Our next MAD project will be Trick or Treat for UNICEF. I'm sure almost everybody has seen the signature orange collection boxes before!


Here's how it works - after receiving your orange box, you simply go around asking people to donate to UNICEF. Click on the link above for more information about UNICEF and the Trick or Treat Fund. Since Trick or Treat for UNICEF started, kids just like you have managed to raise over $100 million dollars to help children in underprivileged and duster-stricken areas. For the first time ever, UNICEF funds will be used in the United States for Hurricane Katrina relief. Click on the link for details.

We will be distributing the orange collection boxes at our next meeting on Tuesday, October 4th at 3:45 in room 233. You will have until Tuesday, November 1 to collect donations. You will turn in your boxes at our November 1 meeting. For each $20 you collect, you will receive one event credit. If our club raises $250 by the end of the month, we'll have a party to celebrate!

Every penny counts! I'll have a fact sheet posted up soon. Copies will be available at our next meeting. If you or someone you know wants to participate but cannot make it to the meeting, please comment with you name, reg, and email and I'll have a box sent to your reg ASAP.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments!

Hey everyone! Just a reminder for those who signed up - Walk for Hope is tomorrow! Please be there at least 15 minutes before your shift starts to sign in. We will meet at Justin Herman Plaza on Market and Steuart (Click for map). Look for a booth labeled "VOLUNTEERS". There will be at least one officer present at the beginning of each shift.


If you have any problems, please don't hesitate to approach us! Can't find us? No problem! You can call us. We'll be happy to help you, but no prank calls please!

Karen 415-830-2371
Cindy 415-359-6074
Susan 415-269-7924
Alan 415-823-6011
Lucy 415-200-6083
Elaine 415-819-7720

YOU MUST RETURN TO THE VOLUNTEERS BOOTH AT THE END OF YOUR SHIFT TO PICK UP YOUR CONFIRMATION LETTER. You will NOT receive credit for volunteering unless we get that letter from you!

Please bring the letter with you to our next meeting on Tuesday, October 4th at 3:45 in room 233. If you cannot make it to the meeting, try to get it to an officer before next Tuesday or put it in my reg box: 0701.

This is what to expect tomorrow:

Sign-in
Receive T-shirt/Volunteer Assignment
Free Breakfast (AND juice!)
Do your job and have FUN!
Return to Volunteer's Booth
Receive confirmation letter

Please call me (415-830-2371) if you have any additional questions.

I look forward to seeing everyone bright and early tomorrow morning!

WARNING!
If you signed up for the event, be sure to show up on time! Our club looks bad when we do not come through with our estimated numbers, so you will reap dire consequences if you do not come through. From now on, you must contact me AT LEAST two days prior to the event if you can't make it. Unexcused absences will result in NEGATIVE event credits. For example, if you signed up for three shifts of Walk for Hope but don't show up for any of them, you will have -3 credits. You will then need to attend SIX events to receive active credit. We don't like to be mean, so please act responsibly.

Hey everyone! I want to thank everybody who signed up for the Walk for Hope last week! I understand that some people may have Saturday morning obligations (Chinese School, music lessons, etc.) and are unable to attend most of our events. Because I believe that everybody who wants to make a differece should be able to, I've been searching the web for other volunteer opportunities. If you paid attention during our first meeting, you'll know that we have two non-Saturday events planned already - both at the SF Rescue Mission. Since some people may be out of town during the holiday season, I feel our club needs to provide more opportunities for our members to get credit for events! The solution? Volunteer at the NIKE Women's Marathon: A Race to Benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on Sunday, October 23.

On Sunday, October 23, 15,000 women (and some men too!) will compete in the SOLD OUT Nike's Women's Marathon. Runners (and walkers) are of all levels will come from around the world to compete in the half-marathon (13.1 miles) or full marathon (26.2 miles). Both the half and full marathons begin in Union Square and finish in Golden Gate Park at the Great Highway.

In 2004, participants raised over $10 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - the 2005 goal is to raise $20 million. For more information about the race, please visit: www.nikemarathon.com. Show your support for these amazing participants and exceptional cause. Volunteering is fun and easy! Volunteers are needed at the Expo on Friday and Saturday to assist with race packet pick-up and provide information to participants and spectators. On Race Day, volunteers are needed to provide general assistance at the start & finish lines and to act as course monitors to keep runners on track.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research education and patient services. The Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease, and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has provided more than $411 million for research specifically targeting blood cancers. For more information about the Society, visit www.LLS.org

As you can see, this is a huge event! I checked the available shifts for Sunday, and they're all pretty early. Based on the sign-ups for Walk for Hope, I decided that the 7 AM to 1 PM shift, which will be in the Golden Gate Park area would be best for our club. Another shift, 7 AM to 2 PM at Lake Merced/Great Highway (near the SF Zoo) is also available. Since this is such a large event, I would like to have everybody from MAD volunteer for the same shift.

