Make a Difference Day (MADD) occurred on October 22nd at Beth Blair’s spookily decorated home. Members convened in the early hours, also known as 9:00am, to sort the donated items for five organizations. Despite the confusion an infant project presented the members persevered over the challenges and accomplished everything by 10:30am. Lots of best practices were noted for the next occurrence of the event in April. Special thanks go to the following people:

• Beth Blair for putting together the wish list for each of the organizations, hosting the event at her home, and delivering the donation to Purses of Love.
• Gillian Allen for purchasing items for and running the donation to Patriot Paws.
• Phyllis Meyerson for delivering the donation to DCAC. Karen Wise for delivering the donation to Letot.
• Nichole Parr for leading the group in organization, utilizing her couponing skills to purchase for as many organizations as possible, and delivering the donation to Our Friends Place.
• Yolanda Joosten for purchasing items for one of the organizations.

Thank you also goes out to all the members that donated items and asked around their community for donations. In April we plan on changing the method of sorting, packaging, and delivering. We will offer two shifts, one for sorting and one for boxing/ delivery. The sorting group will place items based on the product, such as tampons, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, etc. that way we can get an accurate count of each item. After this the boxing/delivery group will take over. One central person will be in charge of the event and smaller groups will be put together for each of the 5 organizations we are donating to. The main point of contact will go through each item and divide the items equally amongst the organizations that need that item. The teams will pick up the items and return to their corner where they will package the items. Members may volunteer for either of the teams or both if they so choose. If you have any suggestions on how else we can improve the process of sorting and packaging items please submit your ideas in an e-mail to Nichole Parr. Due to the success of couponing during this project we will be offering a couponing workshop for the members to learn how to best coupon for the April event. This workshop will be available in January or February based on availability of the instructor. More information will be provided closer to the date. We look forward to seeing you at the next Service Saturday!