The last training and Personal Action Plan

We met Jim Pitofsky, HOBA's Executive Director for our last training. He is a very inspirational speaker who likes to call himself a "facilitative" kind of leader. His energy, his humility and his success are all worth aspiring for. Like always, I am so energized when I meet HOBA staff. It rubs off on me and makes me want to do more.

During our meeting, Dana made a remark that startled me - everyone in LiFT was going to write down a "Personal" Action Plan. This plan will be made "Public" during our graduation. When I questioned why, Erica said a beautiful statement that will echo in my ears for a long time. She said "Wont it be wonderful if you are sharing your dreams and your passion - putting that on paper and committing to it, knowing that you have the entire LiFT group to rely on, knowing that you have HOBA staff to support you?"

So, thats the homework we will all have to sleep on for the next few weeks. An action plan. The most important thing I learned today from Jim is that patience pays..So, I will sleep on it. So will my team.

TeamWorks and bonhomie

Our TeamWorks has started with a group of extremely nice people. It was wonderful to hear everyone's story, share the same passion and feel the spirit of community. We met at Celia's in Menlo Park. Around the table, we shared a few jokes, ice-breakers and general bonhomie.

We have four more sessions to get together at different project sites, talk about issues that are dear to our hearts and contribute to causes that are worthy of our time. And to each, HOBA is the common enabler.

We look forward to the grand finale of completing TeamWorks, knowing that our last few weeks in LiFT will be busy.

Look at our charts now!

We updated our charts for new volunteers and you can see why we can hardly contain our excitement! We have _almost_ met our goal for new recruits, thanks to the popular Singles events. We have already met all our Regional Programming goals but our Fund-raising goal has not really materialized. I think we will hold a little post-mortem about it soon.

In little less than 6 weeks, we will all belong to the "LiFT alumni group" and I presume that we would all be closely connected to our alma mater as the years go by.

The next few weeks, culminating into a graduation from LiFT, promises to be filled with work. I am reminded of the quote by Robert Frost - "But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep."

Focus Group - sharing ideas for next LiFT group

I remember Lou mentioning in the very beginning of our program that we would be the "guinea pigs". I had wondered what that meant!! Now, I know.. We had a request from the staff at HOBA to participate in a "how to improve the LiFT program for next year".

Beth, Lou and Erica drove down to South Bay Hobees in Palo Alto. We shared a nice meal together and talked about inputs for the next years' LiFT team. Holly and I had a lot of things on our minds. I dont remember eating anything - I remember talking, staring at the pinkish halogen lamp in the ceiling and mostly, talking a lot!

Holly and I both feel that we have had such a nice time being part of LiFT. It is a great program wildly fulfilling and exceeding many expectations. But there are areas that could be changed and it was amazing to see how much our inputs were valued. All three of them were taking notes as we spoke and I felt like an Executive Director!

It might take me many years to get there but this was the next best thing!

Prom 2.0 - Yelpers fundraise for HOBA

Vanessa from LiFT, along with Sabrina and Erica from HOBA, attended Prom 2.0, a fund-raiser benefiting HOBA. Here is Vanessa's summary of what happened on Feb 17th at "Enchanted by the Sea Prom 2.0" in the beautiful Historic Ballroom in Oakland:

Yelpers and Friends came out about 150 strong to support Hands On Bay Area and relive old memories (and make new ones). There was ambiance (even a real photographer and backdrop for prom-like pictures), raffles (a $500 gift certificate to Sports Basement!) yummy food & drinks and of course, dancing!

Some people pulled their old prom dresses from the 80's and some of us had new gowns. Either way, the best part of the night was request music, all night!

In addition to all the fun, we set up a table where people could get information on volunteering through HOBA. We had a few visitors to our table and some of them signed up to join our 10,000+ strong volunteer base.

There was also a table set up as "Princess Project", which promotes self-confidence for low-income family high-school girls by providing free prom dresses and accessories . The dress giveaways are coming up in the next few weeks. I have volunteered at their dress give aways and believe me, the girls do leave happy!

Overall, Prom 2.0 was a success.