Training for the "Au Coeur de la Mode" Fashion Event - November 4th 2009

Last wednesday night, I had a one-hour training session scheduled for the upcoming fashion charity event "Au Coeur de la Mode". This training was mandatory for all volunteers who registered to be sales persons on the actual day of the event, November 15th 2009.

The training was basically an informative lecture on the event itself, how to prepare bills for the items being sold and how to package the items. It may sound dumb but they have a very specific method that needs to be respected in order to avoid theft of items or any kind of misappropriation of funds belonging to the Farha Foundation.

They also went through the basic timeline for the day of the event, next sunday :

8am : Arrival and Registration of volunteers

8am to 8:20am : Coffee and Coat check
(Free coffee, juice, cookies. yay!)

8:20am : Meeting with the supervisors
(They will assign me to a boutique / kiosk for the day)

8:40am to 9am : Meeting with the boutique / kiosk people
(i.e. the people I will work directly with all day)

9am to 10am : Pre-sale for VIPS and volunteers
(Woah. That's the life!)

10am : Sale opens to the public

11:30am : Lunch rotations begin
(Free food. yay!)

5:00pm : Closing time
(and then the dismantling begins.)

I will also be volunteering all day saturday, November 14th 2009, to help prepare everything (tables, chairs, clothing display, etc.) for 8am until .. somewhere in the afternoon (no later than 6pm). I decided to expand my hours on saturday to make up for the hours I didn't do on October 31st for the Publicity blitz.

That's it for now, just a little over an hour to add to the logbook :o)
I'll give you a full report after the event, as usual !

Later,
Fannie xox

The Volunteer Logbook :

Wednesday, November 4th 2009: 7:00pm to 8:15pm (1,25 hours)

Total hours in this article : 1,25 hours

Current iVolunteer Project : 16,25 hours

Remaining iVolunteer Project : 183,75 hours and 314 days to go

Upcoming events for October / November 2009

The main event for the next month will be the "Au Coeur de la Mode" fashion charity event happening on November 15th 2009. This event is basically a giant local and international designer fashion outlet sale with all garments at 50% and more !!!

"The proceeds of this event assists the Farha Foundation to continue to help the more than 20,000 men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in Quebec."

There are many opportunities to do volunteer work in preparation for and on the actual day of this event, for example, I've chosen to be a sales person.

I've registered to take part in the following activities :

October 31st : Publicity Blitz (3 hours)

November 3rd : Training for sales person (1 hour)

November 14th : Putting up the tables and displaying the clothes (5 hours)

November 15th : Fashion event - sales person (10,5 hours)

This event should allow me to accomplish 19,5 hours .. maybe more .. so I'm really happy about that ! I've been told this is a really fun event and I'm looking forward to it.

The head of volunteers sent me an e-mail yesterday saying that they're still looking for more volunteers so if you're from around Montréal and want to help : CLICK HERE to volunteer !

Later,
Fannie xox

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - CIBC Run for the Cure - October 4th 2009

First of all, let me start by saying that this event is HUGE. Obviously, Breast cancer is a very serious problem, affecting 1 in 8 women (I've also heard 1 in 9 .. maybe statistics are declining ? Yay!) and awareness has been promoted for years now.

Therefore, this event is a big deal .. it's "Canada's largest single day, volunteer-led fundraising event dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research, and education and awareness programs". The run / walk took place in no less than 56 communities accross Canada, simultaneously on October 4th 2009. That's a lot of people !! It felt amazing to be a part of it and it was incredibly empowering to see everyone (women, men, children.. even dogs) joining forces.

The Montreal edition of the 2009 Run for the Cure took place in Parc Maisonneuve which provided plenty of space for the runners and walkers to do their 5k or 1k.. and all the installations (tents, kiosks and main stage). This was the first year at this new location because the race used to be held in the streets downtown Montreal .. but undoubtedly the event has gotten too big (which is a good thing) and required more space !

To register for this event, I used the Bénévolatàlapage.CA website. This website provides volunteers with quick and easy access to many events or charities requiring their services.. in a the region of your choice (Canada, USA, Bermuda).

Using this website allowed me to see all the different tasks available for this specific event .. and among those tasks I chose to help with the "Spirit Squad" ! Hahaha, I know .. this is extremely girly of me.. but being an ex-cheerleader .. this immediately appealed to me.

I got there at 8:15am on sunday morning and was given my t-shirt, handclapper and told to go to the finish line. That's it, that's all. No further instructions and no head of volunteers at the finish line to manage / lead the volunteers. It seemed to me like the event lacked structure .. for the volunteers aspect, at least.

