I intern at an organization known as the Asian American Donor Program under my supervisor, Ruby Law. Their mission statement is to "increas[e] the availability of potential stem cells donors for patients with life threatening diseases curable by a stem cell transplant." Essentially our goal is to reach out to the Asian community and convince people to register as potential donors to save the lives of patients suffering from blood diseases. Most of my job consists of assembling kits, assisting at donor drives around the Bay Area, and performing various tasks related to community outreach and preparing for major fundraisers. Keep reading to find out more about my experiences interning here! |
Reflective Logs
Jan 17, 2016 (3 hours)
I volunteered today at a church on Bayfarm. I don't remember the exact name of the church, something like Bay Heritage Church, but it was connected to the campus of California Crosspoint High. My job was to go around and try to convince people to sign up to be a donor, by explaining our cause, showing them pictures of our patients, and being very enthusiastic about helping alleviate this problem that affects the Asian population. I feel like I was pretty successful today at marketing. I enjoyed advocating for such a noble cause, and I feel like it was improving my communication and persuasive skills. Unfortunately the majority of the churchgoing population was above the critical age of 44, but I got around ~30% of the youth and younger parents that I talked to to register as donors. I also think that being in the church building was a reminder for these practicing Christians to be selfless and charitable. Overall, we got over forty sign-ups by the end, which was a pretty satisfying accomplishment.
February 9-23, 2016 (7.5 hrs)
So I'm compressing these three weeks of my internship into one log because I have been involved in a long-term project during this time. We have this big annual fundraiser called the Laugh for Lives Comedy Show, and I'm in charge of contacting and soliciting sponsors to donate prizes for our raffle and auction. An abbreviated list of sponsors that I have contacted include Disneyland, LegoLand, The Cheesecake Factory, Pier 39 Family Pack, SF Asian Art Museum, De Young Museum, Walt Disney Family Museum, Six Flags, AMC Movie Theatres, Whole Foods, Sushirrito, Hilton Hotels, Waterworld, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, some small businesses (including a rock climbing gym and go-kart!), and several others. It's pretty exciting work, considering I've never done this before, and it's really thrilling when I get a positive reply. So far, I have received passes to the Walt Disney Family Museum, tickets to go see the Berkeley Rep, and $100 pass for rock climbing! Hopefully the sponsors will keep rolling in!
February 23, 2016 (2.5 hrs)
We have a big donor drive at Stanford next week, and Ruby said that we were running low on kits, so my job for today is to replenish our supply of donor kits. I've never described the process in detail before, but the making of kits is a basic task that is given to most of the interns. Basically, you put four peeled cheek swabs, a donor card with AADP's contact information on it, and a sticker pad with appropriate stickers placed on the envelope for identification purposes. Each kit takes about a minute or two to assemble, unless you're distracted by the free food...
March 1, 2016 (2.5 hrs)
Although the comedy show is in two weeks, we have a huge donor drive taking place at Stanford this Thursday, so my friend and I are rushing to assemble more donor kits. We can make about 120 kits together in the two hours that we spend in the office, but we need at least 400 for the drive. I think college kids, especially those at renowned universities, tend to be more charitable and also have later Asian populations, which is why our drives at Stanford and UC Berkeley are always so successful. The assembly of kits is tedious work, but we're saving lives here so it's all worth it!
March 8, 2016 (2.5 hrs)
This is the week of our big event! I'm doing a lot of prep work to get ready for the comedy show, such as printing and folding programs. I've folded/stapled about four hundred programs total (the printer doesn't stop ejecting them); luckily I have fellow interns to help me with this job. I also helped design several auction flyers which are supposed to catch peoples eyes and lure them into buying more raffle prizes (which include a bottle of wine from Yao Ming's vineyard!). I've never used Microsoft Publisher before, but it's similar to Photoshop. Now I have another skill to add to my resume!
March 11, 2016 (4 hrs)
Tonight was the 9th Annual Laugh for Lives Comedy Show! The event was super fun and entertaining; I'm incredibly glad I went to help. I got to the SF Palace of Fine Arts at around 4 p.m. to help set-up. Set-up included putting out chairs and tables for the donor registration booths, taping VIP signs to the backs of chairs, and setting out table clothes, banners, and decorations. I'm really impressed with my supervisor Ruby for how much planning went into creating this event. I also got to meet MC Jin, our celebrity host for the night, and AADP bought pizza for all the staff, interns, and volunteers.
