So much has happened in the past few days here in New Orleans for RecrearParticipate! We are continually striving to address all of the items on our agenda while reaching the goals which we have set for the conference. Yesterday, we broke off into several groups in order to individually address the strategies of Recrear’s role in New Orleans. We had a little time to network last night during dinner at a church on campus. They graciously gave us a free meal and through that we were presented with the golden opportunity to share with others who it is that we are and what we’re all about. While at dinner, I did find out that you can add fruit juice to sherbet in order to make a delicious blend of fruity goodness 😉
Today, we took the time to piece these strategies together into one master plan by connecting the dots between them in order to form one all-inclusive strategy for the program to implement. It’s amazing how this is all coming together. Everyone here is so passionate about this organization taking off in New Orleans. We feed off of the many ideas presented on the table in order to create a massive cloud of brainstorming and ideas which stem from that. Flip charts have never been so important! There are pieces of flipchart paper littered about the room with all of our plans and brainstorming written in a kaleidoscope of scented marker covering them.
Of course there are a couple of bumps and hiccups along the way but everyone is remaining in positive spirits. We are organizing two fundraisers which will allow the staff members to present our workshop to partners in the Dominican Republic in about a week and a half. Everyone is committed to a $100 contribution to the fundraising effort. Fundraising is always a nail biting aspect of this type of work but we stand with fists held high and excited about the outcome.
We are almost one week into this with one week left to go. I am amazed about what we have accomplished thus far and what we will still be able to accomplish within the week to come! Onward and upward from here on out!!
-James Smith
