Annual report and season's greetings from Purposeful Penny

Dear Purposeful Penny members and donors,

We want to express our appreciation for your support and interest in our initiative. With your help, Purposeful Penny was able to make this year’s fundraising efforts a great success.

Purposeful Penny completed its second year of operation, during which the group collected a total of $3,897. Of the amount collected, Purposeful Penny donated $2,819 to Bright Kids Uganda in November 2011. The remaining $1078.65 was sent to Brother’s Brother Foundation for relief work in Japan in May and July 2011. (Please find attached file of the annual report for more details).

Starting from January 2012, Purposeful Penny will launch a new executive board with new group of people. Purposeful Penny expects a continued growth and a new leap forward the next level of its initiative with new talents.

Taking the opportunity of this holiday season’s greeting, we would like to deliver our gratitude to you for all your whole-hearted support.  We will send you follow-up letters to let you know where our efforts are moving toward. 

Best wishes,

Purposeful Penny Executive Board

(Jonathan Jeong, Aya Okada, Khurram Butt, Alla Khadka, Tiffany Stacy, and Tomomi Korenaga)

Bright Kids Book Drive with Purposeful Penny

Dear Purposeful Penny members and donors,

Donate your used books, audio books, and DVDs for resale to support Bright Kids Uganda.

There will be a book drive at the table in front of the entrance of GSPIA Deans office, Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 12 P.M to 5 P.M.

In addition to the one day book drive event, we set up a book drive week. Book collecting boxes will be located at the student lounge and the student service office, from Thurs, Dec 8th to Wed, Dec 14th.

Thank you for your participation and donation for this great cause.

Sincerely,
Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Purposeful Penny, officer positions available, please nominate you or your friends!

Purposeful Penny, a student charity organization registered with the
University of Pittsburgh and the Graduate School of Public and
International Affairs, announces its executive board election for the
next year's project.

The openings include president, vice-president, and business manager
position. The positions are open to anyone who are interested in
Purposeful Penny's mission and vision. By the constitution of
Purposeful Penny, anyone who are interested in assuming position on
the board, including incumbent board members and general members, have
to run for the election every year to start or continue to assume
those positions.

If you are interested in running for election for any the officer
positions in the Purposeful Penny, please send us an e-mail at
purposefulpenny@gmail.com
by Friday December 11.

Please write down your full name, affiliation, contact information
(e-mail and phone number) and the position you are interested in.

You may read the summary of our activities for the last three years
through our webpage at
http://purposefulpenny.blogspot.com/

We look forward to many applications for the officer positions.

Please feel free to send us e-mail if you have any inquires regarding
this executive board  election.

Best regards,
Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Purposeful Penny's Donation to Bright Kids Uganda

The donation ceremony and guest lecture by Brook White, President of the Bright Kids Uganda Foundation, on Monday November 7th, 2011, was another milestone for us. Professor White's photos and stories were so inspiring and beautiful. She emphasized and requested that students and faculty at GSPIA spread the words of Bright Kids Uganda Foundation's cause and activities.

After the lecture, there was a brief introduction of Purposeful Penny's work, which was followed by the donation ceremony. Purposeful Penny delivered total amount of money of $2,819.11 to Bright Kids Uganda. Today is another milestone moment for us to continue our initiative with strengthened determination.

Below is the wrap-up summary of this year's project of Purposeful Penny.

Total collection of fund: $3,897.76

1) Donation to Japan relief through Brother’s Brother Foundation:
     $1,078.65 (May 11, 2011 & July 12, 2011)
2) Donation to Bright Kids Uganda:
     $2,819.11 (November 7, 2011)

This tremendous amount of money is a testament to all Purposeful Penny members'  dedication and contribution. Thank you to all of you who joined and participated in Purposeful Penny's initiative.

Best regards,
Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Purposeful Penny's Second Donation Ceremony and Guest Lecture Session (Monday, Nov 7, 11 am- Noon, Rm. 3431, Posvar Hall, U of Pitt)

Now, it's about time to donate our money to Bright Kids Uganda. Please mark your calendar for the Purposeful Penny's donation ceremony and guest lecture session.

When: Monday, November 7th. 11 am - noon
Where: Rm. 3431, Posvar Hall.

We will invite Dr. Brooke White as a guest speaker. This will be a joint event between the Ford Institute and Purposeful Penny.

Since you, a member of Purposeful Penny, are the person who made difference for this cause,  you will be able to have more time with Dr. Brooke White after the formal lecture session if you want. The special time exclusively for PP members will be from noon to 1:30 pm. We will be able to have informal and in-depth dialogues, while we have light lunch and promenade in the campus.

Please join this meaningful moment. This will be another milestone for Purposeful Penny to continue our momentum for the shared cause.

Best regards,
Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Purposeful Penny's Fundraiser Dinner: A Great Success!

Purposeful Penny's third fundraiser dinner turned out to be a great success. Purposeful Penny collect about $700 in one night event. 

Around 50 people showed up and 16 volunteer chef participated in this fundraiser dinner. Dr. Picard and Mrs. Pauline Greenlick joined the dinner fundraiser. Mrs. Pauline Greenlick served as a volunteer chef providing the most authentic American dishes. Kristine Frye shared her experience in Bright Kids Uganda.