Once the event actually got started, things became even more entertaining. First, I worked the ticket booth, which was unexpectedly legitimate. I used a Square to swipe people credit cards, and sat behind bars in an actual ticket booth, which was a unique experience. About fifteen minutes into the start of the show, I was released and allowed to watch the comedy show with some friends that I had invited and fellow interns in the VIP section! The comedians were honestly, surprisingly hilarious. I hadn't expected too much, because I didn't recognize any of the comedians, but everybody was really funny! During intermission, the interns and I helped out at the registration booths, where in total we probably registered fifty new donors! Overall, it was a very exciting and fulfilling event to be a part of, and I wouldn't hesitate to help out again in following years!
I volunteered today at a church on Bayfarm. I don't remember the exact name of the church, something like Bay Heritage Church, but it was connected to the campus of California Crosspoint High. My job was to go around and try to convince people to sign up to be a donor, by explaining our cause, showing them pictures of our patients, and being very enthusiastic about helping alleviate this problem that affects the Asian population. I feel like I was pretty successful today at marketing. I enjoyed advocating for such a noble cause, and I feel like it was improving my communication and persuasive skills. Unfortunately the majority of the churchgoing population was above the critical age of 44, but I got around ~30% of the youth and younger parents that I talked to to register as donors. I also think that being in the church building was a reminder for these practicing Christians to be selfless and charitable. Overall, we got over forty sign-ups by the end, which was a pretty satisfying accomplishment.
February 9-23, 2016 (7.5 hrs)
So I'm compressing these three weeks of my internship into one log because I have been involved in a long-term project during this time. We have this big annual fundraiser called the Laugh for Lives Comedy Show, and I'm in charge of contacting and soliciting sponsors to donate prizes for our raffle and auction. An abbreviated list of sponsors that I have contacted include Disneyland, LegoLand, The Cheesecake Factory, Pier 39 Family Pack, SF Asian Art Museum, De Young Museum, Walt Disney Family Museum, Six Flags, AMC Movie Theatres, Whole Foods, Sushirrito, Hilton Hotels, Waterworld, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, some small businesses (including a rock climbing gym and go-kart!), and several others. It's pretty exciting work, considering I've never done this before, and it's really thrilling when I get a positive reply. So far, I have received passes to the Walt Disney Family Museum, tickets to go see the Berkeley Rep, and $100 pass for rock climbing! Hopefully the sponsors will keep rolling in!
February 23, 2016 (2.5 hrs)
We have a big donor drive at Stanford next week, and Ruby said that we were running low on kits, so my job for today is to replenish our supply of donor kits. I've never described the process in detail before, but the making of kits is a basic task that is given to most of the interns. Basically, you put four peeled cheek swabs, a donor card with AADP's contact information on it, and a sticker pad with appropriate stickers placed on the envelope for identification purposes. Each kit takes about a minute or two to assemble, unless you're distracted by the free food...
March 1, 2016 (2.5 hrs)
Although the comedy show is in two weeks, we have a huge donor drive taking place at Stanford this Thursday, so my friend and I are rushing to assemble more donor kits. We can make about 120 kits together in the two hours that we spend in the office, but we need at least 400 for the drive. I think college kids, especially those at renowned universities, tend to be more charitable and also have later Asian populations, which is why our drives at Stanford and UC Berkeley are always so successful. The assembly of kits is tedious work, but we're saving lives here so it's all worth it!
March 8, 2016 (2.5 hrs)
This is the week of our big event! I'm doing a lot of prep work to get ready for the comedy show, such as printing and folding programs. I've folded/stapled about four hundred programs total (the printer doesn't stop ejecting them); luckily I have fellow interns to help me with this job. I also helped design several auction flyers which are supposed to catch peoples eyes and lure them into buying more raffle prizes (which include a bottle of wine from Yao Ming's vineyard!). I've never used Microsoft Publisher before, but it's similar to Photoshop. Now I have another skill to add to my resume!
