Attempted (read: failed) philanthropy

So, a bummer:

A week or so ago, I found out that some people in my area were getting together to put together a bake sale. The money would to toward Obama's campaign, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to jump into YoP action! Because if you haven't picked it up by now, I love me some Barack Obama.

I got in touch with a woman who was really put together... the kind of person who leaves perfect voicemails with the phone number clearly stated at the beginning and end. Awesome. And Bradley was pumped up, and I was going to bake my special Splookies (cookies made with Splenda instead of sugar) and all would be delightful.

In one of her voicemails, the aforementioned woman mentioned that it might also help to bring something like lemonade because so many people had already signed up to bring baked goods. This ended up working perfectly for me when, on the night before the bake sale, my dad left a plastic-handled knife in the oven and I cooked it. I decided to pick up some absolutely succulent Chik-Fil-A lemonade in the morning instead of bringing cookies that tasted of plastic fumes.

Saturday, the day of the bake sale, everything went according to plan. I somehow wedged myself out of bed before the crack of noon (it's my Saturday tradition), shower up, and swing by Chick-Fil-A to get a gallon of iced tea and a gallon of lemonade. Just so you know, in case this comes up in your future... a gallon of iced tea is about $4. A gallon of lemonade is closer to $9.

So Bradley and I drive all over Beechmont looking for the bake salers, finally locating them in front of a small grocer's right off of Beechmont Avenue. Here's where things take a turn for the weird...

We approach the table carrying mounds of cups and our gallon jugs. We are all smiles as we approach the table... and no one really looks at us. Bradley and I cast each other glances and I say something inane like "We brought the lemonade!" One guy at the end of the table says unsurely that "You can probably set up here," and clears us a little space on the table. I set up the cups and notice that no one else has given me the time of day yet. Bradley doesn't even have room to stand by me and is kind of awkwardly just pacing around the side of the table.

So I try to make people talk to me. "Um. So! I don't know how much to charge for the lemonade." The woman at my side (there were probably four people there, selling) just shrugged. The guy, still the only one even trying to be helpful, says "Well I'll give you $1 for a cup right now." I thank my stars that I have something to do with my hands for a minute and I pour him a cup; he accepts it and disappears.

There are probably five more minutes of awkward standing around while I try to think of something to say or do here. I tell the woman next to me that I made a dollar; is there a communal till where I can put it?
WOMAN: What would you like?
ME: I sold some lemonade. Just not sure what to do with the money.
WOMAN: Is there something I can box up for you?
ME: ...No. I made a dollar. I sold some lemonade.
WOMAN: Oh! I thought you brought the lemonade.
ME: *stares*

At this point I am completely confused and still no one is talking to me. I am not sure how to combat this. Suddenly I hear through the grapevine that we are being asked to leave; we don't have permission to sell here, and we have to relocate. I ask where we are going, and no one responds as they all pack up their stuff. In their defense maybe no one knew where we were going, but I felt so outcast by then that I was over it. I gave Bradley a look-- he was still lingering by himself on the sidewalk-- and he gave me what I took to be nonverbal permission to bail. I gathered up the 95% full gallons and headed to my car. We drove home.

Basically, I spent $14 and made $1 for Obama's campaign. I met no new people, I had a miserable time, and I have a bad taste in my mouth. Thank gawd I didn't bake my fabulous cookies.

Since then, the organizer woman (who I believe was not at the table at the time, though I wouldn't know because no one introduced themselves even when I tried to tell them my name), called me later. She did not know that I had been there and left a very sweet message apologizing and telling me what had happened (about it being canceled because they had to leave, and she thought she had permission but not from the right person, etc). I am fairly certain that if she had been there things would have been different... someone would have at least said hello to me when I walked up carrying gallons of liquid for pete's sake.

And the saddest part is that I was rarin' to go, to get a good bit of philanthropy under my belt for a cause I truly believe in. I'm sure there will be more events like this in the near future but I know I'll hesitate next time (especially when it involves waking up on a Saturday, haha).

Donor roll?

