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Monthly Archives: March 2010
Follow the Making of Syracuse University’s Concert/Carnival to Benefit She’s the First!
Exciting news from Syracuse University, where we’re piloting the She’s the First campus sponsorship program!
Chelsea Orcutt, She's the First Campus Outreach Coordinator
After quite a bit of discussion and planning, my residence hall council is organizing an exciting spring event to benefit She’s the First! I was thrilled when, after pitching the idea of sponsoring a girl, my fellow council members agreed to let the proceeds of an upcoming inter-hall event go toward helping a girl achieve her dreams through an education.
We’re planning an afternoon concert and carnival, tentatively titled “Baked Goods and Beats,” which we hope will feature performances by student musicians in the residence halls, as well as delicious baked goods provided by a legendary student baker and donated treats from bakeries near SU. Add carnival games and prizes to the mix, and this will be an afternoon to remember!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging about the steps the council and I are taking to make this big idea become a reality. From getting in touch with potential sponsors to creating promotional materials, and all the little details in between, I hope to create a useful model for an event that other students can implement on their campuses to benefit She’s the First!
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The First She's the First Benefit Sale! (You Can Host One Too!)
Sammy Davis Vintage hosts the first benefit sale for She's the First!
Want to support the She’s the First network of sponsorship programs, but you’re low on cash? A $200 or $300 sponsorship for a girl doesn’t have to come solely from your bank account. Get social and creative with your fundraising! Sammy Davis shows us how it’s done.
Sammy is hosting the very first benefit sale for She’s the First in NYC on April 18th! Her brand, Sammy Davis Vintage, works to help women achieve style with substance for feel-good, do-good fashion. As a result, she will donate $200 of her proceeds from her sale to sponsor a teen girl in Haiti! The student she’s supporting comes from the Haiti Outreach Program, a member of the She’s the First network. And guess what? Katie Riley, the University of Tennessee student leader for the organization, will be road tripping to NYC to personally attend and speak to shoppers about the cause!
Sammy’s Vintage Lovin’ Birthday Benefit Sale is open to all — click here for details. Read on for a brief interview with Sammy to learn the secrets of effectively hosting your own fundraiser to sponsor a girl!
Q: Why did you decide to sponsor a girl in Haiti through your sale?
Sammy Davis
I chose to sponsor a girl in Haiti in particular because of the country’s recent natural crisis. While there has been an outpouring of relief aid and donation to the country since the earthquake, I want to leave an impact that is not just a temporary band aid but one which will benefit both the sponsored girl and her community now and in the future. Sponsoring a girl’s education is the greatest gift: the gift of opportunity and economic, cultural advancement.
Q: Is this type of event easy to plan? If I was to get my sorority/friends together to host a big yard sale or used clothing sale to fundraise for sponsoring a girl, what should our first steps be?
Is planning a party easy? More importantly, is planning a party fun? Yes and YES!
To plan an event to raise money to sponsor a girl, you need three key things: 1) a product to sell or entertainment to offer, 2) Facebook or email account and 3) your open heart and enthusiasm!
It’s as easy as that. Take what you know how to do, something that you might even deem a “hobby,” and advertise those services and/or fun to your friends and family. As word spreads, the growth will take care of itself – it’s amazing how many “friends of friends” are attending my benefit sale, and I can’t wait to make the new connections!
Do your roommates drool over your homemade cupcakes? Sell them between classes on campus – word will spread of your tasty treats and of the good cause you are promoting! Next thing you know, you may even be featured in the student newspaper or on your friends’ blogs. Take positive, inspiring action and the press and promotion will come to you.
Are you a runner? Sign up for an endurance run and promise to train on behalf of raising money for sponsorship. Send out an email blast to your friends and family linking them to a site like First Giving, where they can donate money like a PayPal account.
Don’t want to run alone? Grab your gym partners to join in, make T-shirts promoting your cause, and then send pics of you crossing the finish line to She’s the First for post-run congratulations on the blog!
Sketch of pieces from the Sammy Davis Vintage collection, by Bridget McMullan.
The possibilities are endless – it’s just about applying what you know!
Q: I live in New York City. Can anyone come to your sale on April 18th?
