MindShare 2012: Brighter Together

This might be a little lazy, but I copied and pasted this from my Steelcase blog. I didn't want you to be confused by all the capital letters at the beginning of the sentences! Anyway, read on: )

Yesterday I took a day off from the nourishment bar to volunteer with the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation. Since I'm from the east-side of the state, I wasn't aware of this wonderful organization until about a month ago. Jill Wilterdink, a wonderful lady that I also wasn't aware of until about a month ago, told me about them and suggested I get in contact with them. Well, I emailed to see if they needed any volunteers for their annual fundraiser, and it turns out they were eager to put me to work!

GRSAF raises money to help Grand Rapids Public Schools students play sports, learn instruments, take field trips, have school supplies, and so much more. Their goal is that one day, there will be no barriers for students to reach their full potential. MindShare brought together over 600 people who believe in and support that goal. The event was wonderful! There was a silent auction of GRPS student art, and wow, these kids are super talented! After that, an all-ages, multiple school student choir performed and received a standing ovation from the crowd. There was also a live auction hosted by Judge Sara Smolenski, who was hilarious. She told a story of her college basketball days, when she accidentally showed the audience her underpants whilst attempting to remove just her sweats before entering the game. She did a great job of encouraging attendees to empty their wallets for the cause, which was in the area of physical wellness. The energy at the event was so great, and we are very lucky to have an organization in Grand Rapids that cares so much about this cause, especially when funding in continuously cut to sports, art, and music!

Here is a link to an article about the event: MindShare draws 700, raises $150,000 in sponsorships to support Grand Rapids students | MLive.com and below are a couple photos - credit to the event photographer (I don't know his name)!

Have any of you ever been to MindShare? What other organizations do you support in Grand Rapids (or beyond)?

Scrambled Eggs

so i took a break from the blog again, but then i had a meeting yesterday where i was asked by two people if i write. i think they asked because i really like social media, but i was still surprised that they both wondered this. so i told them about this dinky blog and found some motivation from that scenario to update!

team zissou (my trivia team) has been in full swing these last few weeks trying to get invited to the finals. i don't think we will make it, but it's been fun going more often and testing our knowledge. last night at gipper's we won! i mainly contributed on the beatles question, "what huge beatles ballad did paul mccartney call 'scrambled eggs' until he actually wrote the lyrics?" i guessed "yesterday" because of the number of syllables, and scored one for team zissou. i will let you know if we make it to finals this season!

lately i've been keeping busy with meeting lots of new people per nancy's (my steelcase mentor) kindness, helpfulness, and large network of people. everyone has been so helpful and interesting in their own way, and i definitely appreciate people taking the time to talk with me. it's been difficult to make a name for myself in grand rapids because i'm not from here, but i have some hope now! one exciting opportunity that has come out of this is that i am volunteering for mindshare next tuesday. mindshare is an annual event put on by the grand rapids student advancement foundation, which raises money to benefit the grand rapids public school system. without them, many students wouldn't have access to musical instruments, graphing calculators, or new books in the library. it should be a really great event, and i never complain when a vegetarian amway meal is involved: )

more later. cleanin' time!

i leave you with a couple pictures from our easter brunch for dinner. i hope you all had a relaxing easter!