I Promise I'll Calm Down Soon!

A week in and I still can't quite believe it! I'm so excited that I can't help talking about it to everyone - I promise I'll calm down eventually!

After receiving my acceptance letter last Saturday, I am now impatiently waiting for my fundraising booklet to come through from Project Trust. I've not been sitting back doing nothing though. On Monday, as soon as I got into school, I went to my head of year and nabbed all the bake sales at parents evening after school. This may be all the help I get from my school, apart from being able to use it as a free venue, but I'll take what I can get, and everyone loves a bake sale!

I also inquired about setting up a link with my old primary school. I was told to come back after the holidays as everything was wrapping up for the summer but it was a positive response from them. I hope to be able to offer them some Spanish lessons and talks on my experiences both before and after I go, in exchange for (more!) bake sales, a non uniform day, and some other things like that.

Meanwhile, I spent an hour and a half in Stirling library yesterday going through The Directory of Grant Making Trusts, looking for any that support areas like overseas aid, education and young people. I found some that look promising but a large majority don't give grants to individuals which is incredibly frustrating! But I'm not done yet and there was a big chunk I didn't get through yesterday.

Even though I'm not going to be able to run any actual fundraising events until August, I have started with a silent Facebook auction, held by my mum, for a homemade quilt made by my nanny (picture below). I am also looking into dates for a Halloween party in October and a fundraising ceilidh to coincide with my 18th birthday in February. I'll keep you posted...

For anyone that wants to keep more up to date with my progress, check out my Facebook page for my year overseas, Sara's Year in Honduras for regular updates. I have set up a Virgin Money Giving page as well and would like to give a big shout out to my first donor for an incredibly generous donation!  Every single penny means a lot to me and I want to say thank you for your support.


(The handmade quilt for silent auction. Anyone interested can leave a comment here with a bid. There is a reserve price that has been set to cover the cost of materials and time and if this is not met the quilt will not be sold. Thank you for any interest.)