Making It Through Times Of Transition!

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a beautiful weekend! Things are moving right along with Best Feeling Ever, and we are very excited for another great week of meetings and events this week... it's so hard to believe this is our final full meeting week of this month, and of the summer! How crazy is that?! Of course, this is only the beginning of the great stuff that we will be doing, so we will be spending a lot of this week planning for what we will be doing this fall!! We hope to see you there to help us plan!

We will also be talking more about our Service Projects, of course. This past Thursday's Service Night was very successful and productive, and we got a lot of great stuff down! At the end of this post, you will find all of our updated notes from last week's Service Night, so please be sure to read through them so that you're all caught up with everything that we are doing. Please take note of the bold text especially, as that text highlights the new updates from last week! Let me know what you think! :)

I must say, it is a very weird feeling to not be getting ready to go back to school. As you probably know, I graduated from college this past May, and I still can't fully believe that I have finished. I know a lot of you out there are getting ready to go back to school, whether it be high school or college, or anything else. I know that this is such a crazy time for everyone and I know the school year is going to look so incredibly different from anything we have seen before. It will be difficult and challenging, but I know you all are so strong and you will be able to make it through this. Always remember that you are never alone, everyone is in the same boat as you, and that includes all of your teachers and professors as well of course! Lean on each other and be sure to give each other extra support in these times when it is needed now most of all. Above all, just do your best to make the most of it! I have so much confidence in all of you that you will make this school year still be such an incredible one. You can do this!!!! :) <3

Alright, so for this week's topic, I would like to talk a little bit about making it through times of transition, which I think we can all agree this certainly is. For me personally, not going back to school is a huge transition for me, one of the absolute biggest in my life... I've been starting school every September for as long as I can remember, so the fact that I will not be doing that this year is still something that I am working on processing. Whether you have just recently finished school or are going back soon, I know that you must still be feeling a pretty great sense of transition given everything that is going on. It certainly isn't like any of us have much prior experience with a time like this!

Transitions are often very challenging, and I know this one probably is more than most! But I also know that they can be extremely exciting. They can often present many great new opportunities and possibilities that you can find if you are looking for them. It's normal to feel overwhelmed and even a bit nervous and scared, and it's normal to wish for things to be back to the way that they were before. But I encourage you all to keep your eyes on the future throughout all of this, and to remember that we are still working towards something really great, even better than anything that we've experienced before! Keeping myself excited for what we have to come often helps me when I'm going through a hard period of change, and I feel it will likely help you too! :)

But throughout all of this, please always remember that one of the most important parts of transitions is those who you experience them with, and the deepening of your connections with each other that will result. Surround yourself with your family, friends, and loved ones (at a safe enough physical distance and with proper mask-wearing, as always, of course), and come together around this experience. Share your thoughts, feelings, fears, joy, and excitement with one another, and give and receive all the support that you need and that you deserve. I just know that as we make it through this, our bonds and our connections to one another will grow and deepen so much as a result of this experience, so let's make sure to come together and get the very most out of all that. Above all, just know that you are never alone in this. You always have someone to look out for you, and to lift you up. We are all in this together, forever. :) <3

Alright, so now I will share with you all the updates on our Service Projects!! As a refresher, we are working on a fundraiser to raise money for COVID-19 Relief, and an online event in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Here is what we have:

Best Feeling Ever Service Plans

Bold Text = Newly Updated From August 20th Service Night

COVID-19 Relief Efforts

Charity Stream Plans:

· Fundraiser Stream: Raising Money For Doctors Without Borders

· Aiming for early October, likely two consecutive days, such as a weekend. October 3rd and 4th (Saturday and Sunday) may be good dates. The event would likely run for three hours, such as from 7-10 PM, each night.

· Most Likely Will Be Streamed Live Over YouTube And/Or Twitch And/Or Facebook. We will research what will work best for which parts.

· Adam will host a Zoom meeting, and everyone who is able to join the event live will join the meeting when they can. Adam can broadcast the Zoom call over the livestreaming platform, so that participants will be able to share their screens as they are able to.

· Will Feature Both Live And Pre-Recorded Segments

· Components To Include In The Stream:

o Talent Show

o Motivational Speeches

o Meditation/Yoga Stream

o Movie Night

o Gaming Stream

o “Challenge” Stream

· We will give a one-hour time block to each of these six segments, and we will try to fill up the time slot with as many participants as we can. If we have time leftover in a segment, we can fill it by showing YouTube videos and/or giving more time to other segments. We need to decide what to do if we get enough participants to go over one hour for any given segment… first come first serve basis?

· For the Talent Show, Motivational Speeches, and Meditation/Yoga Stream segments, participants will be able to record themselves performing a talent, giving a motivational speech that they wrote, or leading a brief meditation/yoga session, respectively, and submit them to be played during the stream. Alternatively, participants can choose to perform their segment live on stream.

· For the above three types of segments, viewers will be encouraged to send in donations throughout the events in the name of those who are streaming. Additionally, for the Talent Show segment, viewers can be asked to donate in the name of the streamer that they would like to see “win” the Talent Show.

· For the Movie Night, a movie will be played on stream. The movie will be free for anyone to watch, and viewers will be asked to submit donations throughout the movie.

· For the Gaming Stream, participants can play a video game live on stream. We might plan special events centered around certain games such as an Animal Crossing island tour session or art auction that everyone with the game can participate in. Streamers will ask for donations throughout the stream.

· For the Challenge Stream, viewers can send in “challenges” to ask the streamers to do while on stream and donate if the streamers successfully complete them. Streamers will choose which of the challenges they would like to accept.

