I heart Chattahoochee

So, I am totally going to love this town, I can already tell...

I arrived in Atlanta yesterday afternoon and after a fairly short shuttle ride down Highway 85 I arrived in the Chattahoochee Valley, which is made up the tiny towns of Lanett, Alabama; West Point, Georgia; and Valley, Alabama. Yes, two different states, one area. It's pretty crazy- half the time I don't know which state I am in. The house I am staying in is in Lanett, but if you look out the bathroom window you see Georgia! I am staying in the guest house of the president of The Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project- more on them later. The house is so cute and sits on gorgeous property- I'm sure you can tell by the pics. Last night I had dinner with a bunch of people who are involved in the UWP visit to the CV. Everyone is so friendly and nice and has just the sweetest southern accents. I can tell this is a very warm community that will be very open to have UWP here. Everyone keeps asking me what they can do to help and I've only been here a day!

So, the reason UWP is coming here is to kick off a "blitz build" for the Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project. The Fuller Center was started by Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity. It is a similar organization to Habitat, building housing for low-income families. The Fuller Center is unique because it finds families that need help, but are not looking for a hand out. They will help build the home and pay a small and very reasonable mortgage payment ($350 for a new home!). UWP will help build 4 houses while we are in town in addition to working in the local elementary schools. I can't wait!

So, an example of how cute and unique this place is. My host dad just called my house and told me dinner is at 7 and he will send his daughter down in the golf cart to pick me up. That's okay, I said, I'll walk up to the house (it's about a block away). How cute is that? Anyway, I'll try to keep everyone updated on Chattahoochee Valley! Only one month until I leave for Thailand!

Howdy Y'all!

Howdy Y'all! (I had to say it, even though no one in Dallas actually talks like this). Last week we were in Dallas, TX for the 3rd stop of our tour. It was my week to have a little downtime, get some wrap-up work from Tucson done and most importantly, spend some time with my family, since my dad, stepmom, brother and sister conveniently live right where the cast was staying. It was great to get to spend some time with them, even though I kept pretty busy with UWP stuff all week. The staff got the chance to go see the Cirque de Soliel production Cortero because an UWP alum is the tour manager. It was amazing! We did some great CI in Dallas and the cast put on a great show at Flower Mound High School.
Enjoy the pictures of my adorable brother Nicholas and sister Joelle! It was hard to say goodbye to the family, especially because I don't know when the next time I will see them will be. Now its off to another city...

We did it!

I think it is safe to say we can now relax. Tucson is (almost) over and it was quite a success, if I do say so myself. The week went relatively smooth, the cast learned a lot, made an impact on this community and most importantly, we raised $21,000 for the El Rio Foundation at our show last night. I am 100% exhausted, but it is so worth it. This is what I love about this job- I work like crazy for 3 weeks (in this case, almost 3 months) and then you see it all come together in one week and it is absolutely amazing. I have learned so much in this city, both professionally and personally. I had a great team here by my side. My intern, Tina, is one of the coolest, most hard-working and fun people I know and I was so blessed to have her on my team. Also, the fantastic alumni here in Tucson inspire me with their passion and dedication to this program.

Here is a quick rundown of what happened this week:

• Monday- Cast Arrived, met their host families... so it begins!
• Tuesday- spent the day at the University of Arizona. Heard from Provost Davis and former Congressman Jim Kolbe. The cast learned how to effectively read to children and had fitness time in the U of A dance department
• Wednesday- Celebrated 'Love of Reading Week' with a "Read-In" and elementary schools and the El Rio Clinic. Heard from inspiring El Rio doctors, met the mayor and also heard from Up with People founder, Blanton Belk. We had a fantastic turnout for our Valentine's Day potluck at the Northwest Center. Whew.
  
