Registration and World Down Syndrome Day

Week 11

Tuesday

Tuesday marked the opening of registration for Buddies & Players on the Miracle League of the South Hills website! To encourage early registration, we held a contest in which every buddy or player that registered by March 22nd was entered into a drawing for Pirates tickets. We sent that out on social media & got a lot of responses, it was a very successful way to create buzz about the 2019 Spring season. 

Last week was the start of the annual March Madness Tournament, and we ran a small fundraiser for this event by creating a bracket poll. Sean Casey came into the office that day to record a video of him making his "picks," and we also posted this to social media. Making interactive posts to our platforms has really increased the participation in fundraising.

Thursday

Thursday was #WorldDownSyndromeDay, so we spent a lot of time creating posts to social media to spread the word. To show support and create awareness, everyone is encouraged to wear mismatched socks. We spent a lot of time creating a campaign for the Miracle League to support the cause, and it seemed to start trend with our followers.

Dan Miller's Disability Summit

Week 10

Tuesday

Without any fundraisers or events coming up before the Pittsburgh Marathon in May, time in the office has been spent planning for the upcoming season. On Tuesday, I worked on creating signs for the merchandise stand and concession stand at the baseball field, and started editing the end of year "yearbook" I am in charge of creating for the organization. We plan on giving those out to players, coaches, and sponsors at the annual end-of-year banquet.

I also worked on creating a list of all the principals from local middle and high schools, and sent out an email with a flyer for volunteering for the Miracle League of the South Hills. In addition, I made a few phone calls to local restaurants to try to reserve a room for our runners to celebrate the end of the Pittsburgh Marathon. I have gained a lot of professional communication skills throughout this experience, and these are just two examples.

Thursday & Friday

For the past few years the Miracle League has attended Dan Miller's Annual Disability Summit, and I was lucky enough to have joined this year. The summit is for those who are affected by someone with special needs, and hundreds of vendors that support children and adults with special needs were in attendance. We were able to reach a lot of new people that have not worked with us in the past, and we also met many industry professionals that would be great to partner with in the future. 

Just as many individuals that stopped at our table were interested in volunteering as they were with playing in the league, so I am excited to hopefully see some new faces at our field this May!

1, 2, 3, Muscles for Miracles!

Week 9

Tuesday

This week we did a lot of planning for the upcoming Spring season. On Tuesday, we attended a meeting at the Miracle League field in Upper St. Clair, to chat with a woman who is petitioning to put adult changing tables in all public bathrooms across Western Pennsylvania. We discussed the idea and examined the bathroom space at the field to see if we even have room for the tables, and we came to the conclusion that we would need to expand the pre-exiting building in order to make it work. It was a great learning experience to be a part of a contracting meeting.

I also started working on reaching out to groups for volunteer opportunities throughout the spring season. It is my responsibility to get in touch with the group leaders, such as companies and high school sports teams, to organize a time for their groups to volunteer with the organization.

Thursday

In addition to the group volunteers, I am also in charge of handling the volunteer sign-up database. On Thursday, I created the 2019 Volunteer Sign Up on Sign-Up Genius, which is a public website that allows anyone to sign up to volunteer for the organization. 

On Thursday we also discussed possible softwares to use to create a "yearbook" for the Miracle League of the South Hills, and we come up with a few idea pages and what all should be included in the yearbook. I have gotten to do so many different things with the Miracle League, and have been able to take part in every aspect of running a non-profit. The hands-on experience I have received is invaluable.

Saturday

This was the last week of Muscles for Miracles. Although it is sad that this is the last event for our athletes until the season starts in May, they did so well the past 8 weeks and it was awesome to see them progress. 

Each athlete received a medal after their session, and they couldn't have been happier. This was the first year for the Muscles for Miracles program, and it was received so well that it will definitely grow to be even larger by next year.

A Sigh of Relief

Week 8

After all the excitement from the Bash last week, we had a calm week back in the Miracle League office. On Thursday, we spent the entire afternoon working on thank you notes to all of our donors from the Miracle Bash. There were almost 150 donations to the silent auction, and that's not including our sponsors, board members, and volunteers that all played a large role in the success of the event. We have a few people that still need to claim the items they won, but after we finished the thank you notes, the 2019 Miracle Bash has come to a close. We raised the most money in the history of the Miracle League of the South Hills, totaling at almost $130,000.

Saturday

This was the second to last week of Muscles for Miracles, and it was my favorite week by far. The athletes worked on the gym equipment half the time, and the other half they worked on defense. We had them practice fielding ground balls, as well as practicing throwing at a target. Sean and his wife Mandi were both in attendance this week, which instantly makes the atmosphere in the room more fun. The kids absolutely love Sean and Mandi. I have learned so much from them in how to interact and treat our Miracle League athletes. 

We made a Sean Casey "target" that the athletes got to aim at, and they successfully destroyed it with their throws! The reaction on their faces when they succeed is something like I have never experienced. This organization is so much more then fundraising and baseball, it's about these kids and making their lives a little bit easier and a lot more fun.