A MESSAGE FROM VIP 11: UNITED HEARTS
We, the United Hearts of Philadelphia’s Next Level Trainings 11th leadership class eagerly accepted the invitation to make a lasting impact through a large scale community service project. To accomplish this, we proudly chose to support the Herb it Forward Foundation (HIFF). The United Hearts declared that we would raise an amazing $50,000 for HIFF in just 18 days!
The Herb It Forward Foundation identifies and supports hardworking, motivated students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These students are rising leaders aspiring to return to their communities in order to create the change that they want to see in the world. HIFF provides these college students with mentorship and a community that empowers them to grow into the changemakers they are meant to be.
As we learned more about this foundation, we had the opportunity to meet with Herb it Forward’s executive director, Jen Jones. Jen’s excitement is contagious and quickly overflowed into the United Hearts. We found that Herb it Forward and Next Level Trainings have a similar mindset for transforming lives. We took this excitement and shared vision turning it into a bold declaration to support Herb it Forward by spreading love, joy and connection throughout our community.
With a team of only 29 individuals, we confidently declared to raise $50,000 in just 18 days. This goal would allow 48 HIFF scholars to attend Leadership Camp in the Poconos. As we concentrated our fundraising efforts, our thoughts returned regularly to the scholars whose lives we would be impacting by sending them to camp! We reached out to our families, our friends, our coworkers, and business leaders to support our cause and the HIFF scholars. Using love, joy, and connection as our guiding beliefs, we reached out to our connections with personal phone calls. We learned that nothing moves people to action more than a committed and authentic conversation.
Many of the United Hearts reached out on social media in ways they had never tried before. We gained confidence and skill in sending emails and texts, using Facebook Messenger and Instagram. We learned from each other what worked and used those examples to further our goal. We shared good ideas and collaborated with our team. We built on one another’s successes and gained momentum.
A few team members held specific fundraising events like a raffle, a bake sale, and coworkers volunteering to donate their night’s tips. But this campaign was almost entirely a grassroots one, and founded on the personal connections of each team member. This included brand new connections from team members reaching out to businesses and corporations. In the end, it all came back to personal conversations.
The United Hearts continued to call, post, text, and call again. After only 15 days, this remarkable team hit our goal of $50,000! Of course, we could not stop there. We again turned our hearts to the scholars of Herb it Forward, knowing that for every $1024 that we raised, another student would attend leadership camp. With those scholars in our minds, we pushed our efforts forward throughout the rest of the week.
This journey allowed us to make a difference in the lives of 60 young scholars. We were able to raise a total of $61,583! Our support of these young leaders will create ripple effects of the VIP 11 legacy.