A Small Action Can Make a Difference

Things have gotten even more exciting in She's The First Van Meter. You are probably wondering what could be more exciting than making over $1,000.00 dollars in less than 6 months, or finally being able to send our scholar to school. It takes a lot to conquer these kinds of exciting events, but it did happen, in the blink of an eye. What you may not know is that it can only take pressing the reply button to change someones life. That is exactly what happened for us. All it took for us to feel this rush of excitement and hapiness was for our scholar, Neema Amos, to press the reply button on her inbox of her Kisa Project website account. It was this small action that brought us good attitudes throughout the day. It was that small action that opened our eyes, and made us realize what a difference we are truly making. At that moment, it then lead us to realize what difference Neema Amos, the strong, wise, devoted, caring, and respectful woman was making in our lives. Which, in the end, makes her greater than we could have ever imagined her to be. Something that took a minute for Neema Amos to write meant the world to us. To get the satisfaction of knowing that we were in her thoughts that day, and that she wanted to take the time to reply to us. Knowing what she is doing, what she is going through, and so much more is the best feeling that we could ever have the chance of experiencing. With this, we have the full ability to get so close to Neema, and to realize what her everyday life is like. All it took is for her to open her heart to us. All it took was one small action, which turned into a wide meaning of love, courage, and joy that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Finally Connected With Our Scholar!

She's The First Van Meter Chapter has finally connected with our scholar! Her name is Neema Amos, she is 20 years old, and is from the Kisa project. We have connected with her through Kisa website, which is a very good way to get all of the other Kisa scholars connected as well. Enjoy the video and pictures that we added of Neema, as well as the Kisa Website. We are very excited that we connected with our scholar, and plan on continuing communicating with her. 

She's The First Van Meter Video!

Here is the video highlighting the events in our She's The First chapter. 

If you want to know more about what we do...watch this video below!

Success With Van Meter She's the First Chapter!

Knowing that you reached your goal, and that you will be changing someone's life, is something that can not be put into words. I think for us, being able to share our stories about She's The First throughout our lives with give us this joy that not everyone can experience in their lives.

 

Throughout the time that we were raising money, I don't think any of us really realized that this day would come so fast. Hopefully, our girl didn't realize it either. We can only imagine the excitement that our girl is experiencing, and hope that she never forgets it.

 

Even though we have reached our goal, we don't plan on stopping changing lives of those who will get the chance to become something that they have always wanted to be. Our dream is to talk to the girl in the Tanzinia Kisa Projedct that we are sponsoring, and see her smile as she talks about how school is going, what her favorite class is, what she is learning, what she wants to be when she grows up, and so much more.

 

We learned throughout all of this that anything is possible if you just focus on the road ahead of you.

 

Our plan is to continue our chapter of She's The First, and keep challenging ourselves to make a difference.

Animoto Video

Today one of the She's the First*{Van Meter}* girls made an Animoto video of the different schools/projects that She's the First is sponsoring. You can view this video from this link: http://animoto.com/play/RoJROp8daFdSykZlP1uTqA

First Summer STFVM Meeting!

Our first summer meeting for STVM was a total success! We discussed new topics and new ideas! We also discussed what we would do at the local Van Meter Farmer's Market. WE decided that we would sell tie-die cup cakes, lemonade, coffee, iced tea, and string bracelets. Along with the Farmer's Market ideas, we talked about further ideas about future fundraisers. We hope that these Farmer's Markets, along with any other fundraisers that we will do, lead to our goal by the end of the summer. Reaching our goal, we find it that the girl might be able to start school around the same time that we do. 

Summer Events Of She's The First!

As the heat rolls in, She's The First Chapter of Van Meter does not slow down! We plan to make an appearance at the local Farmer's Market, in attempt to meet our goal for the end of the summer. What is our goal you may ask? With high hopes, we have a goal of $1,000.00, which is the amount it takes to send a girl to school. As the weeks pass, the girls in the Van Meter Chapter have continued to bring new ideas to the table on what fundraising events we can do. Knowing that the cupcakes were a success at our elementary school, we will try to hit it off again with that. Tomorrow we will be holding our first get-together of the summer. There, we will discuss future fundraisers and also shifts that people will take at the Farmer's Market. At the Farmer's Market, we plan on selling the tie-die cupcakes, along with cold drinks that people will be able to purchase while they are walking around. By the end of this week, there will be a post about how our meeting went tomorrow. STF Van Meter is determined!

