Reflection for Project Valentine

Project Valentine went great this year and I am so grateful to have had the chance to be apart of the magic. The weekend before Valentine's Day was Assembly day to put all the gift bags together. It was amazing to see all of the gifts that were donated!





I also was offered the chance to deliver the bags to the Thornton Rocky Mountain Cancer Center on Valentine's Day, but I was sick with a cold, and I didn't want to infect anyone. My mom and my uncle went in replacement of myself.

My two learning outcomes for Project Valentine 2012 was Planning and Initiating Activities along with Developing New Skills.

For Planning and Initiating Activities I had my church group help me along with my family. My church group made Stress Balls along with Valentine's Day Cards. I also rallied my family together to make a total of 400 cards and 100 pair of earrings. I learned a lot just from putting these few minor activities together.

My second learning outcome of Developing New Skills was used in the creative portion, and the communication aspect as well. I took 2 classes from my local bead store (Ally Cat Beads) to learn to make earnings and an intricate twined necklace. Both of these classes required that I use metal and metal tools. I learned new methods of working with metal that led me to help make earrings for the gift bags. Another skill I learned was communicating with others in a sophisticated manner by both email and telephone. Both are very important skills to have in the workforce. I learned communication through email with talking with the founder of Project Valentine; Rita. When I finally met her in person at one of the Project Valentine Inventory Events, she complimented my passion and voice that was coming across in email. In addition I had to call the Cancer Center to find out how many patients they were expecting that day. It was hard to get in contact with the coordinator, but I made it happen. I get really nervous on the phone, so this was good for me to do.

It was great to see the satisfaction from the people in charge of Project Valentine for all of the donations that not only came in from me, but other people and companies. The people in charger were very kind, and humble. You could tell that they had a passion for what they were doing, and had their whole heart into it. It only inspired me to want to help as well. It was amazing to see how someone's attitude can effect other people as well.

I am a firm believer that we need to find a cure for cancer, and continue cancer research. I also believe that something needs to be done in the mean tine to help the people that have cancer, and that is what Project Valentine does. They don;t get the luxury to have a "cure" before they experience cancer, so we need to help them live a more comfortable life. Project Valentine for 2012 turned out great!
Ciara