Our blogs have moved over to WordPress! You can find us at:

schapinterns.wordpress.com

Now, you can access new features like easily sharing any of our posts on Twitter, Facebook, etc., commenting, subscribing, filtering through your favorite Intern’s posts by name, and even having a live Twitter update… all on the same page!

Enjoy!

Alisa Hemmesch

SCHAP Intern

As I began my SCHAP internship training last week, my mind fixed on the computer screen trying to take in all the information, my eyes wandered to the framed portraits of children in Matoso: a little African boy brushing his teeth and a little girl sporting a mischievous grin stared back at me. The colorful Acholi beads hanging in the corner distracted me as I tried to decide which would best compliment my outfit. I was snapped back to reality by a sign near the dictionary that says “GLOBAL CITIZEN,” reaffirming the reason I’m here.

After studying abroad in France and exploring Europe last spring, beginning my senior year and taking a full course load with both Journalism and French majors at SDSU seemed daunting. Last fall Cory came to speak in one of my journalism classes and after hearing his enthusiasm and passion for SCHAP and its mission, I was inspired and knew I had to be a part of this team.

This being my first week at SCHAP, I’m excited to see what this semester has in store in for me. I will mainly be working with Jess and the rest of the media team, as sort of a creative copywriter to get SCHAP’s message out there. I can finally put my grammar, spelling and punctuation obsessions to good use by editing and creating content for SCHAP.

As I write this post on my second day here, I’m again drawn to the children’s portraits. I study their faces, wonder how SCHAP is making an impact in their lives and how I will contribute. I smile back because I know in some small way, I’m helping.

- Miranda Alder

Over the couple of years I have known Cory, I have seen how Schap has grown and how much potential it has. This is my first week interning for Schap and I am very excited to have the opportunity to be involved in and be a part of such a promising team. One of my biggest worries with interning for any company was that I would have an insignificant role and be someone’s puppet. I already feel very welcome at Schap, feel like part of a great team and am in charge of running the online marketing aspect, which is something I will really enjoy doing. One thing I have realized while going through Schap’s orientation/ website and talking with Cory and Jess is that Schap is not a run of the mill non profit, but is a very unique idea. I feel that it has a massive amount of potential to make an impact on the world and will save countless lives. I can’t wait to be a part of helping Schap grow!

- Kristian Zak

After a bit of delay….the Grassroots Fundraising has a bunch to update our followers on:

First off, OUR NEW MERCHANDISE ORDER IS HERE!! After a much awaited delivery, the jewelry is sorted, the NEW (and awesome looking thanks to Jess!!!) TAGS are put on, and it’s literally flying off the shelves. The styles rock, the colors rock, and the new team motivation to sell rocks even more. But it’s not just the team that is excited…orders are coming in like crazy and we could not be happier! In fact, we are having such success that I have already begun the process for our next order! With this, I need to do something very important. Let me introduce Caitlin. She is super rad, super fun and going to do super things for SCHAP. Now that the FR department is up and running, I am finding that I need more and more people. This is awesome because it means we just have more going on…which means more money! With this, I am passing along all merchandise tasks to Caitlin. She will now be responsible for tracking merchandise sales, jewelry check out, team motivation, etc. If its merch…its Caitlin. I know she is going to do an awesome job and bring a whole new element to team motivation. I am so excited to have her on board and can’t wait to see where she takes the sales side of our department.

Second, with the holidays coming up…our department is focusing on making the most of everyone’s holiday gift giving this year. What’s better…a no thought gift card to no special place? Or a necklace made in Africa where the purchase is helping both displaced women in Uganda as well as rural community development projects in Kenya? That’s what I thought. With that in mind, SCHAP is working to make the holiday shopping season easier for everyone. With SCHAP jewelry lines are avoided, everyone gets a gift filled with meaning, and more than one person is benefiting from the gift. With this ‘holiday helper mindset’ I hosted a merchandise party while visiting family for Thanksgiving. I introduced SCHAP, introduced the beads, and the success flowed from there. In just a few hours ALL my merchandise was gone and additional orders had been placed. Each person walked away with not only a gift for themselves, but multiple holiday gifts. It was a big day for SCHAP fundraising and we are looking forward to hosting other similar holiday parties to capitalize on the holiday season. If you are interested in holding a SCHAP merchandise party, please contact me at Kathryn@schap.info and we will get you all set up!