Please comment and cast your votes on which shift you would prefer!

As a course moniter, you will provide directional assistance to athletes, stop traffic, and keep pedestrians/spectators out of the way of athletes. You will be assigned to one intersection/block in the area.

I will present this information and we will begin sign-ups at our meeting on Tuesday, September 27th at 3:45 in 233. Don't hesitate to ask questions!

Spread the word!

Hey everyone! Thanks for coming to Make A Difference yesterday! I hope you guys enjoyed the "Cinn-nilla" (cinnamon & Vanilla) muffins! I can't guarantee that there will be food at every meeting (all food brought in will be purchased by officers with their own money, so please give your thanks accordingly!), but I'll try. Feel free to bring in something to share! What kind of (inexpensive) food do you guys want to see at our meetings? Any allergies? Please comment so I can find something to fit everybody's palates.

If you couldn't make it to our first meeting, please note that our next meeting will be on Tuesday, September 27th at 3:35 in room 233. Same place, same time! It will be a short meeting (15-20 minutes), so try to be there! We'll be talking more in depth about our first event, Walk for Hope. It will be on Saturday, October 1, so this will be the last time we'll meet before the actual event takes place. If you would like to sign up, you still can! Just be sure to show up at the meeting because this will be your last chance to do it in person!

We covered everything we mentioned in the earlier posts, so please scroll down (or go to our September archives) to learn more!

We also had elections!

CONGRATULATIONS NEW OFFICERS!!

Since we are giving credit by the semester, we will most likely be re-electing officers in January! The elections were very close this semester, so please try again next time!

Here's our Fall 2005 roster:

Karen Li - President
Cindy Lin - Co-President
Susan Lau - Public Relations
Alan Lam - Club Representative
Elaine Li - Secretary
Lucy Deng - Treasurer
Raymond Wu - Club Representative

We will be working hard to make the club run smoothly!

All officers (and our sponsor, Mr. Michels) can post on this blog, so watch out for their announcements!

Members who provided us with their e-mail address at the first meeting have been added to our Mailing List. If you have yet to receive any information through Google Groups, please contact me.

New members are welcome, so don't hesitate to come see what we're all about next Tuesday, September 27th and 3:45 in room 233!

Blogger was experiencing some major technical difficulties today, so our blog got a little messed up. We will get it fixed ASAP, so please check back soon for updates!

Sorry for the any inconvenience this may have caused.

Hey everyone! As the date of our first meeting draws nearer, Cindy and I are working even harder to get the details straightened out for Fall 2005. We decided that you will need to attend a minimum of three events this semester to receive ACTIVE membership in Make A Difference. Completing three events is a cinch! If you volunteer at the Walk for Hope (on Saturday, October 1. Please see Walk for Hope post for details) from 6am-11am, you will have already completed an entire semester's worth of volunteering! Easy, no?

Can't make it to the Walk? No problem! We have many other opportunities coming, so don't worry! You don't even have to leave school for our next big volunteering "event"! Throughout the month of October, Make A Difference will be participating in Trick or Treat for UNICEF. Details about this upcoming fundraiser will be posted soon! I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Small things, like participating in fundraiser, attending club meetings, showing enthusiasm for our projects, etc., can and definitely will help your participation grade! If you know you will not be able to attend most of our Tuesday meetings, but would still like to Make A Difference, please contact me ASAP. Anybody who is interested in volunteering and helping our community is welcome at MAD! If you have any problems or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me. We'll work something out!

"Can we volunteer at more than three events?"

Of course you can! In fact, we encourage you to attend as many events as possible! To provide an incentive for everybody to continue volunteering even after they meet the credit requirements, we decided to create a ROLLOVER PROGRAM. After you finish your third event, your event credits will rollover and count toward your Spring semester participation grade. For example, if you go to five events this semester you're ahead by two events for next semester.

Because clubs start meeting later in the Fall semester than they do in the Spring semester, we will have fewer meetings and therefore fewer events this semester. We picked three events as the requirement because we have three full months to meet in the Fall: October, November, and December. We reserve the right to raise the number of events to qualify for "Active" membership in the Spring (though to be honest, unless things really deviate from plans this semester, our policies will most likely stay the same). It would be wise to "stock up" on your events credits in the Fall. The events available will be more interesting than those during the Spring. Two major holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are in the Fall semester, so expect fun and rewarding volunteering opportunities during the Holiday season! There is one exception in our Rollover Program, though.

