Project Burma; Successful!!

Consider this a night to remember! I just got home now from our event and I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I had this much fun.

All of our hard work, input, and efforts for the past month and a half have finally paid off. Not only did we get the word out about our cause, but we raised a total of $985.82!! I am so proud of myself and the rest of my group members, I could not have asked for a better team to make this event as amazing as it was. I believe that the money we raised says something about how much awareness we caused as well as the people we got involved. Raising almost $1000 is a high accomplishment, but we were also able to get our audience to sign a petition and a banner as well to help Burma. All proceeds and money are going strictly to Burma. We would like to donate our profits to a U.S. campaign and organizations that support Burma, but we will have to discuss it as a group on how we should approach it.

I am also very pleased with the videotaping we got done. We got a filmographer to film the entire show including our in between video presentations and clips about Burma. We will be getting a copy of this tape and sending it to Muchmusic to reach a higher audience to gain awareness about Burma. Hopefully it all works out.

For the most part, the bands were amazing and insanely generous with helping us out. Near the end when wrapping up our event and cleaning things up, members from Explosure, the Lunateers, and Mouthful of Strings emptied their pockets and gave us some donations for our cause. I can’t find anything sweeter than talented band members who donate from the heart; we were definitely not expecting them to do so after the great show they put on for us.

It is amazing how I began this project with just Erin and I. Erin was very passionate about this subject, and after doing some research, it looked like an amazing cause for us to pitch. This was definitely too big of a task for us two to handle, so we decided to send out a group e-mail to all the students in our class asking anyone who would like to be interested, in joining the group. After rallying all of the confirmed group members, I decided to take it upon myself to schedule and hold the group meetings so that each one of our members was informed with our updates. I also took part in choosing the musicians with Katrina and narrowed it down to the final six. The band I was responsible to keep in close contact with was "Mouthful of Strings", a Mississauga band I was able to constantly keep tabs on in terms of their song choices they had prepared as well as the technical stage equipment needed. The bands who agreed to play for our concert were very generous and cooperated to play for our non-profit cause.

Katrina, Jeremiah, Josie, Elisha, Robert, Laura and I showed up two hours ahead of schedule to assure all the equipment rented was functioning as well as the sound system and powerpoint. After doing sound checks with a couple of the band members, the rest of us decided to put up our posters of Burma with awareness facts and how we could help. When Erin arrived, we set up a banner and petition for all our audience members to sign to help support our cause throughout the night.

I am still shaking from this evening and I cannot believe the overwhelming sensation I am getting. Maybe this is a rush of achievement. Maybe? I’m not too sure but I can’t stop smiling like a fool =D

A huge thank you to my group members (Erin, Laura, Katrina, Josie, Jeremiah, Robert, Meghan, Mandi, Elisha) because without them, we wouldn’t have made our night as memorable as it was. Not only has this experience bonded us closer together, but I feel as if I belong to something incredible. I never felt that I could be a part of something before, and for once I feel included.

They are all talented individuals and I am so happy I have had the pleasure to work on this special project with them. This project would honestly not have been as successful without you all, so I believe we should all be proud of ourselves for the amazing deed we have done.