Third, SCHAP will be hosting a dinner fundraiser coming up mid-December…December 16th to be exact…at Bare Back Grill in Pacific Beach from 6-10pm. There are drink specials, food specials, music, pictures, raffles and more. We are so excited to work with Bare Back Grill again and I so excited to have a night of FUN and FUNdraising! Please stay tuned for more details!

SCHAP is still out and about at the SDSU Farmers Market. We have had great success with both merchandise sales, as well as networking opportunities. We also participated in the Day of Donating early this month meeting many philanthropists and creating relationships with future supporters. With the New Year, we plan to expand our appearance at networking events such as these and increase the success we’ve been having.

The GR fundraising department has so much more on the horizon. 2011 is going to be…well, I wish I could share it all with you, but that wouldn’t be as fun. I guess now you just have to keep checking back in and see for yourself where this next year will take us.

SCHAPlove,

Kat

Head of Grassroots Fundraising Intern

On November 25, 2010 SCHAP officially received the award check in the mail from Net Squared FACT Challenge: Collaborate for Social Justice.  YESSSSSS! 

Our first grant made oh so real!  Also, Net Squared hooked us up with great grant and fundraising leads that were compiled by last year’s winners.  Lastly, SCHAP has been introduced to TechSoups Grant Writing weekly seminars.  These would be a great resource for any new interns or teammates that end up joining the SCHAP Grant Division Team.  We are beginning to put together a grant writing division training program.  This way new volunteers will be able to learn the ropes in a systematic way. 

No one knew what great things would come from this victory, but the results are already starting to show. 

One of the greatest things I enjoy in life is working on the creation side of things.  I never really liked working for an already established company because I needed to do things their way.  Everything is already set in place.  In those jobs, my talents are not fully tapped into and I do not feel as if I am challenged enough.  SCHAP is growing everyday and experiences successes daily.  That is the best feeling in the world for me – to be part of a growing organization.  I am creating everything.  It is up to me to make things happen. 

What a journey and what an adventure!  This ride just keeps getting better.

Kaprese Kang

Head of Grant Writing Intern

So the SCHAP Family just had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner this past Sunday during our meeting. We had Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce…you name, we had it! Delicious, and in the company of all the teammates which made all that much better. I cant imagine how my own Thanksgiving dinner with my family can get much better than this!
As for Outreach, we have decided to postpone Cory’s Grandfathers event, and decided to go back to Return and Report which is what we initially wanted to focus on in the first place. So now we will direct all our resources to this project since it is such a big project and still attend other smaller events hosted by other organizations. So if anybody out there knows anyone we can contact or any events you would like to see us at, let us know and we will try to get out there!
On a final note, I just wanted to congratulate Kevin on finishing his 6 1/2 years of service in the Marine Corps. He is an inspiration as he is doing what he loves to do and that is to help the underprivileged. I left him one of my air force coins that hopefully he will get a chance to use, even if military events become more rare for him to attend. Thank you for your service and I hope you are “semper fi” to SCHAP!

Respectfully,
Omar Delgado 
SCHAP Intern
Outreach

This week has been a quest to search some for some handy insurance for SCHAP and other goodies that would help this organization. I found some nonprofit insurance providers and learned some stuff. For instance, what types (liability, car, property) are needed and which ones are a must. I also ordered some pamphlets from a website that would serve as a guide as to where to buy insurance, at what rate, and what can SCHAP afford. Admin goal is to have one set up by the end of the month!

Brenda Velasco

SCHAP Intern

Office Manager

SCHAP University is truly coming along! I was able to clean up the PowerPoints I had been working on from last week and make them more clear, concise, and colorful for our potential students! Each slide is outlined with a specific action word such as: “Learn,” “Do,” “Empathize,” or “Mobilize” so each activity is easy to differentiate from each other. 
 

