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)
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.
PurposefulPenny, 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 PurposefulPenny's mission and vision. By the constitution of PurposefulPenny, 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 PurposefulPenny, 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.
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.
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.
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)
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dear Bright Kids Book Drive donors, participants,and volunteers,
With your donation and dedication, the Bright Kids Book Drive turned out to be a great success. Through the one day book drive event on Dec 8, and the book drive week from Dec 8 until Dec 15, we collected ten full boxes of books. Dr. Picard and Purposeful Penny members shipped those books to a person who will manage the book online sale business via half.com.
Again, we appreciate your donation and dedication. Your participation and support made a difference at this event.
Best regards,
Bright Kids Book Drive Committee at Purposeful Penny
Dear Purposeful Penny members, donors, and friends,
Purposeful Penny will hold a monthly general member meeting on Friday, November 5th, 5 - 6 pm. at William Pitt Union Room 542. Please join us for the group meeting and fuel our shared hope with your input. We
will discuss the following agenda.
1) Wrapping up of the annual election
Office positions for new year’s activities
2) Determination of beneficiary group
3) Main plan of activities and program
Inter-cultural Dinner Fundraiser
Honors College Joint Event in December or January
Used book sale fundraiser
4) Issuing first year summary news letter
Sending Thank-you letters with receipts
Best regards,
The Purposeful Penny Executive Board
Dear Purposeful Penny members, donors and friends:
It is time for Purposeful Penny to hold its first annual election for its executive officer positions. Purposeful Penny has been operating as a student charity group for over a year and a half (and as a university certified group for about a year) now. It is an exciting time now, as we move forward with expanding our student group and helping it grow into a premier student-led institution at the University of Pittsburgh. Most of you must have already received our previous e-mail asking you to register with our student organization page that is managed through the Student Organization Resource Centre (SORC). It is imperative that you register with this page via the link provided in the last e-mail so that you are able to vote in the elections. If you haven't already done so, please register as a member ASAP.
Following are some important points for your consideration regarding the annual election:
(1) The executive officer positions that are open and for which the annual election is being held are: President, Vice President, Business Manager and Secretary.
(2) As the existing office bearers are eligible for another term in office, all existing office bearers have agreed to put forth their nominations for their respective positions. Existing office bearers who have nominated themselves for a second term in office are:
Jonathan BokGyo Jeong for President;
M. Khurram Butt for Vice President;
Aya Okada for Business Manager;
and Alla Khadka for Secretary.
(3) All general members who have held an active membership for at least six months preceding the annual election (at least since April 2010) are eligible to nominate themselves or another active general member for any of the open positions.
(4) In case of self-nominations, at least one active general member (who is not nominated themselves for any of the positions) needs to second this nomination for it to be eligible.
(5) Last date to send in nominations is Friday October 15th, 2010.
(6) Nominations may be sent via e-mail to purposefulpenny@gmail.com or to any of current office bearers. A reply email will be sent to acknowledge receipt and confirm eligibility of the nomination within 3 calendar days.
(7) Each nomination should be accompanied with a paragraph describing the candidate's interest in the position and what they aim to achieve in their tenure, if they are elected.
(8) Elections will be held via the Student Organization Resource Centre (SORC) managed student organization websites.
Only those active general members who have a valid Pitt email id are eligible for registration via the SORC websites and for voting in the elections. Again, if you have not already registered with the Purposeful Penny page of SORC, please follow the instructions provided in our last e-mail to you and register ASAP.
The election will be held from 9:00 am on Monday, October 25th 2010 to 6:00 pm on Friday, October 29th 2010. All valid votes received during this period via the SORC managed Purposeful Penny election poll site will be deemed eligible.
Apart from the open executive officer positions, we are also looking for people who are interested in assistantships for some or all of these executive officer positions. These assistantships are an excellent opportunity for you to get acquainted with what the job entails and understand its demands. Such assistantships will prove to be an excellent stepping-stone for you to nominate yourself for the next annual elections in 2011!
If you have any questions about the elections or would like to get in touch with the existing office bearers to talk about nominations or assistantships, you may contact them at the following emails:
We look forward to your active participation in the election process. We cannot make this student charity initiative into a successful, sustainable organization without your contribution!
Purposeful Penny has a great announcement today. Purposeful Penny finalized our first year fundraiser with the total amount of $1,791.60. It's way more than we aimed in the beginning. We, together with all members and donors, would like to celebrate our achievement through collaborative efforts. Donation amounting $1,700 will be made for Bright Kids Uganda on Thursday September 16th, 4:00 pm. The amount left ($91.60) will be used for next year's donation.
As you know, we will have our general member meeting tomorrow for wrapping up our first year project. It will be held on Saturday, September 11th, 11 AM, at William Pitt Union Room 527. Please be a part of the celebration of our first year project with other members together.
Below is the agenda for tomorrow's meeting: i) report and summary of first year project, ii) discussion of election of first week of October, and iii) discussion of details of next week's donation event.
Hope to see many of members at the meeting.
Purposeful Penny Executive Officers
(B. Jonathan Jeong, Khurram Butt, Aya Okada, and Alla Khadka)
Purposeful Penny will have its last coin counting meeting before we make our first donation this month. Purposeful Penny will have a coin counting meeting at GSPIA student lounge on the third floor of the Posvar Hall
on Monday September 6th at 11:00 am.
Please join the meeting for the collaborative "labor" work before we wrap up our first year project. Purposeful Penny ask you to bring your collection of coins to the meeting. This will be the last call for coins before our donation event is made.
Best regards,
Purposeful Penny Executive Committee
(B. Jonathan Jeong, M. Khurram Butt, Aya Okada, and Alla Khadka)
Purposeful Penny will hold its monthly general member meeting at William Pitt Union (Room 527) on Saturday September 11th, at 11:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Please join the meeting and share your ideas with members. Your presence will make a difference.
We will discuss the following agenda.
1) Briefing about Purposeful Penny's one year project (funding and member status)
2) Discussion about Purposeful Penny funding donation event of late September
3) Notice of the election of the Purposeful Penny officers in the first week of October
4) Introduction of the Purposeful Penny's Pitt webpage
Please hand over all coins you collected to one of the Purposeful Penny executive officers or place it in the GSPIA student lounge by Wednesday September 8th in order that all money should be donated for our beneficiary organization, Bright Kids Uganda.
Purposeful Penny executive committee
(B. Jonathan Jeong, M. Khurram Butt, Aya Okada, and Alla Khadka)
Purposeful Penny will participate in the "Market Place" as a part of the orientation program of GSPIA. This event is intended to help student organizations in GSPIA promote their group to the incoming students and recruit new dedicated members. The Market Place for GSPIA Orientation will be held on the ground floor of the Posvar Hall on Friday 27th from 11:45 until 1:30 pm). Although this event mainly targets GSPIA new incoming students, the target audience is not limited to the GSPIA students. It is open to all Pitt students beyond GSPIA.
We will distribute our organization brochure and coin collectors. We will recruit new members by asking them to sign in the membership registration form. It would be of a great help if you could be part of this crucial event for the second term of Purposeful Penny. I strongly encourage Purposeful Penny members to come by the market place and help the recruitment and promotion process for the Purposeful Penny.
This event will be a launching event for the Purposeful Penny to start new semester's plans. Hope to see many of you there.
Best wishes, Jonathan President of the Purposeful Penny
