Boston University September 2011 Update

This month has been a very productive month for Operation Smile BU. Since most of our leadership board graduated in the spring we first had to deal with getting everything back together. Realizing the potential for our club to collapse we tried to anticipate the change in leadership by selecting and training a whole new board in the spring. At the beginning of the year we made sure to re-register our club We re-registered out club with BU and Operation Smile (register online here). We also made sure to check in with our activities office and make sure we had an up to date understanding of how to plan events and request allocations.

We made a big push to as much as the incoming freshman as we could. The most passionate and dedicated members usually start young, so get them while they are fresh. We set up awareness booths at a general freshman club fair, a fall club expo and a pre-health club fair. It's important to look into these fairs in the spring or over the summer, since registration usually closes before you can get yourself together in the fall.  We prepared ahead of time and made sure our booths had a clear banner (donated by a local business a few years ago) and were fully stocked with OP Smile merchandise, such as brochures, bracelets and temporary tattoos. We also sold our Op Smile club shirts that can be found and ordered on our club website. The booths were really successful. We ended up growing our email list by about fifty percent.  If you're interested in getting operation smile merchandise, email me at jamesonreid@gmail.com. A lot of emails doesn't necessarily translate into a lot of club members, but it certainly gives a broader range of people to get involved when they can.

We had our first meeting of the year where we introduced club members to Operation Smile through a mission presentation, outlined our club goals, and talked about our upcoming events. We also introduced the structure of our club. In an effort to empower general club memebers to take an active role in planning, we have fundraising, community service, and PR committees. Each committee is led by a separate "chair" that is present at all leadership board meetings and directs the focus of the group. This way students who are not on the e-board can work to develop a fundraiser idea, set up a community service event, or create a new way to spread awareness.

In an effort to lock in the students who attended the first meeting, we planned our first event over the summer. We volunteered at a MitoAction 5k charity run. MitoAction is a non-profit organization that helps people, especially children, dealing with mitochondrial disease. We worked to set up, to run  children's booths, and to clean up the event. MitoAction raised over 95 thousand dollars by the end of the day. The event allowed club members to educate youth, spread awareness about our own cause, bond club members, build leadership skills, be involved directly in the service of others, and see a new part of Boston.