NO MATTER HOW MANY EXTRA CREDITS YOU HAVE TO ROLLOVER INTO THE SPRING SEMESTER, YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT AT LEAST ONE SPRING EVENT TO RECEIVE CREDIT.

The rule sounds a lot worse than it actually is! We just need to know that you are still in our club before we give you credit for the semester! Depending on the number of events you have to rollover, attendance at club meetings along with other smaller school-related activities may be enough to get "Active" credit for the semester. This will be judged on a case-by-case basis, so please talk to me when the time comes if you have any questions.

I don't think anybody will be receiving "Moderate" or "Seldom" credit this semester, but for the records, here are the numbers:

"Active" THREE events
"Moderate" TWO events
"Seldom" ONE event

"Where does attendance at meetings play a role in our Participation grades?"

Good question! While your participation grade will not be affected directly with a bad attendance record, being present at our meetings will benefit you in the long run. Besides receiving valuable information and being able to ask questions on the spot, your attendance record will play a role in our decision regarding your events requirement for the Spring semester after you rollover your credits. With the exception of our first meeting, our meetings will be VERY short. 15-30 minutes at most. After our first informational meeting, where we will go over all our policies and give you an overview of upcoming events, our meeting time will be devoted to signing up for events and answering any questions you may have. Also, prior to each event, an officer (usually me) will give a brief presentation about the organization we will be working for. How can we Make A Difference if we don't know what we're supporting? Be prepared to hear about some great organizations!

I hope this clears up any concerns you may have had about how our club will work this semester! If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact me! I'll be happy to clear things up for you!

I hope to see you in Room 233 ant 3:45 on Tuesday, September 20th! Bring your friends and come see what we're all about!

Note: If you are interested, but cannot make it to the meeting on Tuesday, please contact us (by commenting or through e-mail) ASAP. We will need your Name, Registry Number, and E-mail address. Check this blog on Tuesday evening to find our what happened during our meeting.

Anybody who wants to Make a Difference is welcome, so please don't hesitate to contact us!

Hey everyone! Here's some info about our first event of the semester - Walk For Hope! There will be a more in-depth explanation of the organization and the event itself at our upcoming meetings, but we wanted to give everybody an exclusive sneak peek.



Walk for Hope is a fundraising event sponsored by City of Hope, an institution dedicated to education, treatment, and research of life-threatening illnesses, like Breast Cancer. The event will take place on Saturday, October 1 at Justin Herman Plaza (across from the Ferry Building) from 6am-11am.

There are a variety of fun activities for volunteers at the Walk for Hope such as, setting up, helping register the walkers, working at the sponsor give-away booths, cheering on the participants at the finish line, handing out medals and more. Volunteers are needed from 6am to 11am, working a minimum of 3-hour shifts. All volunteers will be given a Walk for Hope t-shirt, a goody bag, and will be recognized in the event program for their support.

Available Shifts:

6:00am - 9:00am Festival Decoration & Set-Up

7:00am - 10:00am Event/BART Greeters, Sponsor Booths, Water Station Monitor

8:00am - 11:00am Course Monitors, Cheering Section, Clean Up

If you are able to volunteer for more than one shift, please let me know what times you will be available. Each shift will count as one event toward your semester total. For those with Saturday morning obligations, (such as Chinese School, music lessons ,etc.) the 6am-9am shift is available! Walk for Hope supports Breast Cancer research, and volunteers are crucial to the event's success! You'll have a great time, meet a bunch of cool people, get a free t-shirt and goody bag, and feel awesome for helping out at a great cause. What more could you ask for? You may be making a BIG difference in somebody's life by getting up early on ONE Saturday morning.

Keep in mind that earlier volunteers will have first dibs on the goodies!

Note that some volunteer activities require moderate physical activity, standing, and/or lifting up to 10lbs. Please indicate if you have any physical limitations so that accommodations can be made.

All volunteers must check in with Natalie Nesbit, AND an officer at the start of their shift. Please remember to sign in with an officer to get club credit for the event! There will have a booth clearly marked "VOLUNTEERS" near the start of the Walk at Market and Steuart (Click to view Map). Volunteers will sign-in, get their Walk t-shirt, refreshments and be directed to the appropriate area.

I would suggest dressing in layers, as mornings can be very cold and become warmer in the afternoon, and wearing comfortable shoes.

Our official meeting for the Walk for Hope will be on Tuesday, September 27th, but feel free to sign-up early (leave a comment or e-mail me)! Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. We will be talking briefly about this event, along with the other volunteer opportunities we have planned, at our first meeting on Tuesday, September 20th, so be sure to come!