Imagine more than 15 ethnic foods in one place~. Very enriched moment. Not only about the physical nutrition, but also, more importantly, about the cultural and social communication with a shared cause. 

A variety of groups joined and introduced their mission and activities including Global Pittsburgh, Nepali community in Ohio, peace corp association, Asian Studies Center, and so forth. 

Purposeful Penny appreciate all of you who attended the fundraiser dinner.

Best regards,
Jonathan, Tiffany and Tomomi (Event committee members)

Purposeful Penny's Inter-Cultural Dinner Fundraiser

Dear friends of Purposeful Penny,

Come and enjoy dishes from all over the world at Purposeful Penny's third fundraising dinner! You can enjoy authentic and tasty cuisines from more than twelve countries including China, South Korea, Nepal, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, Finland, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Puerto Rico, Sudan, and, of course, USA.  All food was prepared by our volunteer chefs.

We will also have a raffle basket prize event themed as inter-cultural candy & cookie basket for your use on the Halloween Day. Looking forward to seeing you all at PP’s fundraising dinner!

Title: Purposeful Penny's Inter-Cultural Dinner Fundraiser

Time: Friday, October 28, 7-9 pm.

Location: Intercultural House (272 N. Dithridge Street, Pittsburgh, PA)

We ask everyone to donate $10 at the door to PP's fundraising effort for educational development. This time our beneficiary is Bright Kids Uganda, committed to providing education, shelter, and food to orphans in Uganda. 

Notice of board member meeting of September

There will be a Purposeful Penny board member meeting on Saturday, September 10th, 4 - 5 pm at GSPIA student lounge. The board will discuss the following agenda at the next meeting.

1) Plan for next fundraiser (Inter-cultural dinner or tea ceremony fundraiser)
2) Guest invitation at the donation ceremony
3) Plan for donation ceremony in November
4) Discussion of ways to recruit new members
5) Board election in November or December
6) Mid-term check-up of the collected fund
7) Discussion on beneficiary for 2012


The board will have a serious discussion about determining Purposeful Penny's direction for the future.



General members and donors,
Please e-mail the Purposeful Penny Executive Board if you would like to put in your ideas and agenda for the board member meeting by Saturday, September 17, 12:00 pm. The board will collect your suggestions and put them on the table at the meeting. Thank you for your support and participation.  

Best regards,
Jonathan Jeong for Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Wrap-up report of the Purposeful Penny Barbecue Party

This is a wrap-up report of the Barbecue Party. It turned out to be a great success with your presence and support. More than 40 people including GSPIA faculty and students, attended the party. We really appreciate those people who attended the party in spite of the fact that they had conflicting schedules - the football game, for example!

The party was successful not only because of the number of people who showed up, but also because of the information that we were able to share with you at the party. Thanks to Kristine Frye's presentation, we had the opportunity to learn about current work being undertaken at Bright Kids Uganda. We're thankful to Dr. Staniland for his continued support for our initiative. We are really excited about the fact that a lot of new GSPIAns joined this event, which means this was a great opportunity for us to reach out to the incoming GSPIAn community.

As you may know, the term Penny in our title stands not only for the coins but also for the individual 'people' who join and work with us  for the cause of Purposeful Penny. Thank you all of you who made the event a great success by your presence and/or support.

Best regards,
Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Purposeful Penny at the GSPIA Information Fair for Incoming Students

Purposeful Penny will recruit new members through GSPIA's information fair on Friday, August 26th (12:15 - 1:30 pm) at the University Club at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Current members and donors are encouraged to participate in the information fair to promote Purposeful Penny to GSPIA community and recruit new members. 

Best wishes,
Purposeful Penny Executive Board

Invitation to the Purposeful Penny Barbecue Party (Saturday, September 3rd, 5pm- 7pm, at Westinghouse Shelter in Schenley Park)

Dear Purposeful Penny members and donors,

We would like to invite you to the Purposeful Penny barbecue party on Saturday, September 3rd, 5pm- 7pm, at Westinghouse Shelter in Schenley Park. All members and donors are invited to this party, where we will serve you diverse international foods. Beverages including beers will also be provided. If you wish, you may bring your own drinks too (but only if you want to!)  

 

Purposeful Penny office bearers will be on hand at the party to introduce you to our work and discuss our future plans including the upcoming second donation drive for Bright Kids Uganda.

The location of the barbeque party can be seen on the map here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=215968010358107830495.0004ab0f22b83c85dfa84&msa=0&ll=40.439402,-79.943562&spn=0.016135,0.027595

 Directions to the location of the barbeque party (from Posvar Hall to the Westinghouse Shelter) can be found here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Posvar+Hall,+Pittsburgh,+Pennsylvania+15260&daddr=Westinghouse+Shelter+%4040.439174,-79.943578&hl=en&ll=40.440513,-79.94854&spn=0.008068,0.013797&sll=40.440513,-79.94884&sspn=0.008068,0.013797&geocode=FdQWaQIdhP87-yGF__kUq8pwJg%3BFYYNaQIdZig8-w&mra=ltm&vpsrc=0&z=16

We hope to see many of you at the party to enjoy good food and share your ideas and passions with us.  We hope that your new semester will be filled with excitement and achievement.

Best wishes,
The Purposeful Penny Executive Board