Absolutely! The space is open to the public and easily marked. Just let the doorman know you are there for the “benefit sale,” and take the elevator to floor 2. The space is in suite 2B (you’ll probably be able to hear the sounds of merriment!) and we will welcome you and any of your friends with open arms. Arrive early for awesome door prizes!
Sign up for the Sammy Davis Vintage listerv to learn more about the girl I am sponsoring, to receive very special discount coupons for the event, and to get a preview of the vintage goodies and treats in store!
Need Inspiring Music? Download DVF's "Proud to Be Woman" CD
Did you know that designer Diane von Furstenberg compiled a 12-track CD full of girl-power music, to fundraise for women worldwide? Proceeds from her “Proud to be Woman” album benefit Vital Voices, a non-profit that invests in emerging and established women leaders worldwide who are combating violence, encouraging political participation, and building successful businesses. Educating girls of course is the first step to ensuring that there will be many more of these women leaders in the future. One of our favorite songs on the CD is performed below, “Free Me” by Joss Stone. The lyrics speak to breaking barriers and could just as well be part of a She’s the First soundtrack:
“Don’t tell me that I won’t
I can
Don’t tell me that I’m not
I am
Don’t tell me that my master plan
Ain’t coming true (yeah!)”
Which song from the CD — or which song on your own playlist — most inspires you to achieve your goals?
Prom Dress Sale Sends 30 Students to School in Haiti
Haiti Outreach Program volunteers: Katie Erpenbach, Jessica Henderson and Katie Riley
The Haiti Outreach Program, a member of the She’s the First network, discovered a creative way to support girls’ education in the developing world — recycle prom dresses! On Feb. 27th, Katie Riley and other college student volunteers at the University of Tennessee hosted Fierce & Fancy Formals, a fashion show and prom dress sale that raised $6,000 – enough to send 30 students to secondary school in Haiti!
The prom dress fundraiser for the Haiti Outreach Program was a huge success! Natalie Williams pictured.
The fundraiser featured a silent auction, a fashion show, and then a shopping event where girls could purchase once-expensive prom dresses at bargain prices, browsing an assortment of more than 400 donated dresses.
In an interview with the online magazine hercampus.com, Katie recently spoke about the huge impact that a creative, fun fundraiser can have, when you leverage the small contributions of the college and high school women around you. “For just $100 you can send a child to school for a year, and that’s really not a lot of money at all,” she said. “Take what you’re good at and find a way to apply it to Haiti (or whatever cause you care about). I will never be a doctor—I don’t even have the slightest interest in medicine—but I’m great at planning events, uniting volunteers and getting people excited about something so I have found a way to make it work. You can plan something that works in your community too. My sorority sisters love the idea of a dress sale. If you have a lot of friends who like to cook, host a bake sale! Just remember that no contribution is too small.”
We love the idea of sending a girl to school by doing something as simple as donating your birthday to the cause (instead of having people buy you a gift or drinks at the bar, ask them to donate $10) or hosting a benefit concert or sale. My friend Sammy Davis, a vintage fashion curator, is having a clothing sale on April 18th in NYC and donating $200 of the proceeds to sponsor a girl in the Haiti Outreach Program.
Continue the trend of fashionable fundraisers! How can you use your talents to sponsor a girl’s education, enabling her to break barriers and become a “first”?
Posted in Haiti Outreach Program, Sponsor Stories
Tagged prom dresses, University of Tennessee
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Why We Need Guys to Support Our Girls
Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof, authors of "Half the Sky," Pulitzer-Prize winning journalists, and world-changing spouses
Thursday night, I attended a showing of “Half the Sky Live,” the one-night-only, nationally screened event that brought the book Half the Sky by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn to life. Half the Sky follows the stories of extraordinary women around the globe as they struggle to overcome oppression. It calls for the education of girls as the solution to the world’s problems. This event, originally taped at NYU in February, featured musical performances, celebrity commentary, and the world premiere of a short film “Woineshet,” co-directed by Marisa Tomei.
As we watched “Half the Sky Live” at the Loews of Union Square, what I most admired was that it didn’t feel like a girl’s club…it was a co-ed show of concern and call for action. That’s exactly what we want for She’s the First. Yes, our name is feminine but the campaign isn’t exclusive to women — the action we encourage needs guys’ support too, because when all are educated, families have higher incomes, healthier children, and greater happiness. Here’s where I think “Half the Sky Live” triumphed in sending this message:
1. Most obviously, the book backing this movement for women and girls was authored by a male, Nicholas Kristof, who’s dedicated his career as a journalist to shedding light on the most neglected women, whose own countrymen have cast them in the shadows.
