One Month Anniversary! :)

Today we all realized that yesterday was our one month anniversary of participating in the Charitable Challenge! We have a meeting scheduled tonight and cannot believe it will be the last Sunday night meeting of the Challenge. We have had our ups and downs the past month, but the ups far outweigh the downs, and we all cannot fathom our lives without the Challenge! We can only hope we have touched others in this challenge even half as much as the people of this challenge have touched us.

As Lindsay mentioned yesterday, five of us surprised Michael and Richard at the Admiral's game! Their parents told them they were just meeting neighbors at the game, and then we showed up! Michael's face was priceless! Our special dinner was fantastic, and we sat in Row B for the game! We were close enough to pound the glass after each Admiral's goal! It was so fun sitting together; We all have become so close that we can make jokes, laugh at each other, etc. just like old friends. The game was amazing too: Admirals won 7 to 6 in overtime! After the game the boys got to tour the locker room and get autographs, and then they were taken to see the Admiral's bench. It was a great night of bonding and VIP treatment :)

This morning was one of the single most fun activities we've done in the Challenge: We went to the Wauwatosa Fire House on Underwood and served a brunch to Crew #3. We spent four hours together, and we had SO much fun. The morning started with a tour of the house, an introduction of the men, and then we got to put on all of their gear and pose for a few pictures! We were all on cloud nine :) Then we all cooked together. We teamed up to make pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast and most importantly: STEAK! We wanted to spoil these guys with this random act of kindness, because they do so much for the community (in fact, a group of them had to go out on a call right before brunch was served). The guys of Crew #3 were incredible, and we spent the whole morning making fun of each other. They were impressed with our thick skin :) We really hope we can continue a relationship with these guys! They deserve the special treatment!

We're headed into the home stretch, and still have a few more tricks up our sleeves :) Tomorrow we do a few more acts of kindness. Maybe we'll see you at a bus stop! :) Please plan on coming this Thursday to Discovery World at 6 for our final presentation!

Have an amazing week, and go out and do your own random acts of kindness!

Time is Winding Down

It has been way too long since our last update, so we have a lot to update! First of all, after spending the past week with Michael's family, we have all realized just how much we are learning from them. They are an amazing family with an awesome outlook on life. Every time we go to see Michael, Richard, Beth, and John, all of us just cannot contain our excitement! They always welcome us with open arms and we never want our time with them to end. We thank God everyday that He brought this family into our lives :)

So what have we been doing this past week? A LOT! First, on Wednesday we were able to finally meet with our high schoolers. They are AWESOME! Our WISCO students are just so ambitious and ready to help in any way that they can. They set up a card-making station at their school on Friday and we have many card to bring to the VA hospital on Monday.

Tomorrow (Sunday) many of us will be visiting one of the Tosa Fire Houses and cooking brunch for our local firemen! We wanted to give back to them since they do so much for our community. We are all very excited about this!

Monday we plan on going to the VA hospital and delivering the cards and maybe some flowers or cookies as well. These Vets have done so much for our country and we want them to know that we appreciate it. We will also be going to a bus stop and handing out hot chocolate for the people waiting in the cold for the bus. We're also very excited about this!

Now for an update on what we've been doing for Michael and his family. On Wednesday, which also happened to be Derrick's birthday, Derrick, James, Hillary, and Hannah met Michael and his family at the Bucks game. They were upgraded to lower lever tickets (thanks to Bango) and had a great time! Team Effect presented both Richard and Michael with Bucks jerseys and they were so excited! They were also able to go on the court and shoot around after the game! It was a great night for everyone!

On the way back, Derrick helped an old woman shovel her driveway. She was so happy that she tried to give him money, which he refused. He gave her his phone number in case she ever needed anything else done. He was rewarded by the surprise birthday celebration (ice cream cake included) when he got back to school.

Back to Michael...yesterday, many of us were able to go meet Michael and Beth at the hospital before his appointment. Unbeknownst to both Michael and Beth, we gave Michael a Nintendo DSI! He and Beth were so happy! It was so nice to be able to give Michael something he always wanted. Michael and his family gave us a card thanking us for all we have done for them. They wrote a nice note in the card and while James was reading it out loud to us, many of us girls started tearing up. This family has just been such a bright spot in our lives this past week.

Tonight, Hannah, James, Amber, Ben, and myself (Lindsay) will be attending an Admirals game with the family! Hannah and I are able to get there early and have dinner with the family (everything provided by the Admirals) and sit in lower level tickets. After the game, Michael and Richard will be able to go into the locker room and get autographs! The best part is, Michael has NO IDEA this is all happening! He think they're just going to the game with their neighbors. We cannot wait to see his reaction!

There has been so much happening this past week, it had to be a long update. We want to thank everyone for their continuous support! We couldn't do it without you all!

