Thank you to everyone who supported our 7th Annual Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference Fall Festival that took place on October 12th and 13th along the beautiful waterfront of the El Dorado Hills Town Center. It’s the biggest fundraising event of the year that our youth undertake. It required months of preparation, planning and time.
The Fall Festival Planning Committee began meeting in August to set goals, plan, market, and implement the details of this annual event. Managing the complexity of a large-scale project like the Fall Festival challenged Hands4Hope youth to communicate, collaborate and broaden their leadership skills.
The youth-led Fall Festival Planning Committee was broken down into four subcommittees: Operations and Finance, Games and Activities, Marketing and Fundraising, and Volunteer Management. This included 4 subcommittee chairs, 8 youth leaders, 10 youth committee members, and 8 adult mentors. Committee participants logged 280 hours altogether to bring the event to life, and 124 additional youth and adult volunteers filled more than 150 shifts throughout the weekend, serving more than 600 hours.
Together, the youth and their mentors facilitated a wonderful, family-friendly, fun-filled weekend with fall-themed activities, including 15 carnival games, an obstacle course sponsored by KidStrong, pumpkin decorating, hay rides for families who came out to enjoy the festivities during the two-day event! 922 game tickets and 250 wrist bands were sold. 319 hayrides were taken, pulled by Doug Veerkamp’s vintage 1920’s tractor.
The result of their efforts was raising more than $18,650 through sponsorships and ticket sales for the Hands4Hope Education and Community Engagement program!
Here’s what our youth had to say about being involved in the Fall Festival Committee this year:
Andrew Ni, Project Manager -
Leading the Fall Festival was a challenging yet rewarding experience! Although we encountered a few setbacks along the way, we were able to quickly adapt and find alternatives. This year, our new face painting booth was a great success, and our partnership with KidStrong was amazing as the obstacle course was a big hit. I’ve learned how to organize massive projects, communicate with local businesses, and work on a team in a long-term project. It was exhilarating to see our work come alive during the Festival. I cannot appreciate enough the volunteers who made the event possible, the sponsors who made the fundraiser successful, and Hands4Hope for offering this unique learning opportunity for youth like me.
Addison Hunt, Volunteer Management Chair -
Coordinating and leading volunteers for the Fall Festival taught me how to stay organized and communicate effectively with a large group of people. My favorite part of the event was meeting all of the new volunteers and interacting with the little kids!
Avanti Ramamoorthy, Fundraising & Marketing Committee Assistant Lead -
This was my first year being in the Fall Festival Committee, and I learned so much about Marketing. It was hard to get everything done in less than three months, but we did it and I enjoyed working with everyone.
Video / Photo / Slideshow credit to Hands4Hope Media Intern, Cloud Petersen
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