I really cannot believe we are already a month into this Fellowship! It seems like yesterday I was stressing about the binders full of information and projects designed for me this summer and thinking “can I really get this all done in 10 weeks?” Between running social media, having outreach visits almost every day, stuffing 125 envelopes inviting people to the Wine Tasting fundraiser, or trying to develop new partnerships, I really have been accomplishing more than I ever thought I would.

I remember thinking that it was going to take forever to learn all of the things that go into my projects this summer – I had never run a social media account nor have I worked with this many kids at once before. It is a good feeling to know I felt comfortable almost immediately doing all of the things required for this Fellowship – the staff at KidSMILES are incredibly helpful and approachable, and I find myself very excited to keep learning more about outreach and nonprofits in general.

This Fellowship has also taught me to go with the flow more. Before, I needed exact plans (plus back up plans!) for almost anything I did, and would get very stressed if things weren’t going the way I thought they should. When we do outreach, we really never know what we are walking into; it could be 15 kids, or it could be 100 kids on a day where no volunteers signed up. We could be dealing with 12 year olds, or 6 year olds that may not understand our activities. I have learned how to adapt to the constantly changing environment to ensure we are getting our information across in a way that makes sense to the kids. I think this is a life lesson I desperately needed; being able to adapt has definitely lessened my stress!

While I am excited for a little break, I am a little sad that I do not have any more outreach the rest of this holiday week – I can’t wait to keep meeting and laughing with more kids!