Yesterday was interesting and random. I again answered a bunch of movement emails. Then I made signs for the S4S winners so they feel welcomed when they arrive. Next I helped put the massive Invisible Children logo stickers on the side of the van. I never realized that they do that themselves. It is a tedious process that they choose to do themselves to save money that could be going to Uganda. I spent two hours yesterday just smoothing out tiny bubbles in the stickers. The new look of the vans is pretty awesome :)
I really appreciate the fact that IC takes pride in being a personal company. Most of what I've been doing here is to make sure that our supporters feel appreciated and valued. We hand write thank-you letters to the people who hand write us. What company does that?
Today I started booking, which is what I'm going to be doing the majority of my internship. I am beginning to enjoy my work a lot more. It is exciting to talk to people who are pumped about IC and are begging us to come to their city. I really enjoy talking on the phone with these people.
The staff meeting was way more fun than it should be.
Did I ever mention that I love this organization?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
First few days in San Diego.
(Written Tuesday 06/02)
The past day and a half have been overwhelmingly amazing. I am still incredibly tired and jetlagged, because it is two hours earlier here and my plane left at 6 am. From being at college I have already fallen in love with community life. I have four roommates and tons of housemates, guys and girls. We are constantly together and I adore it. I am already attached to the roadies and am sad at the thought of their leaving in one week. Yesterday and today we had training, in which different figures in Invisible Children came to talk to us, mostly for educational purposes, but also for inspiration. I have learned so much. I walk into rooms and I am overwhelmed in unbelief that it is possible for so many incredible people to be in one room together. I am intrigued by every person here. I want to know about their lives, what makes them tick, how they got involved, what God is doing in their lives, how their faith fuels what they do. I went to a church Sunday morning called The Flood. I got the sense that it was really genuine. The message was about boasting only in Christ and Him crucified, which was exactly what I needed to hear. It's so hard not to boast in what we do. Christ communicated that even if you get what He taught about peace and brotherly love but miss the cross, you've missed the whole point. Jason Russell (original filmmaker)'s talk to us was great, to say the least. I always love hearing him talk about his faith and how it drives what he does. He is definitely bold about it. In a way, many people whom I have met here remind me of people I have met at other times in my life. There's this familiarity which is mostly a good feeling.
IC was on Larry King Live tonight. What an incredible time to be working for these guys. Watch the full version online here: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2009/06/02/lkl.invisible.children.cnn.html
6/4
The entire day I have been answering emails in the Movement email box. I probably knocked out about fifty. It is easy to get irritable after sitting at a desk all day. We have this gong that we ring when we book a screening or sign someone up for Lobby Days, and that helps to raise the spirits. The people here amaze me. They are the most determined people I have ever been around. Nonprofit work is tough. IC requires a buttload of time and barely any pay. Obviously no one here does it for the money. I am learning more and more how passion is a very small factor in this whole thing. When I think of working at the office, the word passion definitely isn't the first word to come to mind. My boss, Margie, talks about a "deeper yes" that causes us to keep going, to do the boring things no one wants to do. I probably would not be able to be a roadie. Not at this time in life, at least. I do badly without sleep. Tomorrow we are having a "call-a-thon" to call all of the people who signed up for the Rescue in the D.C. area (FIVE THOUSAND) to get them to go to Lobby Days. No one wants to call people they don't know all day, but we do it because this event is so crucial to really, finally ending the war in northern Uganda (go to howitends.tv for more info). We all have a lot to learn from these people.
The past day and a half have been overwhelmingly amazing. I am still incredibly tired and jetlagged, because it is two hours earlier here and my plane left at 6 am. From being at college I have already fallen in love with community life. I have four roommates and tons of housemates, guys and girls. We are constantly together and I adore it. I am already attached to the roadies and am sad at the thought of their leaving in one week. Yesterday and today we had training, in which different figures in Invisible Children came to talk to us, mostly for educational purposes, but also for inspiration. I have learned so much. I walk into rooms and I am overwhelmed in unbelief that it is possible for so many incredible people to be in one room together. I am intrigued by every person here. I want to know about their lives, what makes them tick, how they got involved, what God is doing in their lives, how their faith fuels what they do. I went to a church Sunday morning called The Flood. I got the sense that it was really genuine. The message was about boasting only in Christ and Him crucified, which was exactly what I needed to hear. It's so hard not to boast in what we do. Christ communicated that even if you get what He taught about peace and brotherly love but miss the cross, you've missed the whole point. Jason Russell (original filmmaker)'s talk to us was great, to say the least. I always love hearing him talk about his faith and how it drives what he does. He is definitely bold about it. In a way, many people whom I have met here remind me of people I have met at other times in my life. There's this familiarity which is mostly a good feeling.
IC was on Larry King Live tonight. What an incredible time to be working for these guys. Watch the full version online here: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2009/06/02/lkl.invisible.children.cnn.html
6/4
The entire day I have been answering emails in the Movement email box. I probably knocked out about fifty. It is easy to get irritable after sitting at a desk all day. We have this gong that we ring when we book a screening or sign someone up for Lobby Days, and that helps to raise the spirits. The people here amaze me. They are the most determined people I have ever been around. Nonprofit work is tough. IC requires a buttload of time and barely any pay. Obviously no one here does it for the money. I am learning more and more how passion is a very small factor in this whole thing. When I think of working at the office, the word passion definitely isn't the first word to come to mind. My boss, Margie, talks about a "deeper yes" that causes us to keep going, to do the boring things no one wants to do. I probably would not be able to be a roadie. Not at this time in life, at least. I do badly without sleep. Tomorrow we are having a "call-a-thon" to call all of the people who signed up for the Rescue in the D.C. area (FIVE THOUSAND) to get them to go to Lobby Days. No one wants to call people they don't know all day, but we do it because this event is so crucial to really, finally ending the war in northern Uganda (go to howitends.tv for more info). We all have a lot to learn from these people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
