Tag Archives: New Jersey

Candy, Crowns & Our Very Special Cause

MacKenzie and Kaitlin selling candy grams for a She's the First sponsorship.

I’m Kaitlin Davis, a She’s the First Ambassador and Miss Cape Shores 2011, a local title in the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation. Being a part of both organizations has given me the opportunity to bond with incredibly passionate and enthusiastic young women– one of them, Mackenzie Olson, was a contestant in the Outstanding Teen program (the “little sister” to the Miss New Jersey Pageant) when she reached out about getting involved with She’s the First last year. Through numerous coin drives and one especially pink yard sale, Kenzie successfully sponsored the education of a girl at Kopila Valley Children’s Home. I felt so proud of her, and I knew then that our special friendship was only beginning. One year later, I had the privilege of announcing that Kenzie had won Miss Cape Shores Outstanding Teen — we had officially become “pageant sisters.”

Now, if we’ve ever met, you probably know how much I love cupcakes. That’s one reason why I am so excited about the upcoming tie-dye cupcake campaign. If we’re being honest though, I am a pretty big fan of anything sweet — cupcakes, candy, desserts of all sorts. When Kenzie was crowned, we were determined to team up and capitalize on our sisterhood in honor of She’s the First. Our first initiative was to co-host a candy gram stand at several New Jersey pageants this summer.

In the lobby of the theater, we set up a table where family members and friends could purchase flowers and lollipops to send to their favorite contestants with messages of love and support. Delivering notes of confidence to nervous contestants is always a good feeling, but it was doubly special knowing that all of those donations were going to such a special cause. After the pageant, we had sold $108 in candy grams — enough for a sponsorship at Village Schools International in Tanzania!

Kenzie and I are so excited to implement our other fundraising ideas, and we’ll be sure to share our stories here. Until then, here’s to sponsorships that are sweet!

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Spread the Word — Set Up a She’s the First Info Table!

Tammy & Sanam at the She's the First info table at the library!

This weekend, the South Brunswick Public Library (hometown of She’s the First founder Tammy) invited us to have a table at the teen volunteer fair! Special thanks to Nora, the Girl Scout who hosted the event to earn her Gold Award, and YA library Saleena Davidson; and to She’s the First volunteer Sanam Ghanchi for sitting with Tammy for 3 hours at the table!

Tabling for She’s the First is a great way to raise awareness, if you’re given the opportunity to do in your school or at community events.

We got a graduation-themed table cloth, spread out She’s the First postcards, collect email addresses in a notebook, sprinkled the table with candy, and displayed our favorite books that people could check out. You can find these books on our online bookshelf here.

What are your favorite ways to decorate an info table? Give us some tips for next time!

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We Taped a Segment for News 12 New Jersey Today!

Della Crews, News 12 anchor who invited us on her show, "Spotlight NJ"

To our New Jersey “Firsts”: Tune into News 12 this weekend — you will see She’s the First featured on Della Crews‘ “Spotlight NJ” show! (We’ll upload the clip for all to see after it airs!) Special thanks to Della for her warm welcome and taking a chance on us, and to Lauren Hard, the Interactive News Producer for News 12, who pitched the idea for this segment to Della and helped produced it. The segment features…

  • a guest appearance by She’s the First*{Manhattan} President Amanda Ferrarotto, talking about her team’s successful campus fundraiser & how She’s the First shaped her into a leader
  • shout outs to our GIRLS WHO ROCK benefit concert, our bracelet by Asha Patel Designs, and celebrity spokesperson JoJo
  • video of our PSA with Gayle King at New York Women in Communication’s Matrix Awards in April 2010
  • video of the Shanti Bhavan students receiving the cards we made them at the She’s the First Soiree
  • the reasons why we focus on girls’ education & how we use social media to create social change

Would love your feedback on the segment once you see it! In the meantime, check out the photos we took, playing around behind Della’s anchor desk. :)

Lauren Hard, Tammy Tibbetts, Amanda Ferrarotto...on the magical day of 1.11.11

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Selling Her American Girl Dolls & Sponsoring a Nepali Girl

Mackenzie at her yard sale!

As we count down nine days to our GIRLS WHO ROCK benefit concert, the Twitter buzz builds, tickets are selling, the emails fire away…but as on-track as our plans may be, there’s always going to be a little stress. You know what melts all worries away? Reminders that She’s the First strikes a chord with young women and drives them to take their own action for girls around the world. The latest evidence comes from the blog of 13-year-old Mackenzie Olson, who we first wrote about when she collected change in her community to sponsor a girl in Maggie Doyne’s Kopila Valley Children’s Home.

