Happy Friday, everyone! This week has been another fantastic week for me at Children’s Hunger Alliance. 

This week has been quite exciting as we are finally starting to receive donations for Taste To Remember! As I mentioned in prior blogs, I have been working a great deal with the team on fundraising, especially soliciting Taste To Remember donations from various businesses for the live and silent auctions. It has been a beautiful journey, to say the least so far. It’s been exciting to receive donation requests in the mail, and even though we still have to pick up a significant portion in person, I can confidently say this week felt like a full-circle moment with the donations. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey of the past few weeks of brainstorming auction items, asking for donation items, and patiently waiting, and now we’re finally getting the items in hand. It feels incredible and has me even more excited for Taste to Remember. As of this week, Taste To Remember is less than seven weeks away!

The highlight of my week was our Summer Fellows meeting on Wednesday at the Columbus Foundation. This week, we had the pleasure of meeting Nick, VP of Community Wellness at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Elizabeth Martinez, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters. It was inspiring to talk to such humble and insightful leaders and hear their unique perspectives on leadership. The most important thing I took away from our conversation is how crucial it is to be intentional about the impact you choose to make on this world, how critical it is to surround yourself with people who will support you, and how important networking is.

At this point in my fellowship, I am in the grove of things and just working on projects. I have enjoyed all the different things I have worked on. I appreciate the chance to work on a project like this, especially as I try to gain more experience to shape my understanding of the field. All of the preparation, small projects, and donation requests are coming full circle, and the anticipation of being a part of such a significant event puts into perspective my position as a Summer Fellow.