Oh yeah...here's a link to "The Morning Blend" that Team Effect was on yesterday morning! It was so fun. Be sure to check it out! http://www.themorningblend.com/NewsArticle/tabid/1474/xmid/41897/Default.aspx

Have a great day, everyone! We'll update again tomorrow!

All It Takes is One Day!

Team Effect spent Sunday brainstorming different ideas for Michael's ambitious wishes. We reunited at night for a group meeting, and we left with tons of ideas and many, many contacts to reach.

We had a few breakthroughs today! Assuming Michael and his family don't read this blog (we don't want to give anything away :) ), we've made some connections with various people for both the Bucks and the Packers and are excited for the family to experience what we have lined up! We are never satisfied though, and are all still working like crazy to get Michael and his family even more. Words cannot describe how wonderful this family is. Their faith shines through, and when I was chatting with Beth on the phone earlier today, I could not stop gushing about her family and she couldn't stop gushing about our group! We are both helping each other more than we ever could have imagined, and the actual wish-making hasn't even happened yet!

This morning we met with the principal at Wisconsin Lutheran High School down the road. They are the high school Kapco matched us with to mentor. Unfortunately, WISCO was not very aware of what their involvement in the Challenge is, so we needed to meet with just the principal today to straighten things out, and we will meet with the team of high schoolers on Wednesday. Nothing is coming easy this round! :)

We are also still thinking of Random Acts of Kindness! We have some fun ideas and are definitely open to more! Write on our wall or e-mail us at teameffect2010@gmail.com if you have any creative ideas! Another way you can help: If you know of anyone or any organization looking to get rid of old computers, please let us know! La Causa definitely has a need for them, and we're eager to help out!

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, ideas, support, etc! Have an amazing week! :)

Round 2 begins!

What a great day for Team Effect today! Since Amber already posted about all the things we have to do for round 2, I'll just give a quick update as to what we have done so far.

This lovely Saturday started off bright at early with an early morning trip to La Causa to start the murals. Tanya was so sweet when we got there this morning and had doughnuts ready for us! Coach Hermann began some awesome art work and will continue throughout this week until he is finished. Thanks for all your help, Coach!

Hannah contacted our "wish child's" mom already on Thursday night when we got back from the kick-off. Beth is probably one of the funniest and sweetest mom's I have ever had the pleasure of meeting :) Most of the members of Team Effect (plus a girlfriend) actually surprised Michael at his championship basketball game this afternoon! They didn't pull out with a win, but Michael played great and fought hard. We gave him some Buck's tickets and we hope that helped him feel better after a tough loss.

After Michael's basketball game, Michael and his amazing family came to WLC and watched the men's basketball team play their last game of the season. They were able to sit court-side with us and Coach Noon gave him a jersey and had all the basketball players sign it. It was so much fun!

Before heading over to a little pizza party in the Underground with us, James, Michael, and Richard (Mike's brother) played a game of "HORSE" and shot around for a little bit. They were having such a great time. We then had a little dinner with pizza and soda to get to know the family a little bit more and see what we could do to help.

Michael and his family are absolutely amazing people. We had a great day with them and know that it will continue throughout these next 9 days and after as well. They are humble and kind and so easy to talk to and relate to. Team Effect cannot wait to continue to work with Michael and his family.

Derrick also did our first random act of kindness today! While he and Liz (his amazing girlfriend) were over by Mayfair Mall, they noticed a car stalled in a left turn lane. They bought him some gas, but the car still wouldn't start, so they drove him to where he needed to be. Great work, Derrick!

That's all I have for now. Keep checking back for more updates!

Round 2 begins!!!

Round 2 of the Charitable Challenge started today! This challenge is a bit different from the last challenge. We are given $2000 dolllars, 10 days, and 4 different "areas" to be judged on.

1st objective: Our team will be mentoring students from Wisconsin Lutheran High School in Milwaukee. We will be explaining the Charitable Challenge and the accomplishments and progress we have made at La Causa. We want them to help spread our mission statement to as many people as possible. We also want them to participate and become part of our team with their skills and ideas.

Our second challenge is to do random acts of kindness to complete strangers! Whether it is buying a person's groceries or giving a person a warm coat.

Our team also decided to use the money we have recieved from the 2nd challenge to take La Causa to another level to make a bigger impact on the students' and teachers' lives.

Each team has also been assigned a specific child. Our goal is to impact this child's life and also his family's life. We want to create memories for years to come!

We are so excited to start this next round and make an impact in even more lives!

Wrapping Up Round 1!

Hey everyone!

These past few days have just flown by! The 5 Wisconsin Lutheran College teams from the Charitable Challenge had their presentations this past Tuesday. All of the teams showed the judges what they all accomplished within the past 20 days! All of the groups put in so much time, dedication, and effort into this project and it showed throughout their presentations.

