Summer Journal Entry – Service

I struggled to come up with a good idea on how to service my community this summer. I kept thinking about it because I wanted it to be something meaningful, and real. After getting back from my trip I still didn’t know what I should do. Finally, I decided to incorporate something I am passionate about, with something that will benefit my community. I decided to make a cake, and auction it off on my social media accounts (instagram and facebook) to the highest bidder. I talked to Laeti at CEPIA and told her I wanted all the profits to go to her organization. She found a little girl named Kialah who is 12 years old and needed some new supplies to start the year off, including a computer charger. On Thursday the 26th I made the cake and posted it to my accounts, briefly explaining my goal and where the profits would go. I set a time limit of 24 hours. Over the course of the day I got about 8 bidders. The starting price was $40 (the value of the cake) and the highest bid was $100. On Friday the 27th, I announced the winner back on the same page and got in touch with Shelley Morgan, who bid the highest. It was super cool to see that some of the bidders were people I didn’t even know, including the winner! I also got a message from one of my friends from the US who asked if she could simply donate $30, which was such a generous surprise. I had never done an auction like this before, so it was a new experience for me, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I’m not going to lie I was super nervous in the beginning, I feel that this project definitely incorporated the IB trait of risk takers, because I didn’t know if anyone would bid or be interested. The auction also connected me with many people in my community making me a better communicator. This service demonstrated LO #5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively, and LO #6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance. Not only was I working with Laeti and CEPIA to get this project done, but all of my followers as well. I think that informing the people around my business with CEPIA’s mission and showing people how such a small gesture can really help one little girl is such an important thing. I even got asked by a couple people what CEPIA was, and just spreading that information is already doing some good. In the end I was able to donate $130 to Kialah, which will cover her computer charger and more.