Give NOLA

Two blog posts back to back? I am spoiling you guys! But more so, I couldn't resist telling everyone about the awesome fundraiser that took place this past Tuesday, May 6th in New Orleans. Sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, nonprofits all throughout Southern Louisiana participated in GiveNOLA for the first time. Here's how it worked:

- For the entire day of May 6th (12:00am - 11:59pm) you could make donations to your favorite nonprofits through the GiveNOLA website
- Organizations were broken into Small (budget of under $1 million) and Large (budget over $1 million)
- After the 24 hours of giving whatever percent your organization raised of the total amount raised you would be given that same percent of a $200,000 fund (called the Lagniappe fund...so for example if the total amount raised by nonprofits was $2 million and your organization raised $20,000 you raised 1% of the total amount raised and would get 1% of the $200,000 fund landing your organization an extra $2,000!)
- You could win additional money by ranking 1st ($10,000), 2nd ($5,000) or 3rd ($3,000) in either most money raised or most unique donors (there were 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners for both small and large organizations)
- Every hour there was also a random drawing where every organization that received at least one donation during that hour was eligible for. If you were picked during that hour you won an additional $1,000 for your organization! (So, an additional $24,000 was given out to 24 randomly picked nonprofits)

I was completely blown away at the generosity of people towards the nonprofits in New Orleans.Over $2.2 million dollars was raised from a total over 19,000 gifts! Project Homecoming raised over $20,000 and with the matching percent of the Lagniappe fund will have raised a total of over $22,000! We can accomplish so much with that money and it puts a smile on my face to see how much was given in such a short period of time to not only Project Homecoming but other wonderful nonprofits all over the city. If you are curious about other organizations that were involved or are just curious about GiveNOLA in general, click here to explore the website.


Lesson from the Journey: Everyone who says that New Orleans isn't worth rebuilding should just take a quick look at the GiveNOLA website. There is some fantastic work being done down here that people not only want to see down but support. It's amazing.

It's May!

The weather in New Orleans recently has been absolutely wonderful. Sunshine, limited humidity and 80 degree weather? April showers have actually brought May flowers! My past week has been busy (as my blog posts seem to continue to emphasis) but I've gotten myself into the mind set to make myself a calendar and power through! I am recognizing that as my YAV year winds down, I am becoming more and more excited to start my teachNOLA training. My YAV year has been rewarding and transforming in so many powerful ways but the opportunity to not only pursue my passion of math and education but to also get my Masters in Education by this time next year is so exciting. To top it all off I get to stay in this wonderful city another year and give my parents some more time to experience it with me! Little do they know the longer they wait to come visit, the longer their visit is going to have to be because the list of things I want to do and places I want to take them to eat is rapidly growing.

I must confess that this past week I was pretty terrible at taking pictures so not all of the following pictures are my own but I promise (even with the delay!) that I had another busy and great week. So enjoy :)

Day 50: Weird Internet

Monday: I had a slow Monday at work this past week and somehow found myself in some weird corners of the internet. So for anyone out there who thought sleeping was impossible at work - fear not! I did the leg work for you and found these stickers that you can place on your eyelids and you can easily sleep at work. You might look like a crazy person and your coworkers might not want to associate with you anymore but hey at least you'll be getting some quality shut eye right?

Day 51: Staff Crawfish Boil!

Tuesday: One of the wonderful parts of working at Project Homecoming are the people that I get to call my coworkers. I am surrounded by talented and passionate people who are truly committed to making New Orleans a better place. This past Tuesday we had our annual Staff Crawfish Boil held out at the Village. The entire staff never gets to all interact at once so it was wonderful to all share our biggest achievements and struggles of the year and to eat together. And boy did we eat. There were crawfish, burgers, chicken, pasta salad, oysters....so much delicious food. It was a great reminder of how many dedicated people are a part of Project Homecoming and just a fun afternoon. I feel so grateful that I am part of such a wonderful organization.

Day 52: Vegetarian Wrap

Wednesday: Lent might be over and I might not be an official vegetarian anymore but I created this amazing wrap during my vegetarianism and have continued to eat this wrap because it is so good! Hummus, roasted red peppers, shredded carrots, spinach, mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar. It's filling and healthy and just all around delicious. Usually I would have thrown some sort of meat in there and it just doesn't need it. It's great to look back on lent and to see that I am able to come up with yummy easy foods to eat. And it doesn't hurt that it's also colorful and beautiful to look at too.

Day 53: Stoop Hanging

Thursday: My roommate Jess had her good friend Ellison (red plaid pants) visit this past week for Jazzfest. He was a wonderful additional to the YAV house during his stay and served as a YAV for two years so understood a lot of the dynamics that come along with living in intentional community. We all woke up Thursday morning to the most perfect weather and decided to enjoy our breakfast and coffee on the stoop. This hanging session turned into us waving to all passing cars and neighbors (which we are demonstrating in the picture above). Colleen was able to capture our friendliness in action with her camera's tripod resting on one of our trusty recycling bins. I'll tell you, starting your morning off right really sets the tone for the whole day. Sunshine, coffee and good company definitely did that for me.

Day 54: Bike Ride

Friday: I have been so busy lately and not been biking as much as I have wanted! I finally found some time Friday morning to get off my lazy butt and hit the road. I've decided that I really prefer biking as a method of working out over running for several reasons: 1. biking is great for my knee because the fluid motion doesn't strain or pound my joint, 2. you can go much further when biking then running and therefore it allows me to see more which I enjoy and 3. I love the MapMyRide app and I love comparing my different rides (my last ride was kind of an embarrassment considering its been a while since I rode so that's why you get the picture of me on the bike!) Regardless, I am glad I discovered biking in New Orleans. It is actually a pretty popular way of getting around and I'm even thinking about possibly investing a bike for next year.

Day 55: Happy Doing Nothing

Saturday: Due to my exhausting week I cleared my schedule on Saturday and did absolutely nothing. I unfortunately wasn't able to make it to Jazz Fest this year (the tickets are pretty expensive and there was no one I was absolutely dying to see) so my house was pretty low key which allowed me to sleep in, cook good food and just chill. My bed and I had some quality hang time and I never changed out of my pajamas. Often times spending an entire day doing absolutely nothing can make one feel lazy but I did not feel that way at all! Coming off of a long week it was perfect to just relax. I left my house once the whole entire day to go over to my friend's house and watch The Princess and the Frog! It was fun to watch because it takes place in New Orleans and I enjoyed all the references to downtown and the bayou. It's also an adorable movie with cute music so that was pretty neat too. Cute movies and relaxed days that are deserved make me happy!

Day 56: Kill Bill Vol. 1 &2

Sunday: Clearly my past weekend was movie oriented and I do not regret it! I am a huge Quentin Tarantino fan (I probably watch Pulp Fiction twice a month easily) and decided to watch Kill Bill since I hadn't seen it in a while. I know that Tarantino has a reputation (an accurate one at that) for being incredible violent and Kill Bill is no exception but I really do think everyone should watch it someday. I forgot just how amazing those two movies are. The acting, the action, the music, the MUSIC, the storyline (classic Tarantino...many story lines told not chronologically) and its stylized nature. It is just so good! I guess what makes me happy is recharging on the weekends with some good films :)

Lesson from the Journey: My life feels chaotic and put together all at the same time but I'm weirdly ok with it. Keeps things interesting.