After much deliberation from the judges, Jim Kacmarcik announced Team Effect as the winners in Round 1! We are so thankful for all the support from everyone and very excited to be starting Round 2 of the Charitable Challenge!

Gearing Up!

Hey everyone!

As most of you know, Hillary was on the air with Jeff Stone on The Big Dawg 97.7! She told everyone about Team Effect's mission and what we are doing to help La Causa and the Crisis Center. There were sooooo many responses from people calling in that they are challenging people in the area to donate 300 books by the end of the week!!! It is awesome that our message and our cause reached to so many people in such a short time!

This weekend is the last weekend until our group presentations on Tuesday! We have so many more things to do and so little time! This weekend we are going to go to La Causa and set up the new library. We are hoping to paint the walls, set up shelving, and just make it a nice enviroment for the children to enjoy. Anyone interested in helping us this weekend please let us know! Also, if you know of anyone willing to donate paint/painting supplies please contact us at teameffect2010@gmail.com :)

We already went and picked out 585 books from Next Door Books for the new library! Lindsay and Hannah's apartment is also steadily being filled with numerous donations! Awesome!

Once again thank you for all of your support! It means so much!

Time is ticking!

YAY!!! The Clear Medical Agency is supporting our cause by donating money for each person who joins their facebook page. Make sure you look them up!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/ClearMedical

We had an awesome weekend!!! We recieved over 100 books, toys, dishes, and lots and lots of clothes! Thanks for everyone who donated!

There is still so much to do and so little time! Only 9 days left till our presentation!!! We have made a lot progress so far but there is still so much to do! Keep telling your friends about Team Effect and our cause!

In Motion

Our team has been recieving donations such as clothing, books, chalkboards, a few winter jackets, and some small desks. All these donations are greatly appreciated, however, there is still a dire need for simple household items (toilet paper, laundry detergent, paper towels, dish soap, hand soap), non-perishable foods or grocery store giftcards, and adult and teen clothing. Books for middle-school aged kids would also be an awesome gift for the older children who attend La Causa school.

We are planning to paint a mural for La Causa's library and any donations of paint/paint supplies would be of use as well. We MAY have a company who is willing to donate to our cause so please keep asking your friends to join our group :)

Set a reminder for this coming up Tuesday morning to listen to 97.7 The Dawg! Hillary will be explaining our cause and our mission to hundreds of listeners! We will keep you updated on the time to tune in!

We have recieved a lot of spare change through our change drives and we thank
EVERYONE who contributed! We can not begin to tell you how much we appreicate it! This challenge is not only changing lives, but changing our lives!

Our group mission and cause is mentioned in the Madison online newspaper! Here is the link to check it out! http://my.madison.com/Groups/Wisconsin_Lutheran_team__Charity_Challenge

Exciting News!

Hey everyone!

Today Hillary picked up 450 toothbrushes and 100+ tubes of toothpaste donated from Bohl and Race Orthodontics!

Also, this coming up Tuesday, February 9th, Hillary will be on the air with Jeff Stone from 97.7 - The Big Dawg (located in upper wisconsin/michigan area). Feel free to listen to it live in the morning at http:...//www.977thebigdawg.com/

Thank you for all the support! We will continue to keep you updated on our progress!

Our Mission

Given the freedom to define our objective, we have chosen La Causa—aptly, “The Cause”—an MPS (Milwaukee Public School) Partner School on the south side of Milwaukee. Not only is it a school, but it is also a daycare, Head Start, Crisis Nursery, deals with home removals with Child Protective Services and Family Counseling, and has a food bank and clothing store. Our team, El Efecto—“The Effect”—will raise vital funds for La Causa, purchase essential classroom materials, provide families with basic items, and offer our time by tutoring, reading to, and playing with the children.

The school does not have much of a budget, as the teachers have to buy anything they want/need for their classrooms out of their own pocket. In addition, a lot of these kids have really rough home lives, and that it why they created the crisis center. It's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for children who can't/don't want to/are afraid to stay at home. Many of the students even eat all 3 meals and bathe at school. We will be helping with after school programs, cleaning, specific classes, and possibly a specific family. Most of the students don't have coats, hats, snow pants, mittens, etc. In addition they have a wish list on their website. We can either donate items that are on the wish list or a monetary donation. Not only are we planning on helping at the school, but we're going to be setting up a project in order to help long term. La Causa is mostly a hispanic/Spanish speaking school. We are talking to our own Spanish department, as well as Spanish classes/clubs at local high schools about spending some time volunteering at La Causa and are hoping to get it set up to be a long term committment.

Team Effect is very excited about the progress we have made in the past week. We have been able to contact radio stations, get donations of simple necessities such as toothbrushs and toothpaste, and also have been meeting on a regular basis to brainstorm other ways we can impact this organization.

Thank you so much for supporting our cause!

If you have any questions or comments please email us at teameffect2010@gmail.com