Mackenzie was back in action to finish the $200 she needed for her sponsorship, by hosting an “All Things Girly” yard sale, selling old childhood toys. We congratulate Mackenzie on her success and hope you do too. She’s a shining star! In her blog, she writes:

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart. Pursue these.” Michael Nolan’s words are so true and She’s the First http://www.shesthefirst.org/ has truly captured my heart. She’s the First is a grassroots campaign that helps to enable girls in developing nations to have a better future with an education thru their online directory of schools with sponsorship programs.

We in America take for granted our public education, while in developing nations some girls never have the option to attend school. With an education these girls can overcome poverty, grow up to be leaders and better their world. With our help a young girl may in turn become the first in her family to graduate, the first female president of her country or even the first to discover a life saving drug. It’s possible that She’s the First but only with our help and every girl deserves the chance to be the first!

My personal mission is to help a young girl in Nepal who is living in the Kopila Valley Children’s Home. In 2007, Maggie Doyne of Mendham, New Jersey started construction on the Kopila home, in the town of Surkhet, that she built on a piece of land bought with $5,000 she had saved babysitting during high school. The vision of the home is to “sustain and improve the quality of life and the future for children of Nepal.”

How was I going to raise the money to see my mission through was my next question. With a little help from my mom, we came up with a project “Pocket Change for Change.” I figured we all have a little spare change jiggling in our pockets so why not put some collection boxes in local businesses. My good friends at Red Carpet Prom and Pageant allowed me to put one of my boxes at their register during Prom season. Wireless Electronics had one at their Berlin location and thanks to a special supporter, Janet Shaw, Kabuki Salon also had a box on display.

However, I had not raised enough money so I put my thinking cap on and decided to have a charity yard sale. “All Things Girly” was a huge success and I was excited to have my mentor, Kaitlin Davis drop by. Although I was sad to see all my American Girl dolls and clothes go I was happy to know that the money was going to a good cause.

I am proud to say that with the help from my “own village” and complete strangers I have raised enough money to start my sponsorship. I can’t wait to see who my new friend will be and start writing back and forth with her. My hope is to continue to sponsor her year after year helping this young girl become and educated young women.

By the way, I am the first in my family to speak German!

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"Pocket Change for Change" — a NJ Teen's Fundraising Idea

MacKenzie Olson was crowned Miss New Jersey Junior National Teenager and is using her title to promote good causes -- she chose to support She's the First!

Mackenzie Olson was crowned Miss New Jersey Junior National Teenager and is using her title to promote good causes -- she chose to support She's the First!

One of our She’s the First Peer Advisors, Kaitlin Davis, competes in New Jersey pageants, and like many young women, uses them as a powerful platform for articulating messages of change. When she mentors junior contestants, she tells them about She’s the First’s educational mission, and one girl, Mackenzie Olson, ran with it! No wonder she won the title of Miss New Jersey Junior National Teenager. Here’s how she’s raising money to sponsor a girl at the Kopila Valley Children’s Home in Nepal via She’s the First.

Mackenzie put Pocket Change for Change collections boxes at salons and at The Red Carpet Prom and Pageant boutique during prom season. She has raised $160 so far and on May 29th she is having a charity yard sale to raise even more money! She’ll be selling various childhood toys she doesn’t use anymore, like her American Girl doll collection.

Kenzie decided to fundraise for a She’s the First sponsorship because she said, “I feel that it is only right that everyone has a chance to get an education. I wanted to support She’s the First’s effort to make young girls like myself be the best they can be, so they have the chance to be the first!” Mackenzie has chosen to raise money for the Kopila Valley Children’s Home because the founder, Maggie Doyne, is a Jersey girl herself. She also hopes to become a pen pal to the young Nepali girl she sponsors.

Photo of a Nepali village girl, taken by Maggie Doyne, founder of the Kopila Valley Children's Home. You can sponsor a girl for $300 a year!

Photo of a Nepali village girl, taken by Maggie Doyne, founder of the Kopila Valley Children's Home. You can sponsor a girl for $300 a year!

In Kenzie’s own words, here is what she wrote on her Pocket Change for Change fliers:

Enable girls in developing nations to have a better future through education!

We in America take for granted our public education, while in developing nations some girls never have the option to attend school. With an education these girls can overcome poverty, grow up to be leaders, and better their world. Your pocket change will help a young girl who may in turn become the first in her family to graduate, the first female president of her country, or even the first to discover a life-saving drug. It’s possible that “She’s the First,” but only with your help! Every girl deserves the chance to be the first.”

Posted in Kopila Valley Children's Home and School, Miscellaneous, Sponsor Stories | Tagged , , | 2 Comments