Fundraising

Hello Readers!
I hope that you all have been enjoying my blog. If you would like to support me in my exchange, the biggest thing you can do right now is to help me fundraise. To go on my trip, I need to raise $10,000. This will cover roundtrip airfare, travel documents, insurance, conferences, an end of the year trip, and language camps. My parents have already put in $1,000 and I have also earned another $1,000. The rest I hope will come from my fundraising events (t-shirt sales and knitting classes) and donations.

           If you would like to donate money and promote world peace and cultural understanding through my exchange there are several options. First of all, I am making specially designed t-shirts, which will be printed by Graphie Tees, the design of which is at the bottom of this post. If you would like to make a large contribution, you can become either a gold ($500) or silver ($250) sponsor and your name or logo will be on the back of all the shirts! If you choose to take one of these routes, you will receive a complimentary t-shirt of any size, with your name or logo on the back! How cool is that?! I will only have four gold sponsors, and six silver sponsors, so please contact me ASAP via email if you would like to become one of them!

The second option is to buy t-shirts, or simply donate to the cause. If you would like to do this, your contribution will also be much appreciated. Every little bit helps me get closer to my goal. The t-shirts will be $25 or 3 for $60. I will begin selling them in early April, but you can pre-order them now by emailing me or indicating the quantity and sizes of your order when you donate through Go Fund Me! You can use my Go Fund Me site, www.gofundme.com/RYEwillow , to donate. 

Thank you for considering my request and supporting my exchange!!

Learning Is Fun!

Did you know that the main Chilean grocery stores are Jumbo, Lider, and Unimark? Or that choripan is a chorizo sandwich with mayo, mustard and sometimes onion, that is frequently eaten at asados? Me neither! I've been reading a book called "Chile The Expat's Guide". It is good for my purposes other than the parts about things that don't pertain to my situation. It has information about culture, history, how its different than the USA, travel info, and Chilean slang. I learn so much, and it makes me more excited, and I feel better prepared! If you are going to Chile, I suggest reading it, or if you want to know what I'm getting into.

My First Rotary Club Meeting

On Wednesday I went to my very first South Bend Rotary Club meeting. It was very interesting and fun. All of the members crack jokes and seem to really enjoy themselves. Another thing that I did not know was that they invite a few seniors from all of the South Bend schools to come. There was lunch, presentors, and reminders about cool Rotary events. I had the honor of being one of the presentors. I talked about myself, my goals, dreams and fundraising. I think that it went well, and everyone I talked to said that I did a great job. Several people afterwards asked me to let them know if I needed help. I told them that right now, the biggest thing that they could all do is donate to my cause. The other thing you can do to help is share my Go-Fund-Me site and this blog with others. If you are able to, please help me by taking these two easy steps to allowing me to embark on my journey.