(Sara) The Heart of the Hope

This morning, I was tasked with heading over to the Common Hope offices to pick up textiles, artifacts and pictures that our team can use to stage our educational lounge area at the Best Buy Hidden Talents Art Show & Auction. We're lucky enough to be included in one of the most iconic events at Best Buy's headquarters; auction winners have the option to choose that their donation go toward our Common Hope trip.

The Common Hope offices are located in one of the warehouse districts of St. Paul; not exactly what I was expecting! Situated behind a large warehouse, up three flights of wooden steps and through a beige hallway, I entered their headquarters. It doesn't necessarily look like much...tan cubicles, just like any other office. But it practically radiates with warmth - due entirely to the fantastic people who work there. The receptionist greeted me enthusiastically by name. Our team coordinator, Brianna, introduced me to everyone who walked by us in the storage room - and each of them shook my hand, again enthusiastically.

I walked out of the Common Hope offices with two armloads of beautiful items direct from Guatemala; pieces that I know will help inspire the Hidden Talents Art Show winners to consider Common Hope as the recipient of their donations. Even more, I walked out with an appreciation of all the people who work tirelessly on behalf of this organization, day in and day out all year long. They really are the heart of the hope that is fueling change in Guatemala.

(Amanda) 9 Pin No Tap Tournament Details

(Jodi) Thankful

I know it sounds cliche but I am so thankful for all that I have. I spent the Thanksgiving weekend with family in Racine, Wisconsin and only have the opportunity to spend time with them a couple times a year. I stuffed myself to the gills with turkey, candied yams, stuffing and all the trimmings. Most importantly I got to spend time with my family and connect with them individually. We are small group of 9 when we are all together but we are mighty and will fight to the dealth for each other. I found myself discussing our Guatemalan mission with each and described what is to come for our vision team. They all wish us well and share in our excitement. As I would expect, some were concerned for our safety. Of all the things weighing heavily on my mind, safety of our team members has never been top of mind. Common Hope has been sending vision teams to Guatemala for a long time without incident. While situations can become unstable, I can't imagine any issues and I am dreaming of developing life-long relationships with people that are not that much different than me. I jokingly said to my hubby this morning that he shouldn't be suprised if I return to Guatemala again to find my place, my home away from home.

(Amanda) 9 Pin No Tap Tournament

I am so excited about planing a 9 pin no tap tournament. We are getting all of the details planned now.

Mark your calendars.

January 1st, 2012
1-4
Maple Lanes in Fridley.

(Sara) Major Milestone Hit!

As our fundraising efforts have increased over the past few weeks, with Give to the Max Day and our Chili Cook-Off, it's been so gratifying to watch that needle move on our donation tracker. Our fundraising goal is $20,000, and today we exceeded the halfway mark!

The team has worked hard to educate friends, family and co-workers on the mission of Common Hope and the work we're going to do for them. We're so lucky to have the support of so many people in our lives. Everyone works hard to earn their money, and I don't take for granted a single donation. Every dollar really does make a difference...$20,000, here we come!

(Jodi) A Week of Progress

Whew! Can't believe what a success last week was for our vision team. Thank you to all who participated in the Chili Cook Off and MN Give to the Max day. There is real power behind the numbers and we couldn't have met our milestone without our friends, families and co-workers.

Next stop? Hidden Talents Silent Art Auction!! Just finished my piece tonight. I've spent so much time with it that I no longer have a sense of whether I like it or not. Maybe a little time away from it and I will feel differently. Can't wait to get home from the Thanksgiving weekend and set up the show. It's going to be spectacular and I can't wait to see what the artists have created.

(Ben) What do we live for?

"What do we live for,
if it is not to make life
less difficult for each other?"

-George Eliot

(Ben) 18 Contestants, 60 Tasters, 1 Common Hope!

I just wanted to thank all of the contestants, tasters, and volunteers who made the Chili Cook-off yesterday such a success! Your participation at such a busy time of year reflects what an amazing, supportive, talented, and energetic team I have the opportunity to work with everyday. Thank you Channel Design!

18 incredible pots of chili were tasted by 60 hungry tasters. The ballots revealed the following winners:

Best Traditional and Classic Chili
1st - Jody Hoffman
2nd - John Duff
3rd - Molly Heinz

Best New and Different Chili
1st - Adrian Clift
2nd - Anne Schneider
3rd - Erin Sartor

Congratulations!

