

Dear givologers,

Now that we students have taken a restful break and enjoyed celebrating the holidays with our loved ones, it's time to get back to reality: thinking about our new classes, new professors, the responsibilities we left alone for a few weeks, including givology.

I am lucky enough to be able to have a vacation, travel places and eat good homemade food. I wonder how much of christmas our fellow circle of peace school students had this year. And as I think about that, I realize I've forgotten that although I can push the responsibilites of a givology member out of my mind for a few weeks, the students in Uganda are still needing help.

Joanita and Aria have gone to Uganda to work on the site at the school. I'm so excited to hear what they have seen and done. Here is an email I recieved from Joanita a couple days ago:

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone, greetings from Iria, Joyce, Jia, Amina, Bbaale family, and Circle of Peace School students. I am writing to wish you a wonderful, blessed and health year. Updates on the progress of the school project. We have started construction of the Lower School. Our goal is finish by Wednesday January 6th. Then we will begin painting classrooms, desks, chairs, and setting up the classroom before we leave. We have lots of video coverage to share with everyone interested in learning about the work we have done during our trip.

Thank you all for the support with helping Circle of Peace School move forward,
Best regards,
Joanita

Thank you to all givology members and donors big and small for being part of the community, and for supporting the school. Let's all try to remember to push the movement forward into more people's hearts and not out of our minds.

In a few weeks, givology spiders will have our first meeting of the new year. Please continue reading our updates and support!

Happy New Year,

Eunice

Dear Givology supporters,

The Givology spiders have had an incredibly successful semester and we ended on a satisfying note. At the end of november, we had a student awareness event where we presented givology spiders to the student body. We made the mistake of setting the date on a friday night, which is never good on a college campus, but it was helpful for our team to put our efforts together and learn more about the organization and about what kind of organization we want to be.

The last event we hosted was actually off campus for people in the Richmond community. Joanita made the invitations since she has many connections, and we had a benefit dinner for Givology spiders. There was ugandan food, wine and a lovely presentation. Joanita also shared her story telling it straight from the heart and you could tell everyone was really moved. Many of these people were Joanita's friends and supporters who helped her when she was beginning her new life in the U.S. I saw the love they had for her, and it was a wonderful sight to see. The dinner was about $25/person, and half went to the dinner preparations and the rest to the Circle of Peace school. I don't want to state the wrong number yet, but it was a very successful night. We have many more events scheduled next semester. If anyone can give us fundraising ideas or want us to share ours with yours, please contact me or one of our members!

Keep up the hard work and happy holidays,

Eunice



Nov 20, At the student awareness night, Joanita presents.


Mingling of students


Dec 4, Givology Dinner Benefit

Our first fundraiser was a hit! Last Sunday, megan, grace and I got together at my apartment and we baked about 150 cookies from scratch, iced them like a pro and wrapped them in packs of two. I wasn't sure how many we'd sell, but there was no reason to worry. There were people who didn't buy and donated their money. Since most students do not carry cash, we set up a spidercard system where students could donate the dollars on their school card, which basically acts like a debit card. By the end of day on our last day of selling, I looked into the tin of cookies, and there were five left! It's amazing what the strength of six people can do. The successes of this fundraiser feels like a lucky charm to help us through future events here at U of R. And of course with your support!
Many thanks,
Eunice