Pictures Of Us Talking To Classrooms!

Here are a few pictures of us discussing She's The First with a few elementary classes! We were very happy that we got them more excited about donating:)

Talking to classrooms!

Today, we were able to manage to get around to all of the elementary classrooms, to get them more excited about their purpose for filling up their tubs in their classrooms. Our trip was a success. We were able to get the kids interacting with us by answering questions about what they want to be when they grew up, which also tied with She's The First. We talked about how these dream jobs would not be possible if we could not pay for school and get an education like we do now. The kids then thought about how different their lives would be if they lived in 3rd world countries like the girls we support at She's The First. At that point they realized the importance of an education, and how great it is that we are trying send girls to school, so that they can be the first in their family to go to school, take a test, graduate, and make money for their family. After we talked with each class, we got them more excited about bringing in money to help us reach our goals. Talking today was a good experience for us, because we were able to build skills of talking in front of people, and how to interact with younger kids, in a way that will keep them entertained. We hope to keep the fundraisers going, and to keep younger students interested in She's The First. http://bit.ly/kHkDMV

Pictures Of Us Working! (5-18)

Here are a few pictures of us working on stuff that needs to get done today. We are shooting to get everything wrapped up  by Thursday or Friday.

Keeping Busy!

Van Meter STF has been working hard to get everything finished before the end of the school year. Today, we finished up coloring posters that we plan to put up around the school. Also, before we pick up the buckets in every classroom, we would like to go around the elementary, and get the kids more excited about helping with our organization. We hope that getting them excited about this fund raiser, will also get them excited about future ones. Getting kids involved in these types of things, will not only help raise money for us, but it will also build their character, and hopefully give them a different perspective of things. Right now, we are not too sure on what a good goal is for raising money. Hopefully, after our first fund raiser, we will have a better idea. If anyone has any good fund raising ideas that would be good for over the summer, please comment with your idea, it would be much appreciated.

Kicked Off Our First Fundraiser!

On Friday (5/13/11) we kicked off our first fund raiser that we are hoping to be successful! In every elementary room, we put a bucket, that students can put there loose change in, allowance, any money that they want to donate to help us. The day before the Kindergartners get out, we will be taking all of the buckets and counting up all of the money in each classroom's bucket. Whichever classroom has the most money will win their classroom tie-die cupcakes, that they will be able to have in their class. So far, we have seen kids getting very excited to get the most money for their classroom, which is great!

Who's Contributing?

All of the members of She's the First are Lizzy Lyon, Kate Closson, Erica Scieszinski, Amanda Statdlander, Carmen Angel, Grace Seiler, Alissa Coyle, and Quinn Krum. We are also trying to get the whole school to donate money! Shannon Miller is our leader in this fantastic fundraiser! She has done a splendid job!

We Are Going Big!

Our Van Meter Chapter is going all out! We want everyone to know about our fund raising, and be able to help make a difference. Our Chapter has made an appearance at a school's assemble where we discussed our fund raiser with grades Kindergarten through 5th. We have also discussed our purpose with a few junior high classes, in high hopes that they might want to join in with us, and help us make a mark in someones life.

Busy At Work!

For the past week, the Van Meter chapter has been busy at work setting up blogs, twitter, and facebook pages. Another task that we have been trying to finish is figuring out fund raisers that will help raise money for the girl that we are supporting in Tanzania. Through all of this, we have learned about working as a team, to form ideas that we can use for She's The First.

What's Our Purpose?

Our purpose for the Van Meter Chapter is to make is possible for girls in 3rd world countries to go to school and get an education. We would like to enable a girl to be the "first" in her family to get a decent paying job to have a stable family. In order for them to be successful they need to have power through knowledge. The school we would like to send a girl were sponsoring to is in Tanzania. This school is unique not only because of its purpose to allow girls to pursue an education, but because technology is also incorporated into their education. Throughout our time in She's The First, we will be holding numerous fundraisers to support girls in 3rd world countries. "She said she could do it, so she did".