Sure, you don't need a diploma to figure out how to cheer people on but it would've been nice to have someone to rally the volunteers together (we ended up being all spread out because the other volunteers on the Spirit Squad were a bunch of teenage girls who really didn't wanna be there in the first place) and assign tasks to the different volunteers. I felt that a little more organization could've made the volunteers' efforts more useful.

For example, before and after cheering people on, I felt that I could've been useful in some other way but there was no head of volunteers to assign me to a new task.. I wasted a lot of time for just a little bit of cheering.

And this is why, next year, I want to register to work at the Revlon kiosk. The makeup company, Revlon, donates tons of beauty products (nail polish, lipsticks, lipglosses, nail files, etc.) and they are sold, on the day of the run, for a profit. Most products are sold for 2$ a piece.. so everybody wins .. it's a donation and it's much cheaper than buying it at the drugstore.

According to the media, about 20 000 runners and walkers participated in this event and helped collect nearly $1 650 000 ! That's how huge this event was !! Crazy !

Oh and before I forget, here's an interesting fact for you .. with all the research for treatments and awareness campaign that have been done in recent years : There are now 87% of women who had breast cancer, that beat it and survive over 5 years !! That's awesome news !

I am having the hardest time finding photos of the Montreal edition of this event so I will update if I find any .. until then, here are pictures I found of the CIBC Run for the Cure on October 4th 2009 :

Ciao,
Fannie xox

This event in the media :

"The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation raises nearly $2 million during the CIBC Run for the Cure"

by Canada Newswire - October 4th 2009

"Plus de 26 000 personnes ont participé à la marche du cancer au Québec"

by Presse Canadienne on Canoe.ca - October 5th 2009^

"Cancer du Sein - Une marche pour la vie"

by Radio-Canada - October 5th 2009

"Le cancer du sein fait courir" (On the Quebec City edition of this event)

by Le Soleil on Cyberpresse.ca - October 4th 2009

The Volunteer Logbook :

Sunday, October 4th 2009: 8:15am to 12:15pm (4 hours)

Total hours in this article : 4 hours

Current iVolunteer Project : 15 hours

Remaining iVolunteer Project : 185 hours and 346 days to go

Interesting Links - Volume 1

Volunteers get free admission for a day at Disney World (Florida) or Disney Land (California) :

Click here for Disney's give a day, get a day !

If you're looking to do volunteer work while traveling, Lonely Planet makes a travel guide for Volunteers :

Click here for Lonely Planet's volunteer travel guide !

New app for iPhone suggest one DoGood action per day :

Click here for the DoGood iPhone App !

Scratch for the Cure / Grattez pour la vie.. is a contest where you win cool prizes and money is also donated to Breast Cancer research for every participation :

Have a great week !

Fannie xox

Farha Foundation - Walk Against Aids - Sept. 19th and 20th 2009

This is how the adventure begins, my very first event !

Saturday and Sunday were fun although very VERY very exhausting. I realize that this whole iVolunteer Project is not gonna be easy. The work on saturday was super physical and involved moving heavy objects around. I am not strong but I was determined to get the job done. No sloppy work around here.. no no no. On saturday the tasks were mostly to install and move around (several times, due to the lack of organization and poor planning) tables, chairs, tents, heavy HEAVY metal barriers (from hell) and big packs of bottled water.

I crashed early on both days, taking naps for several hours as soon as I got home in the afternoon.. only to get up for dinner and go back to sleep not long after. I was still tired and sore during the 2-3 days that followed. I'm glad I volunteered to help out such a great cause (AIDS research/support) ! I met some cool people.. particularly Daniel and Léonie.. I hope to see them at a future event because from what they told me, they often volunteer for the Farha Foundation.

According to the media, about 8000 walkers participated in this event and helped raise almost 350 000$ !

Here are some pictures from the Farha Foundation Walk Against Aids on September 20th 2009 :

Ciao,
Fannie xox

This event in the media :

"Farha Foundation's AIDS Walk a Massive Success"

by Canadian Business - Sept. 22nd 2009

"ÇA MARCHE de la Fondation Farha a été un énorme succès"

by Marketwire- Sept. 22nd 2009

"Fondation Farha - Montréal marche pour lutter contre le sida"

by LCN Canoë TVA - Sept. 20th 2009

"Marchethon pour le sida - Des milliers de personnes dans la rue"

by Radio-Canada - Sept. 20th 2009

The Volunteer Logbook :

Saturday, Sept. 19th 2009: 9:30 am to 3:30 pm (6 hours)
Sunday, Sept. 20th 2009: 8:00am to 1:00pm (5 hours)

Total hours in this article : 11 hours

Current iVolunteer Project : 11 hours

Remaining iVolunteer Project : 189 hours and 358 days to go