This week my goal is to keep updating the PowerPoints and continue moving closer and closer to a finished product. This internship has truly tested me and I have learned a lot from the work I have been doing.  In fact, I can’t wait to try SCHAPuniversity out for myself!

Last Thursday I manned the table at the SDSU farmers market. It was Refugee Awareness Week and I had a blast talking to people about their organizations and passions. I also sold my first two items of SCHAP jewelry! 

Until next time, 

Kate Sullivan

SCHAP Intern

Projects

Dear Blog Readers, SCHAP has been on an adventure.  An adventure that has us zip lining through the Amazon Jungle, dodging the predators in the wild, flying through the sky, and reaching for the stars.  OK!  Maybe that isn’t really happening, but it sure does feel like it.  So far I have been on my own personal adventure within SCHAP.  

SCHAP is on a search.  A search for stronger, passionate, and committed Global Citizens.  

As I have been working within the Grant Division and steering this ship into a whole new direction, I have learned so much.  Not only have I had a chance to take a lead in something really important, but I have also learned how grants “work”.  How to find and/or search for grants!  How to apply to them!  How to bring content together!  The greatest part has been figuring out how to bring together all the various parts of SCHAP and make some sort of visual and conceptual sense of how this organization would be best structured.  Working side by side with the CEO and Founder - Cory Glazier - I have been given a rare opportunity to see the workings of an organization from a birds eye view; from the inside out.  
 There are 50+ parts that go into running a organization, and Grant Proposal Writing has given me a chance to see the full vision of SCHAP.  In a way, working within Grants I have been able to get a bigger, and broader view of the organization as a whole.  Since my background has been in sales I realize that one key component is knowing what you are selling.  And simply knowing it on the surface, but diving as far deep as I can go to learn the ups, downs, curves, u-turns, and the straight aways of the organization.  
 The best strategy in selling is not only knowing the product, but also the client.  In our case, SCHAPs potential funders.  Many of our potential grant givers have requested proposals based on “projects.”  Some within the SCHAP organization might hear the word “projects” and think of our international projects.  However, the Comprehensive Rural Community Development Projects are just the end result of something bigger.  

That “something bigger” actually is about people like YOU and ME.  People who have something growing inside of them.  People who see how privileged their lives may be in America compared to the many on this planet who are barely getting by.  People who not only see and observe this disproportionate distribution of our world’s resources, but also feel a need to do something about it.  

There are so many people that I know who strive to make a major difference in this world, yet do not know how.  They have no idea where to begin, what to do, or even how to do it.

The Global Citizens Program that SCHAP is in the process of putting together, along with wikiSCHAP, will be the gateway that opens doors for the many who have dreams on a International Scale.  We are not just thinking about changing our lives, but the lives of those thousands of miles away.  

Think of SCHAP as a “rocket”.  If we were all astronauts whose mission was to get to the moon… how would those astronauts get there?  By a space rocket.  That rocket would be the vessel that led those astronauts to their objective - the moon.  That is exactly what SCHAP is, a rocket, or a vessel that carries those who choose to impact the world on a Global Scale to their ultimate objective.  Each objective is chosen by Global Citizens, in their own ways, based on how they want to impact the world.

I may not be able to turn this world into what I want it to be overnight and it’s for sure not going to happen in my life time, but I can impact the lives of those who surround me here in my home of San Diego, CA and the Bay Area (northern CA) and all those that I come in contact with Internationally.  The How’s and When’s are still to be determined.  But what I know for sure… my fire is burning!  It has always been burning — but now, through SCHAP, the propane tank has been LIT.


Kaprese Kang
SCHAP Intern
Head of Grant Writing Division

This week has not shifted from financial stuff and budget expenses and more spreadsheets. Halloween has just left so the office was still bombarded with some extra candy :) Along with creating these tedious spreadsheets, I will begin researching on types of insurance and possible upcoming paydays for our awesome leaders Cory and Jess. 

Brenda Velasco

SCHAP Intern 

Office Manager