Fix It With 5!

On Tuesday night I went to my first student association (S.A.) meeting. I was motivated to go this time because it was the "Fix It With 5" presentations. This program has only been going on at St. Mike's for a couple years. "Fix It With 5" is a philanthropy activist organization that gives a $10,000 grant to a local nonprofit. The money comes from $5 of each student's activities' fee. There are three local nonprofits that present what they would put the money towards if they won it, and then students vote on which nonprofit they think should get it.

One thing that I think says a lot about SMC is that two out of the three nonprofits said that they had employees, interns, and volunteers all from Saint Mike's. I think this really shows how connected people feel not only here at our school, but also within the local community. The three nonprofits that were chosen to present were the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, The Burlington Emergency Shelter, and Mercy Connections.

What made me want to share this experience was that all three presentations really embraced the Made to Stick rules of thumb. Firstly, the Boys and Girls Club showed a video of the children and what they think about the club. Needless to say, it was an emotional video because it made your heart go out to these children that may not have had a mentor or role model before coming to the club, but they also evoked a lot of joy because they seemed very happy when they were there. The presenters also gave a surprising figure: the club takes 1-1.2 million dollars per year to operate. This element of including an unexpected statistic really stuck with me because even though that much money can be hard to fathom, I don't think many people would think it would be that much to run the club. Furthermore, the presenters had a clear and concise message. They got to the core of what they wanted to say and then left it at that (it didn't drag on).

The Burlington Community Shelter was this way as well. Their narrative was much more emotional in both an inspiring and touching manner. A woman spoke who had her life completely changed when she was led to the shelter last fall. She told a very compelling story about how she was at rock bottom and nowhere near Vermont, but something led her here and she is now at a place in her life where she never imagined she would be.

Mercy Connections had a story element as well. The director said from the start that she was going to "talk from [her] heart" and then a woman who was previously in prison spoke about everything the program has done for her and now she is a teacher there. Mercy Connections is a place where men and women coming out of corrections can be mentored and partake in transition programs (being integrated back into a social and working lifestyle). In addition, their presentation was conversational. The director asked empirical questions out to the audience to keep their interest and she spoke in a very compelling way. She even addressed her competitors (the other nonprofits), saying that it really did not matter who won because it would be a "win-win" for all of them, implying that all nonprofits in Vermont support each other.

Needless to say, each speaker had their own way of holding our attention and making their message sticky. Personally, I think the two testimonials were the strongest parts of the presentations because it was proof right in front of our eyes that the work these nonprofits are doing is really impacting peoples' lives. In other words, their work is causing people to act and care about their own lives and all the value they have to offer!