CORNHOLE: No Longer Just a Tailgating Game

In Georgia, football is HUGE, and therefore tailgating is HUGE. There are many tailgating games people play to pass the time before a big game, but none are as popular as cornhole. But to me, that's all cornhole was—a tailgating game.

Fast forward to me living in Ohio, and what do I begin to see everywhere? Cornhole. People everywhere playing it, talking about it. There was even a seasonal store in the Fairlawn mall dedicated to it. Blew my mind. So as I began planning fundraising events, I did not question the idea when a Cornhole Tournament was mentioned to me. I immediately loved the idea and jumped on board.

With the help of my co-worker Steven, I began to research how to throw a successful Cornhole Tournament. I happened upon several sites, which led me to emailing me and eventually coming into contact with Dave Weiser of Ohiocornholetour.com. Dave, who travels to venues that offer to hosts cornhole tournaments, said he believed in our mission and was willing to help for FREE!

Day of the event, we had two tournaments: a recreational and competitive tournament. Dave ran the two tournaments, while volunteers helped to run concessions. He also brought several cornhole sets and helped to advertising on any cornhole websites he knew about. And after asking around to see how people heard about the event, I found that most had heard through OhioCornholetour.com or another website Dave had posted the event on. Needless to say, Dave and the Ohiocornholetour.com were blessings from God.

And the blessings didn't stop there. One of Dave's friends who could not attend the event gave him money to donate to First Glance. The second place winners of competitive tournament donated back their prize money to First Glance and even donated an extremely nice set of National Cornhole Association regulation cornhole boards.

Overall, the event raise $450! It exceeded all of my expectations, and there is already talk of another tournament for next year!

Check out ohiocornholetour.com's recap and pictures of the event at http://ohiocornholetour.com/2012/recap-first-glance-fundraiser-2-25-2012/#more-538 !

They See Me Rollin'

When I began at First Glance, I was handed the Northern Ohio Golf Charities grant guidelines and told this  would be my first grant. I was also told that we would be asking for two vans from this foundation. I was excited but very nervous as I looked over all of the questions and criteria.

I spent the next month working on this grant, asking a ton of questions, having writer's block, and second guessing myself. As the deadline was closing in, I finally began putting all of the final touches on the grant. Then I sent it in. I felt like a huge burden had been lifted, but next came an almost more nerve-racking event—the wait.

I worked on other grants; I worked on events. During this time, I began to realize just how important vans are to First Glance. I began taking students home who would normal walk miles just to get to a First Glance function. I saw how unsafe the street seemed and could be at night. I heard stories of students who were scared to walk home after some of the programs for fear of being jumped. My heart began to hurt for these vans.

Then, a few months after I turned the grant in, I got an email requesting an interview. I was so excited! We have made it past the preliminary overviews! They actually wanted to talk to us! I got Noelle, the executive director of First Glance, and Jessica, the former Fundraiser, to join me for the interview.

The day of the interview I got to the Foundation's office and realized I had not read over my grant or prepared at all. My head was obviously not in the game. The interview came, and I was so glad to have Noelle and Jessica. I stumbled over words and realized I had left out a crucial number in the budget. I felt that our request was doomed due to my lack of perfection. I knew that if we got it, it would be by the grace of God, but they let us know that they would have a decision made by February.

February 14th, 2012. I had been waiting to hear from the Golf Charities Foundation when I walked in my office and found a letter. It was a small, thin letter, so my automatic reaction was that we were rejected. I opened it to find a letter and a funding follow-up request. WE GOT IT! I read the grant. They were only funding us for one van, but still—WE GOT IT! $23,000 for a van! This will get us a safe, reliable van, and it is only because of GOD that this happened. And all I can say now is He is good.

Over the next couple of months, we planned to search for and price vans. I'm very excited to see how God will work through First Glance using these vans! I will keep you updated with any cool stories!