• Thursday- spent the day down at the Pascua Yaqui Village. Worked in their schools, met their vice-chairman as well as people at the Casino. Interacted with the after school program kids and rehearsed our back tracking show for the next night.
• Friday- The cast visited the U.S./Mexico border after hearing about the humanitarian work of a group in Tucson called "Humane Borders". Returned to the University of Arizona for a Border Issues Panel and performed our BTS Show for the ACLC (Arizona Collegiate Leadership Conference).
• Saturday- The Show! Great performance! VERY impressed with this cast and their talents and passion. We had great guest performers- the Al Haneen Dancers (middle eastern dance) and Vocal Ease- an AMAZING all-girl acapella group from the U of A.
  

Which brings me to today- our FREE DAY! I was so confused when I woke up this morning and it was light out. A very weird feeling. Granted it is only 8am and I am up, but it felt great to sleep in a bit. Today I plan on going hiking with some of the other staff and then having a wrap- up dinner with the Tucson team. Tomorrow we head to Van Horn Texas for an overnight (the whole cast in a High School Gym- sweet!) and then the next day we get to Dallas, where I get to see my Texas family- yea!

I am already dreading leaving this cast next week. Last semester I got very close to the staff, but this semester I feel a deeper connection to the whole cast- staff and students. Cast A 2007 is AMAZING. They inspire me every day and I just feel good when I am around them. Oh well- it's part of the job.

Ok- time to enjoy my free day!!

Up with People in the Tucson News

Television interview on KGUN-9, Monday, February 12, 2007



A Guest Opinion in the Arizona Daily Star, written by Up with People alum and current host dad, Bob Riel,

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/169354.php

Front page article in the Tucson Citizen

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/41851.php

More from the Citizen

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/41806.php

Front page article in the Daily Wildcat (University of Arizona's newspaper)
http://media.wildcat.arizona.edu/media/storage/paper997/news/2007/02/14/News/Students.To.Participate.In.Global.Culture.Exchange-2719111.shtml

more pictures from Tucson

The calm before the storm...

Well hello,
It is 7 pm on the night before the cast arrives and I am at home! Amazing. Thanks to my Tucson team- Tina, Mia and Joel for all pitching in and preparing Tucson for the cast! We couldn't really do a late night tonight since we have a TV interview at 5:30 am tomorrow! So, here I am drinking tea and watching the Grammy's. It's so funny- I can't just watch TV anymore. I have to be working, reading, talking on the phone or on my computer at the same time. Sometimes all of the above! So, while this past week has been pretty stressful it hasn't been too bad. We had our last LOC meeting yesterday, did a lot of printing and then had some fun! Brenda, the Executive Director of the El Rio Foundation (the beneficiary of our show), had a Mardi Gras party and I went with Tina, Mia and Korey. We had a good time dancing in up- why is it always the Up with People people who are the first (and sometimes) only ones on the dance floor? It's okay- I love it! Gotta love shakin' it to old school Micheal Jackson and Prince! So, we still have a lot to do tomorrow and it is going to be a crazy week, but I feel generally good about the cast visit to Tucson. Hopefully tickets will fly this week and we'll get 4,000 cheeks in the seats! Well, time to rest.... check out this great article that was in today's Denver Post about UWP. http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5188770?source=email

Cactus Love

Awww... isn't that cute? No time to write much... the cast comes in 2 days! I just wanted to share this picture my intern, Tina from Sweden, took on our desert hike last weekend. Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

busy

so... I try to keep up with this thing, but its hard because I feel like I have nothing interesting to say. We're just busy busy busy getting ready for the cast to come... they will be here in 9 days! I can't believe it. My intern, Tina from Sweden, arrived on Monday and she is AWESOME! She is smart and funny and such a hard worker. A huge help!
We are going to try and have some fun this weekend since next weekend we will be working non-stop. We have plans tomorrow to go hiking and then go check out the Gem Show which is a huge deal here in Tucson. And of course, Sunday is the Superbowl. So that's it for now... I will try to post some pictures here in the next few days...