Racing To Save Lives

Saturday, April 01, 2006

San Jacinto Dormitory

Last Sunday, my friend Ying asked me how fundraising was going. I embarrassedly admitted that there hadn't been progress. She said, "I used to door-to-door fundraise in high school. Don't be scared, I'll go with you." Rebecca adds, "Try the dorms." Thus birthed the plan of all plans for today.

bizschool
4/1 Meeting in front of the business school

We gathered together slightly after noon. We fueled ourselves up at the Ying's family cookout as well as the Edible Book Fest. Then, it was time. We timorously walked into San Jacinto Dormitory residential area. Even though there were seven of us, it still took about several minutes of heated discussion before we figured out how mustered up the courage to knock on a door. The door slowly swings open and a person peeks out at us. After a long awkward pause, several voices pipe up. The girl listens and says, "Sure. Let me go find some change." Hurrah! And we continue along in this fashion for the next two hours. It was fantastic.

sjdorm
4/1 The crew taking a break

Favorite moments:

  • We accost two guys in the hallway. One of them takes out his wallet and handing us the two dollars that are inside, "You guys will find better ways to use this than I will."
  • A guy with a seeing-eye dog! I stutter through my words as I try to simultaneously figure out if Blogspot is accessible and update what I want to say. Fortunately, he has a great smile and waits patiently for me to finish before donating what's in his billfold.
  • We accost another guy that was walking back from the vending machine. He says, "You should have grabbed me before I spent all my change." Then he goes into his room and grabs more change for us.
  • A ten dollar bill. A five dollar bill. Many one dollar bills.
  • One girl sees our flimsy cap masquerading as a bucket and gives us a sandwich bag. In which she dumps all the change from her purse.
  • One guy hands us a huge cup that's more than halfway filled with change.
  • Another guy pours out a handful of change from his water bottle.
  • "I was in your CS class."
  • A guy in a wheelchair that also has an amazing smile.
  • "I live on plastic."
  • "I'm so broke. You want my dining dollars?"
  • "I was in your Japanese class."
  • Every single person wishing us luck.

We were blown away by all the people with huge hearts. Even if all they had was 10 cents, they still generously gave it to us.

foodbears
4/1 Delighted to stop walking and start eating

We were rather exhausted after all the walking. To the point that we forgot to take the take out that we ordered in the restaurant and had to call the store to find out if that was where we left our food. But it was worth it when we counted up the results: $87.60 (excluding 2 Euro cents). Verified with the UFCU coin machine.

results
4/1 That's what $87.60 looks like

Ying, Rebecca, Nick, Lily, Danhua, Calvin, Caleb, and
San Jacinto Dormitory residents:
YOU ARE AWESOME!!

2 Comments:

  • wow! all those coins!!!
    That's so cool that there were so many nice people!
    I love all your "favorite moments" they're so funny~ ^_^

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:08 AM  

  • Thanks! *blush*

    By Blogger tkat, at 9:34 PM  

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