A special thanks to Donald Selmer, Executive Chef - Cafe Bonappetit; Sandy's Place, who generously provided supplies and all the yummy extras to top off our chili creations!

(Ben) Let's Get Cookin!

This week, the Vision Team, along with some of our Channel Design & Brand Identity teammates, will be refining our recipes for our next fundraising event; A Chili Cook-Off! This will be a great opportunity for us to have some fun as a team while getting the word out about the needs of Common Hope.

I'm really looking forward to chowing down and raising some much needed funds to help make our trip to Guatemala a reality. Thanks to all who have entered as a contestant as well as those who will be joining us as a participant. See you all Wednesday!

Minnesota Give to the Max Day and Common Hope.

On November 16th, GiveMN is sponsoring an event called Give to the Max. The idea is to show hoe generous Minnesotans are, by encouraging people to make donations to their favorite charities during a 24 hour period (Midnight on the 16th, to Midnight on the 17th of November).

To encourage giving during this time, GiveMN is sponsoring contests and giveaways, with charities like our Team Guatemala winning the prizes as incremental donations.

To learn more about GiveMN and the Give to the Max Day event, go to: http://blog.givemn.org/give_mn_blog/2011/08/23/295/give_to_the_max_day_-_november_16_2011

If you have been thinking about giving in support of our Vision trip, this might be the best time. Giving on November 16th will be of value three ways. First, you will enable our team to help the people of Guatemala during our vision trip. Second, you will have a charitable deduction on your taxes at the end of the year. And Third, you can be a part of showing the nature of Minnesotans be being generous with your fellow Minnesotans, setting a new bar of giving in a one day period, and maybe even helping our Vision Team recieve even more funds towards our financial goal.

So, on November 16th (or anytime if you can't on that day) go our Razoo powered donation website, and support this outreach to the people of Guatemala with your generous donation.
http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Guatemall-In

Mark Scanlon

(Sara) Clothes for a Cause

Jodi has talked a little bit about the stretches that she's made to become more comfortable with fundraising. Ok, maybe not comfortable with it - but at least able to rise to the challenge of putting herself out there.

I have to admit that I admire Jodi for this; and I admire those people to whom fundraising comes very naturally. I am not one of those people. And I've been having a hard time gearing up the courage to begin approaching friends and family to ask for their help in funding our trip.

So I've decided to tap into another network of people with whom I have a relationship: the readers of my blog, Bombshell Beauty. I've been blogging about plus size fashion for almost five years, now. It's been a really fun, rewarding, surprising hobby! I never dreamed that anyone other than my mom would read my blog, and I feel so blessed (and again, surprised!) to have loyal following of almost a thousand readers.

I've decided to tap into this community of fabulous, fashionable, supportive readers by throwing open the doors of my closet and raiding my wardrobe for pieces to sell on eBay. A lot of fellow bloggers have done something similar so I've been hitting them up for lessons learned. All of the proceeds earned from the sales will be donated to Common Hope. I have no idea if this will earn even a single penny (or 99, since opening bids start at 99cents!). But this is one way I can think of to put myself out there.

We'll see how it goes...you can click here to access the Shop My Closet page. Feel free to share it with anyone in your life that you think might be interested. Clothing sizes range from 16-20; shoes are size 12; and accessories will fit anyone.

(Jodi) More New Fundraising Around the Corner

It was a moving target and a bit dicey at first but we finally secured the next two fundraising events for project GuatemAll-In. It's official. We will be participating in the Hidden Talents Silent Art Auction planned for 11/30 through 12/15. This is a very cool event that is in its 14th year on the Best Buy campus. It's a part of our Best Buy culture and so many look forward to donating a piece of art or bidding on the art. There will be two benefactors of the auction and one will be Common Hope. Details will follow but this is so very exciting! I can't thank Manny Palomo and his committee enough for their generosity. Because of my excitement, I have already begun working on my art piece. I have never done anything like this before so I'll just have to chalk it up to another new experience for the cause! Foregoing my workout tonight to work on my project... not much of a sacrifice I know but it's still something.

The other event will be an internal Channel Design event having to do with Chili and Cook-off. More to come!