Our final group meeting

This weekend marked our final get together before we embark on our journey to Haiti. I can't believe how quickly it seems to have come around, it seems like just yesterday we were looking at potential destinations!

We decided to spread our meetings around different parts of LaSER so that they could be accessible for all of the participants, so this weekend we headed to camp on one of LaSER’s own sites - Cudham Shaws. I'd never been there before so that's an adventure in itself! One thing you'll quickly learn about me is that many things can be considered an adventure, so you can only imagine how massive an adventure Haiti will be!)

The weekend

I left work at 4.45pm sharp, and got the train straight to Orpington, which is the station nearest to Cudham.

We are lucky that so many people in the group drive, so Eleanor picked myself and Zahra up from Orpington station and drove us to the site. Joyous train delays means that we arrived at the campsite an hour after we had intended, but actually it meant that most of the tents had already been pitched and it was almost dinner time - excellent!

After a fantastic meal of sweet potatoes and a selection of toppings (outdoorsy people, I'd highly recommend it as an option for cooking outside), we sat around catching up and ensuring we all knew what we wanted to get out of the weekend.

On Saturday, Eleanor had very kindly organised for us to do some bag packing at the local supermarket. We were only there from 10am - 12pm, but the people of Orpington were clearly in a very giving mood! Over the course of two hours, we raised £268.32 which was very impressive considering many people just seemed to pay us to hear about the project. Everyone was extremely positive and supportive, in many cases engaging with their own experiences of guiding and. All in all, our morning was very enjoyable - thanks Orpington!

Later, at the campsite, we shared a selection of non-verbal icebreakers and water themed games that we may be able to run with the groups we meet in Haiti. I also found that many of these translate to using with my Rainbows and Brownies, so that's a bonus! Perhaps we’ll share some of them if anyone is interested in some fresh ideas for work/youth groups.

We reviewed the proposed itinerary and have come up with a few questions that we’ll want to ask of the organisation we are volunteering with in Haiti - it's always nice when you realise you're all thinking along the same lines! Hopefully we'll be able to have a Skype call or something similar before we meet at Heathrow.

Saturday evening we sat around the fire, sharing potential songs that we may be able to ‘entertain’ our new friends with in Haiti. It was, surprisingly harder than anticipated! We picked out a couple of favourites, however, will be able to practice them while we wait for our plane transfer from Atlanta. I glad to say I learned a handful of new songs that will be taken back to various campfire events in the future.

We spent Sunday morning striking the tents and tidying the site, before reviewing everything we had talked about over the weekend. There are a few independent tasks that we will need to fit in before the trip, so I may write about those when I get round to them. I would also like to squeeze in another fundraising event but I don't know how feasible that will be as time really is ticking.

Not long now!

There's still time to donate!

Easter Egg Trail

On Sunday 20th March 2016, I held my first ever Easter Egg hunt. It was, of course, in aid of my fundraising to volunteer in Haiti. 

The idea came from a conversation with my colleague, Anna, in December 2015, where we were trying to think of national events that I may be able to target for fundraisers. By this time, Christmas had snuck up far too quickly to be able to plan anything for that!

That's when we realised that an Easter trail may be just the ticket. The ideal place would be my local park, so I set about contacting my council to get venue permissions, and sign-off for the event as a whole. 

Covering all basis, I also contacted the police to let them know about the event just in case any ‘unsavoury types’ tried to gate-crash but I didn't have any response - good thing the event didn't have any problems like that! I think given a budget and bigger timescale (this was primarily run on a £25 voucher donation from Tesco Goodmayes!) we may have held additional stalls such as cake stalls and external companies. 

Trained in safeguarding and risk management, I didn't want to plan anything too much until I had full authorisation so it meant leaving quite a lot to last minute! As soon as I had had a detailed communication from the council, in February, it was all systems go to get the show on the road! 

Timeline 

Posters designed - end Jan 

 Advertising - launched 8th February 

 (Netmums, Facebook, Twitter) 

Wrote to press - 1st March 

 Posters distributed to youth groups - 3rd March 

Posters up around the town - 7th-11th March 

Buying face paint/brushes/sponges - 14th March

Designing answer sheet - 15th March 

Printing of consent forms - 17th March 

Clue writing and face paint picture printing - 18th March 

Gazebo collection - 18th March 

Laminating Easter Egg clues - 19th March 

Obtaining tables and chairs - 20th March (nothing like last minute!) 

Event day - 20th March 

 The event was much more of a success than I had anticipated, seeing over 50 children attend, and an amazing £174 made! 

As with any project, we have been able to identify a few areas of potential improvement for any future events and there are definitely elements that I will be able to take forward to upcoming fundraisers. 

Just £1994.70 to go!

You'll never guess where we're going!

This weekend my team met up for the first time since selection, for a two day 'training' (not really training, but I don't know how else to describe it!) event. We had the opportunity to hear from people who had been on other international trips, and quiz them about all things money and prep. It was fantastic to watch videos and see photographs from service trips all over the world, particularly Team Ecuador from 2014 as they are all the same age as us. Younger groups have trips planned for them, whilst older groups plan it themselves which is what we are doing. It was great to see how Team Ecuador found the planning stages, and it helped put our minds at rest as well (we've been feeling rather unprepared!)

Then we spent quite a few hours researching and working out where we will be going. Talk about improving researching skills! 

Before we met up, we had all completed a Survey Monkey to see what part of the world we wanted to go to. This meant that the research was already narrowed down to the Caribbean and South America, but where did we actually want to go?