Hey everyone! I'm currently working our "Blog Alert" system. Because it is inevitable that some of you will occasionally miss meetings, you may be missing out on a lot of important information. We don't want to keep any of our members in the dark, so we will post a summary of what we talked about at each meeting on this blog. It's meant to be a resource for the people who did not attend and a little something to refresh the memory of those who did.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU DO NOT NEED TO ATTEND THE MEETINGS!

Attendance at our meeting will factor in to your Participation grade at the end of the year. You will receive either an A (Active), a M (moderate), or a S (Seldom) for Participation. This is the grade that will appear next the "MAD Club" on your transcript. Your participation grade will be heavily based on how many events you attend (details about those requirements at the first meeting on September 20th at 3:45 in Room 233.), but please keep in mind that your attendence will count. We will not have meetings unless we have something important to discuss, so it is crucial that you attend every meeting.

Since we will not be holding meetings every week, you will be notified ahead of time to our meeting dates. Be sure to keep an eye out for announcements in the Weekly Bulletin, over Radio Lowell (Wednesdays and Fridays), on fliers posted around school, and most importantly, on our blog. You'll get the most up-to-date information here. Since good communication with our members is crucial to the success of MAD Club, we will be asking you for your e-mail addresses at the first meeting. You will be added to our mailing list, hosted at Google Groups , and will receive an e-mail containing any new information we add to our blog as soon as we publish it. If you change your e-mail address at any time, or were unable to attend our first meeting but is interested in Making A Difference, please contact us through e-mail (all contact info is on top of page) or Blogger's commenting system.

All of the information posted on our blog will also appear on our Google Groups page. You do not need to create a Google account in order to be a part of our mailing list. If you would like to change your settings, please contact one of the officers and we will be happy to take care of it for you.

We will be repeating this information at our first meeting. If you have any questions, you may contact us now (through e-mail or comments) or wait to ask in person on Tuesday, September 20th at 3:45 in Room 233.

I hope to see you there!

We will be holding elections on our first meeting on September 20th at 3:45 in room 233. The open positions are Secretary, Treasurer, Public Relations, and Club Representative. Be prepared to make a short speech detailing why you are qualified for the position you want.

Here are short descriptions of what we expect each officer to do:

The Secretary is in charge of attendance records for each meetings and the events. The secretary will also take notes (minutes) of each meeting.

The Treasurer will keep a records of and collect all donations. Super Math skills are not required, but it'll be helpful!

The Public Relations (PR) will be in charge of advertising for our club, which will include writing announcements for the Weekly Bulletin and Radio Lowell and the occasional flier/poster design.

The Club Representative must have mods 14/15 off. Weekly Club Rep meetings are held on Tuesdays during those mods in Room 70. The Club Rep must attend, take notes, and keep the rest of the officers informed! The meetings are usually about 10-20 minutes long, so don't worry!

In addition to each position's specific responsibilities, officers are required to put in extra effort to make the club run smoothly. "Extra efforts" include (but are not limited to) attending more events than regular members (regular members will report to the officers prior to the start of each event, so you'll be in charge!), and attending additional officers meetings (where we will discuss upcoming events, brainstorm, etc.). Officers will also have access to posting on our blog and our club e-mail account. Did I mention how great it'll look on your transcript?

We encourage everybody to run for a position! You'll make a lot of new friends, gain experience in leadership, have fun, and it'll look great on your transcript! What more do you want?

Please contact us (through e-mail or comments) with any questions or concerns. We look forward to working with you!

Hey everyone! Make a Difference (MAD) will be holding it's first meeting of the semester on Tuesday, September 20th at 3:45 in Room 233.

There will be many changes taking place in MAD this year, so be sure to come check it out for yourself! Since our previous sponsor, Mr. Friedman, is no longer at Lowell, the first big change you'll notice is that we've got a new sponsor! Mr. Michels graciously agreed to sponsor our club. Thank you for saving MAD Club, Mr. Michels!

We'll be updating this blog often with details regarding upcoming meetings and events. Feel free to leave comments and ask questions via the Blogger's commenting system or privately through e-mail. We'll try our best to get back to you ASAP.

Be sure to come to our first meeting on Tuesday, September 20th at 3:45 in Room 233 because you'll receive lots of information about our new club policies and upcoming events. We'll also be holding elections, so if you're interested in leading Lowell students in "Making A Difference", get your speech ready! Since we're upperclassmen, we would like freshmen and sophomores in particular to think about running for office. Although we would prefer to have a few freshmen and sophomores, anybody who is interested and ready to dedicate extra time to keep MAD Club up and running should run!

I look forward to working with everybody this year! Together, we can all make a difference!!