Genius Hour: April 29th

My father's work donated me $250. This raised my donations by a lot of money. I am planning to write a note to SOWF. I raised $425.00. I am really proud of how much money I made. It was a lot of fun fundraising and it made me feel good that I was doing something good for the world. The military really does so much for the United States. The military has many missions. Their primary mission of course is to defend the U.S. and U.S. interests. Looking more closely though, you can see that the military does a lot more than simply fight. Some examples of military missions include:

• Rescue operations
• Medical assistance in impoverished areas
• Food & humanitarian relief
• Security at embassies and other locations
• Policing in volatile areas
• Natural disaster relief
• Law enforcement
• Piracy and drug interdiction
• 
  The military is also the nation's biggest group of international ambassadors. As such, there is a great deal of responsibility and respect to show.

Genius Hour: April 15th

My dad is asking people at his work for donations. I got $50 from one person and $20 from another. I was thinking of holding another fundraiser sometime soon but I don't know when because there are no upcoming events at my school. We are going to have a Genius Fair and I was thinking about showing my progress at the Fair. I could put out flyer, bracelets, pens, and pins too. I could explain to them what my project is about.

I didn't get a response from the organization yet so I decided to ask my Uncle questions about the organization since he is the on who told me about SOWF.

How did you hear about SOWF? "I heard about them when my friend in the green beret got wounded in a battle. The organization helped him get the treatment he needed and they also got him a flight from Afghanistan, that's where he was stationed, to a military hospital near his family so they could visit him."

Do you think SOWF is a good organization? "Yes I do, because I know for a fact they help people. They help a lot of people I know or knew in the Green Beret. They help the families tremendously so I think you are doing a great job of support the SOWF organization."

What make SOWF different from other organizations? "Well I know Wounded Warriors have been getting a bad reputation but SOWF is not like that. They take every donation and put towards the military and their families. They really do a great job of helping. They help the children, of people in the military whom died, get great education. They have special SOWF members talk to the families who lost a member in the military. They just do an amazing job of helping."

What advice would you give to those who wanted to help support SOWF? "If you are going to support SOWF, you have to be committed. Not just with SOWF, but with any organization you have to be committed. It is important to really want to help and have you heart and mind set with fundraising for this organization. You are not only helping SOWF, you are helping the entire military and their families. You are doing a great thing, remember that."

Genius Hour: April 8th

The fundraiser went really well. I got 105 dollars. A lot of people took pens, bracelets, and flags. No one really took pins. I thought the pins were really cool though. I had a lot of fun with the fundraiser. Most people I asked for donations gave me money. Only a few said no. During the play I talked to the kids who were holding the bake sale and when intermission came I would go back to my table. The second night is when we got the most money. The first was decent and the last night we didn't make much money because not a lot of people came. It was a lot of fun and I want to have a fundraiser again.

Genius Hour: March 18th

I am going to hold a fundraising at my school play for SOWF. It will be on March 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. I will try to get as much donations as possible. I ask my friend to help so she and I will be at a table in front of the entrance of the play. I will sell bracelets, flags, pins, pens, stickers, and there will be flyers, brochures, etc. I am excited and I really hope I get a lot of donations.

Genius Hour: March 4th, 2016

Today during Genius Hour I researched for people I could contact from SOWF. I found a page of people I could contact for certain things. Some emails I could contact were:

General Questions E-mail: warrior@specialops.org
Interested in Hosting a Fundraiser? mailto:anthonyr@specialops.org
For Information on Existing Events: aolson@specialops.org or edie@specialops.org
Interested in establishing a Business Relationship: aolson@specialops.org

I could also contact these numbers:
(813) 805-9400
(813) 805-0640
(813) 839-4059

Toll Free: (877) 337-7693
Fax: (813) 805-0567

If I wanted to mail something to them, such as a letter, or if I wanted to actually go to the organization they gave me a mailing address and a physical address.

When I contact someone from SOWF or another organization, I will ask them if I could interview them. Some of the questions I will ask will be:
What does your organization do?
What makes your organization great/special?
What do you like about working for your organization?
How do you help others?
What advice could you give to those who want to help your organization?

I also decided that I will most likely have the bake sale at a place I could rent out for the day. I know a lot of people who are family friends who own places I could host my event. They told me if I decided to host my event they would be happy to help. I really want to have a bake sale so I will try my best to make it happen.

Genius Hour: February 26th, 2016

So I came across some difficulties. Mrs. McDermott said she can not help me plan the fundraising until a play at my school is finished. The play this year is "The Little Mermaid" and they will not perform until around the end of March. The Genius Hour project is due around May. So waiting for Mrs. McDermott until the end of March will not be good. I want to get something down right away and I was thinking maybe I could sell candy or something at the play for my school. I could donate the money to SOWF and maybe give some percentage of the money to the Drama Club as well.

Genius Hour: February 19th, 2016

Today in genius hour I didn't really progress as much as I wanted to. I was hoping to get more ideas of how to plan the fundraiser. I got to design t-shirts on the custom ink website.
I think they are really cool but, the shirts would be like $20.30 each for 20 t-shirts which would be a total of $406. So I think I would be better off making my own shirts.
I also have been trying to plan the bake sale and come up with more ideas for the fundraiser. I will keep on trying to plan this fundraiser.