Journal

Journal #1 (03/23/2011) Coming up on the weekend of March 25th I have currently not started the hands on project of my senior seminar project. I have done the background research, looking up things such as where I can send boxes. Which I found out I can send them to places such as Afghanistan, and Iraq. I started figuring out what I am aloud and what I am not allowed to send over. Also how much it is going to cost me in order to send over a certain amount of boxes. I talked to my Aunt and Uncle who are getting ready to send their oldest son (my cousin) to Afghanistan. They gave me the name of a couple of websites to check out. The one is the Family Readiness Group. They are all about helping the families of the soldiers help the soldiers who have been deployed. This weekend I am planning on working on getting the boxes I need. Also starting to talk to different stores around the neighborhood to put up collection jars for money to help me pay to send the boxes over.

Journal #2 (03/29/2011) On Sunday March 27th I started working on my hands on project. Knowing that I cannot afford to send care packages over to Afghanistan by myself I decided to put out donation jars around my neighborhood (Oreland). First I went to Rossario's, which is a pizza shop right outside my neighborhood. The boss/owner of the shop is an old family friend, so he told me that he would gladly take one of my jars to try and help me raise money. Then I went over into the middle of Oreland. I went to the Oreland Hardware Store, the manager told me that it was a good idea, and that he hopes it all works out well. Then I went to the Oreland Market, they said that it would not be an issue. Finally I went over to Oreland Pizza. They told me that it was a good idea, and told me that they would be happy to help me. After that I went into Flourtown to try and buy plastic jars that I can use as the collection jars. Also markers. Then when I got home I asked my grandmother, who runs the American Legion Post 10, if I could put a jar up there. She said absolutely, that's what it is there for. She also told me that there are a couple veterans that would be more then happy to help me with the money. So coming up on the weekend of April 1st, I am going to go with her one of the nights and talk to them about it.

Journal #3 (03/31/2011) On Wednesday March 30th, I began the process of getting my collection jars out to the places where I have been told I am aloud to put them. I went on my computer and made the pieces of paper that I am going to put on the outside of the jars, so that the people who go into the stores know what they are going to donate for. I bought five jars total that can be but up. For the American Legion Post 10 and Rossarios I got two slightly larger containers. For Oreland Pizza, Oreland Hardware, and the Oreland Market, I bought three jars that are slightly smaller than the other two. I am going to be going after school either today (March 31st) or tomorrow (April 1st) to put the jars where they need to go.This is what the papers that are going on the outside of the jars look like:

Journal #4 (04/04/2011) On Saturday April 2nd, I went out around Oreland and put up my donation jars in the stores that I had cleared it with. I numbered the jars, so that way when I go to collect them on Saturday April 9th I will be able to keep track of where different amounts of money came from. I put #1 in Oreland Hardware, #2 in the Oreland Market, #3 at Oreland Pizza, #4 in Rossarios, and #5 at the American Legion Post 10 in Fort Washington. On Saturday April 9th, I will be going back around to these places and collecting the jars to figure out how much money I collected over one weeks time. Then if it is not enough, I will be putting a couple of the jars back out, but in different places. I am hoping to be able to put one in the O-Town, one in Hallmark, one in EB-games, and one in Flourtown Pizza. I still have to talk to these places to make sure I can get the okay to put them there, but I am waiting to do that until I collect the ones I already have out.

Journal #5 (05/05/2011) I am currently working on getting the rest of my hands on project in motion. I have now collected over four hundred dollars in order to send the package over seas. My jars went very well. The most I got was from the American Legion Post 10 in Fort Washington. As of now I have gotten about two hundred dollars from them. That jar is still there, still collecting money. My Grandmother has been a big help there. I am also working on thank you letters for the people who have given donations to her for me. Next week. The week of May 9th I am going to Costco's with my mother to get the rest of the supplies I need. Right now I have gotten donations of batteries, powder Gatorade, and something else that I can't remember right now, but I will add to this when I do. When we go to Costco's I am planning on getting some chewing gum, and hand sanitizer. My cousin e-mailed us his address, which is the address we will be sending to. He has also promised me that he will distribute the package throughout his whole troop. I am on my way with this project.

Journal #6 (05/19/2011) Now that we are coming up on the final week of senior seminar, I am happy to say that it is almost over. I am currently packing up and shipping off my care box to Afghanistan where my cousin is stationed. He was kind enough to let me send the box to him and he will distribute the things in the box when it gets to him. Senior seminar was a very interesting class, I will not say that it was horrible, but I will not say it was great. It was just another class that I had to go to every-other day. I enjoyed how it was about something of my choosing, it made having to do research a whole lot easier. If I could change anything about it, I would have changed the having to do annotations in the beginning of the class. I really think it was just a time waster. I understand that we had to do research, but I didn't see the point behind writing out what seemed like an entire paper for each one. I think I could have found more sources if I didn't have to spend so much time working on the annotations. Though other than the annotations I really have no other complaints. It was a good class, and a good experience.