We examined books and websites, and eventually narrowed our choices down to three possible countries, and took a vote:

Dominican Republic 

Haiti

Puerto Ricco

We completed a tally, voting for two choices each. It took a very long time but we eventually settled on Haiti! 

My knowledge of Haiti is pretty limited, learning a little of the geographical background whilst at college but I am taking the time to find out more about it.

Haiti, an island with a population of 8 million, is the poorest country in the Americas. It's 2015, and the literacy rate is still incredibly low, with 60% of those aged 15 and over being able to read and write. That said, it's gradually increasing and continues to do so. 

The next step is planning the intricate details of our volunteering; we've been looking at an organisation called 'Volunteers for Peace' who specialise in volunteering in Haiti. Their programmes fit in really well with what we would like to do, and we are hoping to work with young people affected by the earthquake in 2010. We would learn and teach them about the environment and ecology of their local area and how to live in harmony with it.

The trip going to cost in the region of £2800, which seems slightly more manageable than the £3000 we initially estimated. I am aiming for £3000 though, as then I have a bit of excess if costs end up being a bit more than we anticipate. Still not entirely sure how I'm going to get so much money together, but hoping there will be lots of opportunities! 

So, it's all systems go on the fundraising front now! 

Until another time, 

*this post was copied over from my other site. To read the original, click here.

LaSERIO 2016 Update

A little while ago I mentioned that I had been lucky enough to be selected for an international service trip called LaSERIO, in 2016. We have still yet to work out where we are going or what we will be doing as the community action aspect of the trip, but I can understand that it will take some time as it's a case of being able to pair the task and location up together. For example, Haiti is an option which has been raised a few times as they are still recovering from the earthquake in 2008 and still need support out there. It's an ongoing discussion but hopefully a decision will be made soon as it makes fundraising very difficult. After all, when you're looking to raise such a vast amount of money, the first question people ask is where you're going, and more importantly where their money is going. The team leaders have now carried out a survey to collate suggestions, so hopefully it won't be too long before we find out! 

Despite this, I like feeling prepared and often find myself feeling quite queezy when I realise I've note really begun fundraising yet.

With this in mind,move got a few ideas in the pipeline - some of which seem more plausible than others. Ideas so far are as follows:

- Bag packing: This guiding classic is one that people have been doing for years, and although it's hard work, it can raise a fair bit of money. Oh hi, Christmas shoppers! The downside to this is that ideally you need quite a large group depending on the size of the store, and the other people going on the trip live a fair distance away so it may be difficult for them all to get involved. 

- Quiz sheets: This is something I did at primary school a couple of times and can raise a hundred pounds fairly quickly. The idea is that people pay £1 to take a quiz sheet and fill it in, and when it's returned, they are entered into the prize draw for a prize, whilst I get to keep all of the money. My plan is to do one at work and one perhaps at a local guiding event. Typically with quizzes such as this, they would be based on the place you're visiting but I imagine that if I hold off to do that it will take far too long to get any money raised at all. To combat this, I'm currently pulling together one based on a 'where in the world' theme. There will also be an actual quiz evening with different questions, if all goes well. 

- Stamps: I overheard someone doing this and thought it would be worth a try, so have signed up to www.fundraisingstamps.com. The aim is to collect as many stamps as possible, of a high quality (at least, not damaged...) and then when sent in I get paid by weight.

- Calendar draw: Hoping to do this at a couple of events, as it is a bit more interesting than a typical raffle. Basically, participants pay £1 or £2 for a specific date and then the dates are pulled out of a hat to win a prize once all of the boxes/dates have been sold. 

- Easyfundraising: the one method I have definitely got under way now is using the website 'Easyfundraising'. This website links to most sites you make purchases from and the companies donate a small percentage of the item cost to my cause. They also have a site called 'easysearch' which is a search engine and every search made through it will raise a small amount of money. You can check out my page here: www.easyfundraising.org.uk/francescajones16 

So, there are a few ideas at least... When we were first given the estimated cost of the trip, I saw it as a challenge and was so excited to try and raise that much money. Now, however, I'm getting quite worried, because £3000 is quite a lot of money to pull together in nine months or so. The ideas I've had so far don't seem as though they will raise vast amounts, with several of the ideas potentially making £100 each, and the stamps (if I'm lucky!) making £10.

*this post was copied over from my other site. To read the original, click here

Map of World with Countries and US, Canadian and Australian States from FreeVectorMaps.com

Early days

In March 2015 this year I was lucky enough to be selected for an international trip called 'LaSERIO'. It's specially designed for 18-26 year olds in Girlguiding's London and South East Region (LaSER) and the idea is that those who go on the trip will plan and fundraise for it themselves.

It's relatively early days so far, but we have finally found most people on social media which gives the chance to chat about any concerns and initial ideas that we may have. This is pretty vital as we are all really spread out, and our first official meeting won't take place until October! I've also started a couple of Google Docs on which we have been developing any team fundraising ideas, The trip will be taking place in the summer of next year so it will be good to have some ideas and fundraising together before then. 

We will be raising in the region of £3000 each which I'm quite excited for, but also fairly anxious about. My last fundraising attempt was to fund the printing of a short story anthology at university; we did some bake sales, quiz nights, and crowd-funding. We only made £800 in total, but then again the target was far lower. I hope to try of the things I did last time, but will increase my efforts somewhat. If anyone has any suggestions, do let me know! 

I have no doubt I will blog about this exciting opportunity again in the coming months, and I do plan to blog consistently whilst I'm out there (wherever 'there' may be!), although that may be hosted on a separate account. I'll let you know :) 

Until next time, 

*this post was copied over from my other site. To read the original, click here.