Training for the "Au Coeur de la Mode" Fashion Event - November 4th 2009

Last wednesday night, I had a one-hour training session scheduled for the upcoming fashion charity event "Au Coeur de la Mode". This training was mandatory for all volunteers who registered to be sales persons on the actual day of the event, November 15th 2009.

The training was basically an informative lecture on the event itself, how to prepare bills for the items being sold and how to package the items. It may sound dumb but they have a very specific method that needs to be respected in order to avoid theft of items or any kind of misappropriation of funds belonging to the Farha Foundation.

They also went through the basic timeline for the day of the event, next sunday :

8am : Arrival and Registration of volunteers

8am to 8:20am : Coffee and Coat check
(Free coffee, juice, cookies. yay!)

8:20am : Meeting with the supervisors
(They will assign me to a boutique / kiosk for the day)

8:40am to 9am : Meeting with the boutique / kiosk people
(i.e. the people I will work directly with all day)

9am to 10am : Pre-sale for VIPS and volunteers
(Woah. That's the life!)

10am : Sale opens to the public

11:30am : Lunch rotations begin
(Free food. yay!)

5:00pm : Closing time
(and then the dismantling begins.)

I will also be volunteering all day saturday, November 14th 2009, to help prepare everything (tables, chairs, clothing display, etc.) for 8am until .. somewhere in the afternoon (no later than 6pm). I decided to expand my hours on saturday to make up for the hours I didn't do on October 31st for the Publicity blitz.

That's it for now, just a little over an hour to add to the logbook :o)
I'll give you a full report after the event, as usual !

Later,
Fannie xox

The Volunteer Logbook :

Wednesday, November 4th 2009: 7:00pm to 8:15pm (1,25 hours)

Total hours in this article : 1,25 hours

Current iVolunteer Project : 16,25 hours

Remaining iVolunteer Project : 183,75 hours and 314 days to go

Upcoming events for October / November 2009

The main event for the next month will be the "Au Coeur de la Mode" fashion charity event happening on November 15th 2009. This event is basically a giant local and international designer fashion outlet sale with all garments at 50% and more !!!

"The proceeds of this event assists the Farha Foundation to continue to help the more than 20,000 men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS in Quebec."

There are many opportunities to do volunteer work in preparation for and on the actual day of this event, for example, I've chosen to be a sales person.

I've registered to take part in the following activities :

October 31st : Publicity Blitz (3 hours)

November 3rd : Training for sales person (1 hour)

November 14th : Putting up the tables and displaying the clothes (5 hours)

November 15th : Fashion event - sales person (10,5 hours)

This event should allow me to accomplish 19,5 hours .. maybe more .. so I'm really happy about that ! I've been told this is a really fun event and I'm looking forward to it.

The head of volunteers sent me an e-mail yesterday saying that they're still looking for more volunteers so if you're from around Montréal and want to help : CLICK HERE to volunteer !

Later,
Fannie xox

Farha Foundation - Walk Against Aids - Sept. 19th and 20th 2009

This is how the adventure begins, my very first event !

Saturday and Sunday were fun although very VERY very exhausting. I realize that this whole iVolunteer Project is not gonna be easy. The work on saturday was super physical and involved moving heavy objects around. I am not strong but I was determined to get the job done. No sloppy work around here.. no no no. On saturday the tasks were mostly to install and move around (several times, due to the lack of organization and poor planning) tables, chairs, tents, heavy HEAVY metal barriers (from hell) and big packs of bottled water.

I crashed early on both days, taking naps for several hours as soon as I got home in the afternoon.. only to get up for dinner and go back to sleep not long after. I was still tired and sore during the 2-3 days that followed. I'm glad I volunteered to help out such a great cause (AIDS research/support) ! I met some cool people.. particularly Daniel and Léonie.. I hope to see them at a future event because from what they told me, they often volunteer for the Farha Foundation.

According to the media, about 8000 walkers participated in this event and helped raise almost 350 000$ !

Here are some pictures from the Farha Foundation Walk Against Aids on September 20th 2009 :

Ciao,
Fannie xox

This event in the media :

"Farha Foundation's AIDS Walk a Massive Success"

by Canadian Business - Sept. 22nd 2009

"ÇA MARCHE de la Fondation Farha a été un énorme succès"

by Marketwire- Sept. 22nd 2009

"Fondation Farha - Montréal marche pour lutter contre le sida"

by LCN Canoë TVA - Sept. 20th 2009

"Marchethon pour le sida - Des milliers de personnes dans la rue"

by Radio-Canada - Sept. 20th 2009

The Volunteer Logbook :

Saturday, Sept. 19th 2009: 9:30 am to 3:30 pm (6 hours)
Sunday, Sept. 20th 2009: 8:00am to 1:00pm (5 hours)

Total hours in this article : 11 hours

Current iVolunteer Project : 11 hours

Remaining iVolunteer Project : 189 hours and 358 days to go