March 11, 2016 (4 hrs)
Tonight was the 9th Annual Laugh for Lives Comedy Show! The event was super fun and entertaining; I'm incredibly glad I went to help. I got to the SF Palace of Fine Arts at around 4 p.m. to help set-up. Set-up included putting out chairs and tables for the donor registration booths, taping VIP signs to the backs of chairs, and setting out table clothes, banners, and decorations. I'm really impressed with my supervisor Ruby for how much planning went into creating this event. I also got to meet MC Jin, our celebrity host for the night, and AADP bought pizza for all the staff, interns, and volunteers.
Once the event actually got started, things became even more entertaining. First, I worked the ticket booth, which was unexpectedly legitimate. I used a Square to swipe people credit cards, and sat behind bars in an actual ticket booth, which was a unique experience. About fifteen minutes into the start of the show, I was released and allowed to watch the comedy show with some friends that I had invited and fellow interns in the VIP section! The comedians were honestly, surprisingly hilarious. I hadn't expected too much, because I didn't recognize any of the comedians, but everybody was really funny! During intermission, the interns and I helped out at the registration booths, where in total we probably registered fifty new donors! Overall, it was a very exciting and fulfilling event to be a part of, and I wouldn't hesitate to help out again in following years!
Closing Report
Overall, this internship was a fantastic experience! I gained a lot of valuable work experience while at the same time having a lot of fun. It was a great idea to obtain a professional internship for a nonprofit organization that advocates for a great cause, because I was motivated to do every task assigned to me, with the knowledge that what I was doing was contributing to the effort to save lives, especially lives of people in my Asian American community.
Some specific skills that I used were my communication and advocacy skills, in both writing and speaking. At donor drives, I would have to rack up the courage to go up to strangers and pitch our organization. I would have to make a concise but compelling case about why the should become a donor in the context of the severe lack of Asian American donors in the national registry. In writing, I would also have to persuade potential sponsors or other organizations like schools, churches, or colleges in either to solicit donations or set-up potential donor drives respectively. Overall I learned how to advocate for a cause other than myself, and how to be a good salesman. I imagine that this was good prep work in becoming an entrepreneur.
My daily duties involved assembling donor kits, emailing various organizations, and doing prep work for big events. Some obstacles that I encountered performing these were daily distractions and a lack of previous experience formally emailing large organizations. There were probably social conventions or faux pas that I didn't know of that may have thrown off my chances at soliciting donations or setting up a donor drive. Luckily, sometimes Ruby would have a format for how she wanted the email to look, and just give me a few degrees of freedom in changing them.
I went into this internship expecting to do a lot of busywork performing mundane tasks, but I was actually able to be of significant help when I asked Ruby if I could do something other than assemble kits. Since the organization was so small, there was always something relevant for me to do. Especially in preparation for large events, the interns and I were very much needed. Most of the time, the work I was doing was very interesting and impactful. Furthermore, interns had unexpected benefits like free food from the snack bar or free merchandise that would be handed out at donor drives. Looking back, I had a lot of fun, and I would definitely come back to do it again!
Some specific skills that I used were my communication and advocacy skills, in both writing and speaking. At donor drives, I would have to rack up the courage to go up to strangers and pitch our organization. I would have to make a concise but compelling case about why the should become a donor in the context of the severe lack of Asian American donors in the national registry. In writing, I would also have to persuade potential sponsors or other organizations like schools, churches, or colleges in either to solicit donations or set-up potential donor drives respectively. Overall I learned how to advocate for a cause other than myself, and how to be a good salesman. I imagine that this was good prep work in becoming an entrepreneur.
My daily duties involved assembling donor kits, emailing various organizations, and doing prep work for big events. Some obstacles that I encountered performing these were daily distractions and a lack of previous experience formally emailing large organizations. There were probably social conventions or faux pas that I didn't know of that may have thrown off my chances at soliciting donations or setting up a donor drive. Luckily, sometimes Ruby would have a format for how she wanted the email to look, and just give me a few degrees of freedom in changing them.
I went into this internship expecting to do a lot of busywork performing mundane tasks, but I was actually able to be of significant help when I asked Ruby if I could do something other than assemble kits. Since the organization was so small, there was always something relevant for me to do. Especially in preparation for large events, the interns and I were very much needed. Most of the time, the work I was doing was very interesting and impactful. Furthermore, interns had unexpected benefits like free food from the snack bar or free merchandise that would be handed out at donor drives. Looking back, I had a lot of fun, and I would definitely come back to do it again!