Actual Fifth Meeting

Last night we met at 10 o'clock. It was short and sweet and to the point, which was for Irene to delegate some of the things that she decided needed to be done to us. Things are finally starting to come together which means that she is finally able to determine what administrative tasks need to be done by us. I am going to try to contact the Resident Directors and Resident Assistants here on campus. I am going to discuss the possibilities of having them make it a floor event to form a team to play in the tournament. I am also going to discuss how they would like us to advertise the tournament in the dorms. Some of the other tasks that were delegated were visiting local businesses and organizations for possible sponsorship of our tournament. Also, two members of our group are going to contact the student government presidents, the athletic directors, and the soccer coaches or area university teams. That's just kind of a rundown on what we accomplished last night.

Almost Fifth Meeting

We were going to meet yesterday, but, unfortunately only about half of us were going to be able to make it. So Irene sent us an e-mail kind of explaining what she was wanting to get accomplished. She also said that there would be an e-mail soon to follow that would delegate certain tasks to each of us.

Fourth Meeting

Tonight was the fourth meeting, but I was only able to go for about 45 minutes. Irene told us about what she had found out from the Student Government President, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, the NCAA, DC United, and a few other groups. She had said earlier that she had a contact in Africa who works with a group dealing with AIDS. Irene had now decided that this was the group that she felt we would help with our project. We also discussed the possibility of getting a mutual friend of hers and mine to play a benefit concert after our charity soccer tournament and clinic.

First Phone Call

I said that I would call Wal-Mart to check about possible sponsorship and/or donations for our event. I did so because one of my family friends (he isn't technically family, but he is as close as one can be without being blood-related) works at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. All throughout high school the area Wal-Mart would match what my student organizations raised for certain fund-raisers. So, I wanted to check and see if they would do it again or even what the possibilities were for that. I called him tonight to talk to him about it. After explaining the basic outline of what we were wanting to do, I asked him what he thought. He is not in the department who makes those kind of decisions, which I knew before I called him, but he said that it sounded like a good thing. He has a friend who works in that department, and he said that he would talk to him to see what he thought the initial chances of sponsorship would be. I told him that I would get back to him when I knew more.

Third Meeting

Tonight we met in a study group room in the library for this meeting. We already knew that we wanted our main fund-raising event to be a one-day soccer tournament. So, tonight we tried to come up with a name, a mission statement, and the other main details of the project. The name Collegiates For African Aid came, not only from the fact that we are college students ourselves, but because our first idea was to have the tournament consist of three-person teams of college soccer players in the area. After coming up with the name, which actually took a while, we tried to come up with some of the other major details. We also discussed fund-raising and what each of us could do in that area. We all kind of volunteered to call certain people or companies that we had connections with. Irene also said that was going to talk to the Student Government President and the sponsor of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee about what could be done.

Second Meeting

Today was the first time that I met with the other people who were going to help Irene with this project. We met in the Mary Graydon Center at American University for about two hours so that Irene could kind of tell us what direction she was wanting to go with this. She also wanted to know what we thought. I go to church with Irene and had, therefore, already discussed with her what I thought about it all. So, this time, I just sat there and listened to what the others thought. We kind of developed a group idea of what we wanted to do. At this meeting, we kind of thought we either wanted to directly send equipment or money to buy equipment to children in Africa.

First Meeting

Today was the first time Professor LeVan mentioned Irene's idea in class, and I was extremely interested. I tried to see what I could volunteer for, but because of my extremely busy schedule, I couldn't work anywhere else. Since I know Irene, I figured she would be more flexible with my schedule. So, as soon as I had a chance I called Irene to find out what she was wanting to do with her project, and she gave me the rundown. I told her that I would like to get involved, and, of course, she was glad to have my help (every little bit helps). She said that, as of right then, she was wanting to find a way to send soccer equipment to African children (Irene is on the American University women's soccer team and has a love for soccer). Growing up, I only played soccer until sixth grade because I lived in southern Missouri, which is football country. There was not a soccer for anyone older than twelve within an hour's drive. Therefore, I could not play soccer anymore, but I have never lost my love for it. So I definitely wanted to help in giving other children the chance to play soccer, even though I could not.