2. The show opened with a call to action by CARE Ambassador Michael Franti, an American musician. Many high-profile women participated in the event — Marisa Tomei, Sarah, Dutchess of York, Maria Bello, India.Arie — so the choice of a male opener was definitely strategic.
3. In Marisa Tomei and Lisa Leone’s short film “Woineshet,” which reenacted the true story of an Ethiopian teenager who was raped and then protested a forced marriage to her rapist, special emphasis is placed on Woineshet’s father supporting his daughter despite cultural taboos. As The Washington Post had reported, “Woineshet’s father recalled that he felt caught between the draw of the modern world in the capital and the traditions of the village. He said he was offered bribes of cows and cash by local elders to keep quiet. He also endured pressure from some members of his family, who thought that Woineshet should marry her abductor. Ethiopian law absolves abductors of their crime if they marry their victims.” But because he stood by Woineshet, she was saved and a new law precedent was set, protecting many other victims. Both Woineshet and her father were at the live event and received standing ovations.
She’s the First is incredibly inspired by Half the Sky‘s growth since publication last year. Just as the book ignited a whole movement that now incorporates music, film, educated panel discussions, and grassroots book clubs to spread awareness in the mainstream, we hope our small beginnings with a PSA video take on a multiplatform presence in the artistic, political, and online worlds as well. But we need you too, guys! So ladies, send this to your guy friends on Facebook and encourage them to link up to the campaign.
We're 1,000 Fans and Growing on Facebook!
We just reached 1,000 Facebook fans!
She’s the First believes social media can create social change, which is why our campaign thrives off of our YouTube PSAs, Twitter feed, and Facebook fan page. For that reason, we are thrilled to announce that our fan page on Facebook has surpassed 1,000 fans! (If you didn’t know we are on Facebook, you can join us now and help us get to the next milestone of 1,500!) We always cross-promote our blog posts and share thoughtful links on the value of girls’ education on Facebook. You can contribute to the cause simply by sharing those links to your own News Feed or posting our videos to your wall.
Thank you all for your tremendous support and interest! Together we are going to drive so many sponsorships for girls worldwide in 2010.
Sponsor Spotlight: The Stoltz Family
Rachel King, Liberian student sponsored by the Stoltz family
I can still hear the excitement in my dad’s voice as he called home to tell me to check my e-mail. My mom, younger brother Eric and I ran upstairs and hovered over my computer, anxiously waiting to see our students. As soon as their pictures loaded, Eric beamed, saying, “Our new brother and sister!” My parents, Eric, and I felt as if we had two new little children to look after. It’s incredible how instantaneous of a bond we felt; we had gained two new members to our family!
This past December, my family made the decision to sponsor two students at the MacDella Cooper Foundation (MCF). Through Blaire Brody, MCF’s Sponsorship Coordinator, we learned that our students’ names were Rachel King, 8, and Alex Garway, 7. Both attend school in Monrovia, Liberia at the Action Faith Institute. We were happy to learn that they are both fantastic students! Blaire informed us that they consistently receive high grades and are doing very well in school. They will transfer to the MCF Academy in Fall 2010, where they will receive an education at Liberia’s first post-war boarding school.
Each MCF scholarship costs $300. For that fee, a child can receive an education and meals for a year, as well as school supplies, a uniform, and have their medical needs covered! Because my family chose to be a visible sponsor, we can send Rachel and Alex letters, photographs, and care packages, as well as receive their grades.
As I write this now, I’m looking at a picture of Rachel and Alex and wondering what they hold in store for the day. I’m studying in the library and hoping that maybe they are reading a good book or playing with friends. I truly feel as if they are my little sister and brother and would love more than anything to visit them, play with them, and help them study.
Thanks to She’s the First and the MCF, I know that my family is helping Rachel accomplish her dreams. Receiving an education has allowed me so many opportunities and I hope that now the same can be true for Rachel. Even though we are separated by thousands of miles, I hope to encourage Rachel that she can be the first to do anything and let her know that my family is so thrilled to support her every step of the way.
Elizabeth Stoltz is Activities Coordinator for She’s the First and a freshman at Ithaca College.