That title was supposed to be a play on "honor roll" but it doesn't pronounce right. I'm like 1 for 3 right now.

Anyway, I know I'm being a little inconsistent with my blogging here, but I just noticed that Bradley and I are 2 weeks away from our next blood donation and I was wondering if anyone who reads this was also thinking about donating at that time. Like maybe you haven't in a couple of months, or maybe you haven't ever and you're just looking for someone to ask you to do it? I'm asking.

It's not much of a milestone but it will roughly mark the end of six months... half of a Year of Philanthropy. And if I am successful in my donation it'll be awesome because my brother Ryan challenged me to give as much blood as I can this year, and by donating every eight weeks I'm doing exactly that.

Can you believe it's been sixish months? Any takers on the bloooood challenge? No pressure, just thought I'd put it out there. :D

Postlay

Alright, "Postlay" was supposed to be the counter to "Prelay," but it ended up sounding like something else altogether. ;) At any rate, I'm home and rested after a fun night at Relay for Life.

Bradley and I only ended up spending around 3 hours there, from about 11pm to 2am. I had hoped to stay longer but I was zonked, and needed to be awake enough for the 45-minute drive home. But in those 3 hours I had a great time talking with my friend Kate, her brother Nick, and of course my constant companion The Bradster.

We were disappointed to find that the event had been moved indoors-- if you've ever been to a Relay, you know that there's a very unique experience tied to being outdoors all night, having hundreds of people circle you on the track as you watch the stars or cut the heck out of your fingers in a forzen t-shirt contest.

When Kate called to say that the event would be moved to the Harrison High School Activity Center I was hoping that the same energy and unique experience would still be there, but I have to say it wasn't. All of the fun and games, instead of happening in the nucleus of an outdoor track, took place in some room out in the lobby. Instead of pitching tents all across the field, people slept on the hard floor on sleeping bags, or in camp chairs pulled into a remote corner. And most depressingly, by the time Bradley and I left at 2, there were only a handful of people still walking the track. There were still 10 hours to go! Last year was pretty miserable by noon but there were still probably 2 dozen people sticking it out. I don't know if there was anyone at the resolution today, but some part of me kind of doubts it. (In the end, it didn't even rain.)

But! We still had a great time and it was fantastic to meet up with Kate again (and meet her hermano). If I find out how much the event raised for cancer research I will let you know-- I'd bet they pulled in a lot of money, because there were some fantastic vendors there with all kinds of delicious foods and creative raffles. Not to mention the necessary Miss Relay contest...


And as if this post weren't scrolling quite long enough yet, here are two quick videos that I took during the walk. The first: Bradley on his third lap. The second: an impromptu dance to "Only the Good Die Young," which is an entirely inappropriate song to be playing at a cancer vigil.

Relay for Life 2008 from Erica on Vimeo.

Relay for Life from Erica on Vimeo.

Prelay

It's Friday, June 13th, which means it's pre-Relay for Life... or Prelay! *beam*

Relay for Life is a 16-hour vigil/walk to raise money for cancer research. I've done it for years now in various capacities: in college as an improviser (the events have tons of entertainment like bands, contests and magic shows), then afterwards as improv, as support, and eventually as ringleader for a company team.

This year I'm not wrangling coworkers, but my friend Kate is heading up a team so Bradley and I will be spending a few hours with her tonight. I'll give you more stories tomorrow, but for now enjoy these pictures from last year.

Donation!

I have been listening to WVXU (my local NPR member station) for about a year now. Before WVXU I often listened to nothing in the car.

Now, I'm not sure how I would survive without the station. That is where I get my news-- I do not watch news on television (no cable, and I am not watching local news if I can avoid it), and I do not read the news on the web (I get about 60 items per hour through my feed reader, so I don't need any more). As a direct result of WVXU I have become more political, more aware, more interested, more broadly horizon'd.

They're currently in pledge drive mode, and today was Two-Hour Tuesday. Apparently what this means is that they have two hours (8-10am) where if they make $x, they will stop fundraising for the entire day. Say whaaaaa?