· We should also plan special Opening/Closing segments for the stream, possibly involving a meditation and/or motivational speech that multiple people contribute to the writing of.

Questions:

· What platform(s) should we use to stream? YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, all three?

· What days and times would work best for this event? The weekend of October 3rd and 4th, from 7-10 PM each day, possibly? Is an hour-long block for each of the six segments a good idea?

· Would it work to livestream a Zoom meeting so that everyone who can participate in the event live can share their screens and participate when they can?

· How exactly will donations work? How will viewers donate?

· What will incentivize viewers to donate? What creative ways can we come up with to get them to donate?

· How will we get participants to sign up to stream/be part of this?

· What other ideas should we include in this?

· How will we promote this? What are some creative ways of getting people to start donating and start getting hyped for this stream?

· What should we name the event?

Promotion/Social Media Use:

· We will use the Best Feeling Ever social media accounts and Newsletter to promote this event.

· Dates and times should be chosen by late August or early September!!

· Submissions for streamers should open up at the beginning of September and close a few days before the event.

· We will make a flyer for the event once the days and times are confirmed.

· We should reach out to local news outlets to promote the stream.

· We can also do smaller, mini-events leading up to the stream to begin fundraising and encourage participants to start donating.

· We will use our social media accounts to raise awareness for COVID-19 safety/relief and to promote the importance of wearing masks, social distancing, etc., as well as how we can be safe and stay physically and mentally healthy during the pandemic.

· We can include some sort of mask drive/fundraiser as well.

· We will encourage participants to use their own social media accounts as well to promote this and raise awareness for it.

· During the event itself, we will have someone actively use our social media accounts throughout the event to broadcast it in real-time on our social media.

· We can hold mini-events such as Game Nights to raise awareness for this and to encourage people to start donating.

· We can host a contest to see who donates the most money leading up to the event, and the winner will receive a prize!

· What other creative ways can we promote this event?

· What name should we give to this event?

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter Event:

· We are planning an online event, hosted over Zoom, that is centered around the Black Lives Matter Movement and anti-racism work. Free to join and open to everyone.

· We are aiming for sometime in mid- to late-September for this event.

· A Friday night, at maybe around 7 or 8 PM, might work best.

· The event should feature guest speeches from members of local anti-racism-centered organizations, such as ERASE Racism.

· We will need to work within the schedules of our guest speakers.

· The event will focus on what we can all do to help the movement and to actively be anti-racist. We will talk about things that we can do/have been doing to work towards justice and equality. We will also discuss resources for allyship.

· The event will feature guest presentations and also give us a chance to share what we are doing to fight against racism, and to give the spotlight to Black people and People Of Color in our communities.

· We can share YouTube videos, resources, petitions, places to donate to, etc. We will also share the Black Lives Matter Official Website.

· We will include a moment of silence for all of those that have been killed by police brutality.

· We will of course give the spotlight to Black people and People Of Color who are actively involved in Best Feeling Ever.

Questions:

· When will this event take place? How long will it be? Would it work well on a Friday night at around 7 or 8 PM?

· What will be the structure of the event? What will it include?

· What resources, videos, etc. should we share?

· How else can we give the spotlight to Black people and People Of Colors in our communities?

· What organizations can we get to speak at this event?

· How will we promote this event and spread the word about it?

Promotion/Social Media Use:

· In addition to using the Best Feeling Ever social media accounts to promote this event, we will also begin using them to more actively support the Black Lives Matter Movement and to put a spotlight on Black people and communities and those of color.

· For example, each week we will do a post on the social media accounts to highlight a Black creator, author, business, etc. We will post on our stories each day to highlight a work by a Black author or creator.

· We will find ways of engaging our social media audience and getting them to share what they are doing to promote justice and equality and stand up for Black communities and communities of color.

· We must always keep thinking of ways to be actively anti-racist as an organization and to keep raising awareness for what is going on in Black communities and communities of colors. We will keep having brainstorming sessions to come up with more ideas.

Other Service

· What else should we raise awareness for? What other causes should we create events around?

· How else can we raise awareness for these and other important issues in our day-to-day lives?

· Please let us know any suggestions that you have, or anything that you would like to see us put into action!

· Thank you for your hard work and contributions, we are very excited to put these plans into action and make them the very best that they can be!

This is everything we have down so far!! We will be planning more at our Service Night on this Thursday, August 27th, at 8:00 PM!! We look forward to seeing you there if you are able to make it!! We will continue solidifying our plans there and keep working to make this the very best it can be. I really look forward to it! As always, please let me know if you ever have any questions or comments on anything, or any ideas that you would like to submit for any of the things we are working on. We really look forward to hearing them, and we can't wait to see all of the great things we will accomplish together from here on out!! Remember, this is only the very beginning!! :)

Thank you all so much again everyone!! I really appreciate you all so much! Sending you all so much love and so many hugs, I am always here for you whatever you need so please feel free to reach out at any time!! I know that it's hard, but we will make it through these challenging times by sticking together, I just know it. If there is ever anything at all I can do for you, please reach out to me at any time and let me know!! Stay strong, and remember how amazing you are, we all have the power to make it through!! Always keep being kind and loving towards yourselves and to all others. I can't wait to see you all again really soon!! I love you all so much, keep being your amazing selves, I can't wait to see what we achieve!!!! LET'S DO THIS, TOGETHER!!!! :) <3

Your friend forever,

Adam Silverstein :) <3