Blog #3

The last few days have been super busy; the gala is a week from today! After arriving at Friendship Circle, Ellie and I attended the Monday morning staff meeting. They started by reading the mission statement for week ten. This week's mission is to "speak straight." I learned that speaking straight is being direct, clear, and genuine in our communication. Most people appreciate hearing the truth, good or bad. Though, it's not that we should dump our bucket in the act of honesty. It implies that we speak with sincerity, modesty, and simplicity. It indicates that we are free from communication styles like withholding, controlling, avoiding, and defending. Speaking straight takes an immense amount of effort and dedication to better both oneself and the people around you. Also, each staff member went around the table to share their weekly goals, the majority of which included preparations for the gala the following week. 

Following the meeting, we met with Estie Marozov, the co-director of Friendship Circle of Cleveland. Estie showed us the database at the front desk where they keep all the data on volunteers, families, and participants. The database is connected through the Chabad (a temple in Solon). The database can display the events that Friendship Circle members have taken part in as well as their timelines. For instance, when we searched for Ellie in the database, it showed that she began taking part in 2017 and still continues in 2023. It included contact information including Ellie and her family's birthdays, emails, and phone numbers. It was super cool!

Then Estie informed us that in order to mail the invitations, we must begin collecting the names and addresses of the teen volunteers who will be receiving the Weinberg volunteer award. This award is being distributed to 75 volunteers. We had to go over to the printer to make labels for the envelopes after gathering names and addresses. Ellie and I had taken several attempts before we managed to print the labels with the words correctly centered and in the right font size. Jenna, another staff member, printed the 75 invitations we need to mail out as well. I began by folding each invitation so that it would fit inside the envelope before adding the postal labels with the names and addresses. This process took a significant amount of time. Ellie was working on the award certificates that will be given to the teen volunteers while I was occupied with the invitations. She printed out each volunteer's specific certificate that is affixed with gold badges bearing the Friendship Circle logo. I also had the chance to talk about my background and my mentor Yosef's background. It was great to get to know him on a personal level. 

The Friendship Circle team visited the Beachwood High School auditorium today in preparation for the gala, which will take place on Tuesday. The team went over each of their specialized tasks for the event as well as their remaining duties. The team made sure to go through the auditorium seating arrangements. In order to make sure everything runs properly, we also met with the decorators and the tech crew. Afterward, Ellie and I returned to Friendship Circle to work on the personalized speakers and upload our Instagram gala promotion video (Reel Link). 





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