But I'm broke, which has been my defense on this blog as to why I haven't made any philanthropic donations this year. Just as I was getting out of my car this morning, Maryanne Zeleznik said these words: "It doesn't matter if it's $25 or $250... every bit helps."

So I rushed into work, logged on, and spent two minutes and $25. That's what I can afford this time around... maybe during the next pledge drive I can contribute a little bit more.

*hugs her little piece of NPR*

Dump

Lewis gave me a bit of a guilt trip about blogging here. ;) And though I don't expect you to take my word for it, I am not a lazy blogger-- the fact of the matter is, I've been having an unexpectedly hard time with this project and specifically blogging about it. Whenever I do some random act of kindness, I really feel like I would be canceling it out by posting it here. Isn't philanthropy about doing something good without the "hey, look at me" factor? It's something I didn't really consider before starting this project.

But I'm not quitting. I just won't be posting as much minutia as I would have predicted. And to get back on the right track, I finally got rid of my thrift store pile!

For months... and months... and months (well, since January 1st actually, so 4+ months) I have had a growing pile of items that I wanted to give to the Salvation Army. As time wore on the pile grew, and as the pile grew, my motivation to MOVE the pile dwindled. Imagine that. ;)

But my dad, who is one of the best examples of a caring and generous person that I could ever think of, mentioned off hand that he was headed to the Salvation Army to look for something. And dad has a truck. So I piled an entire hallway of stuff into the truck-- if you've ever seen an episode of Clean Sweep, it felt a little like that.


This is small potatoes, but anytime I can give up anything, it is a big deal to me. I am Queen Packrat of the Highest Order-- just ask anyone who knows me. In FACT, here's a bit of a conversation that happened this very morning, to help illustrate my point:

ME: (watching some kid's claymation show about a blue dragon)
DAD: Aw, he reminds me of this little stuffed dragon that you had when you were little.
ME: (running upstairs, returning with the dragon)
DAD: I cannot believe you still have that.
ME: Dad. It's me.
DAD: ...Good point. Not really surprising at all.

And what's interesting to note about this point isn't that I have junk from my pre-walking years, but that I know where all the stuff is. Things, and memories associated with those things, are incredible and tangibly important to me, but I am not the girl with boxes of photos that she has never really looked at. I am the girl with tons of boxes of photos who would notice if a photograph went missing.

Anyway, blah blah blah, enough about me. The point is, I worked really hard to get rid of Stuff. There are tons of clothes in that pile, some of which I still love but never wear. There are more toys from my childhood, knickknacks from around my room, blank journals (*pain*), etc etc etc. And they will make someone very happy. And the Salvation Army, who has supplied me with so many awesome artifacts that god knows I will lug around for the rest of my life (see Catfish Purse, below), will make some money with my Stuff and keep people employed and probably start some crusade against homosexuality that I will eventually have to acknowledge.

More blood from turnips

I know, I know. It's been a while. I have plenty to talk about but I've been out of time lately. Today, however: a mitzvah!

It has been eight weeks since I last donated blood, which means it's time again to bare the ol' arm. But this time I was not alone in my endeavor-- my brother Bradley has been old enough as of January, barely weighs enough, and has been excited to jump on the Year of Philanthropy train.


We've been prepping since yesterday... chugging water and taking iron and whatnot. On the drive to Hoxworth I gave Bradley the run-through of what to expect when we were there.

My appointment was a little earlier than his, so I went first... no problems in screening, even with iron. Yea! And when I got to The Chair, of course there were problems finding a vein. Of course there were. But they called in a woman nicknamed "Radar" who can supposedly always find a vein, and a few awkward squeezes and jabs later, I was all hooked up.

And here's where it gets funny: Bradley wasn't even hooked up until I was already in the middle of my donation, and still almost beat me to being finished. He has been taunting me all day with how he's a better blood donor than I am... but if you've been following this blog at all, you know I'm already the worst in the world anyway, so it pretty much rolled off my back.

So that is two successful blood donations today! And for myself, three this year! Next one should be at the end of June, but I'll make sure to post here before then. ;)