Hi everyone! This week at the Center for Disability Empowerment, we have continued to plug away at planning the 35th Anniversary Celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We are now just three weeks out from the event, and are trying to pull all of the pieces together. This week, the CDE Executive Director Sue Hetrick was on vacation, so there were many things we had to table for now until she is able to approve or provide insight on them. We have tried to prepare everything so it is not too overwhelming for Sue when she returns and we can quickly start putting things into motion. 

One thing that we have been struggling with in the planning of this event is getting email responses from people. Whether that is sponsors or other planning committee members, we are often not getting the responses and information we need to properly prepare for the event. This has been frustrating for me, and I feel like we would be much further along in the planning process if we had all this information. I have been trying to remind myself that it is okay that there are things out of my control, and I am only responsible for doing my best with what is given to me. I have also been trying to give our sponsors and planning committee members some grace, since I know they are probably very busy and also doing the best that they can. I do hope to get some more responses from sponsors in the next week to properly prepare for registration, name badges, and reserved seating at the event. 

Jackie Martin, who I have been working with closely throughout this process, is also currently working on a grant application for the CDE. She explained the grant to me briefly, and I thought that it and grant writing in general seemed interesting and like a good skill to learn. I am focusing on event planning right now, but I hope that after the event on July 11, I will be able to learn a little bit more about grant writing and grant applications in the nonprofit sector.

Until next week, 

Rachael