I am currently in the middle of brainstorming at present. One of the main idea's I have come up with is to hold a "fun day" for the kids of my local town Ballina. I have decided to hold this event on the 28th of December in Tumble Jungle ( A kid's indoor play center). I have asked a numerous different county GAA players to also attend this event to create some hype for the children themselves. As ye all know, people in Mayo are obsessed with GAA. I hope to have food and drinks for all the children who attend. I am also holding a raffle on the same day, raffling off a range of fantastic prizes. I am aiming to charge the children around €7 each per child which includes one hour of play in Tumble Jungle, food and drink and the chance to meet some famous county GAA players.

I am thrilled with the donations I received to date. I did not expect such great progress so quickly. Everyone's generosity has been nothing short of amazing. I believe my progress has came as a result of social media sights. In the last couple of days I have been posting status updates on both LinkdIn and Facebook which have proved to be very successful. People have been so generous with all of their donations. People's donations, now matter how big are small they are already making a massive difference. Collectively, we have already raise a staggering €9000 in such a short period of time which is fantastic. I am excited to see what the next few weeks have in store for 100 minds.

In just over one week I reached my €1000 target. I am thrilled with all of the donations I have received to date, but this is only the beginning for me. I would like to thank those who have kindly donated to this wonderful project. In only 13 days we have raise over €17,000 for Bernardo's and BlossomIreland. Your kind donations will help so many children across Ireland to strive and do they best that they can in life.

In relation to my event on the 28th of December I have been doing a small bit of organising. To date, I have T-shirts, advertisements (posters) and food and drink all sponsored for this particular day. I still have a lot more work to do but things seem to be heading in the right direction!

I just want to again Thank everyone who so kindly donated to our 100 minds project. We have raised an overwhelming amount of money for these Irish based charities and as a result will change the standard of life for so many children across Ireland.

It was an absolute honour to be part of such a fantastic team of young, ambitious students in collectively raising this incredible amount of money. The first quote that caught my eye when logging onto the 100 minds account was: "By thinking critically about the challenge ahead, putting a strategy in place and working as a team we can prove that even some of the biggest challenges faced can be conquered when we work together". My experience and time spent as a part of 100 minds team has proven this quote to be 100% accurate. We did it!!

I would highly recommend 100 minds to all students out there, be it a first year, final year or master student. I have got more out of this project than I could ever imagine. I first applied for 100 minds not actually knowing too much about it. It was recommended by a friend. Reflecting back on my experience, I have learned so much. I have enhanced my organisation, communication, presentation and entrepreneurial skills which will of course stand to me in most of lives experience that are yet to come. I have also learned a range of new skills, most importantly project based management skills. All of these skills together will be so helpful when filling out job applications. My time spent as a part of the team will be a great topic of conversation for any job interview. The benefits are endless!!!!

It was such an honour to be such a part of a great team. Thank you again for all those kind donations <3 Fiona

Sorry, its been awhile since I have actually posted an update! Exam season is just around the corner so I have been busy, busy! I am yet to make the Facebook page for my event, I am still waiting on a few Mayo players to confirm before I can make the actually event. In the last week I have organised musicians to come and play at my event to add a bit of buzz to the whole thing, as well as face painters. I have got four wonderful prizes, all sponsored from local businesses in my town for the raffle I will hold on the day of my event. I have got t-shirts also sponsored from another local business in Ballina "HiFive" to have for workers on the day. In the next week I hope to get confirmation from all the players, make my event and get sweets and treats sponsored from different shops in my town. I hope that everything I am organising will add to my event, making it even more enjoyable for the children themselves. I will be in touch with more updates in the next two weeks

I have FINALLY my event page on Facebook set up. I have almost everything for the day almost set in stone which I am delighted about. Here is a link to my event page on Facebook for those who would like to take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/events/365997446915155/?notif_t=plan_user_joined

I have a photpgrapher organised for the day that is in it! So I will try and keep ye documented on how my event went. I am actually getting really excited about the event now myself, I am going to try and make the day as enjoyable as possible for all those who attend

Finally...The time has come!!!

I have organized all my raffle prizes. I have been extremely lucky with them. I have over 15 wonderful different prizes due to the generosity of local businesses in Ballina. Some examples: €100 voucher from Quinn's jewellers, a 3 course meal for 2 people in the Ballina manor, a gorgeous hamper from Molloy's pharmacy, a €50 voucher for Leo Doherty's menswear, a gift voucher from the Broken Jug restaurant and many many more.

I have all my party bags and finger food also organised for the event, face painters and live music on the ready.

In this past week I have advertised on the local parish bulletin, the local newspaper (The Western People), the local radio station (MWR) and hung posters I got sponsored all around the local shops in Ballina which have caused great hype.

I am both nervous and excited about my event tomorrow. Hopefully it will accumulate into a very successful day, like I had hoped for!

Fiona

I would like to say a huge thank you to all those who lend a helping hand on the day of my event. It was a massive success. Over 150 children attended the event n total. We raised €3000 in three hours for two wonderful Irish based charities, Barnardo's and Blossom Ireland raising €1400 from the raffle alone!

It was unreal to see first hand how much the children were actually enjoying themselves. The live music, the face painting, the food and the drinks all added so much to the day! The atmosphere in Tumble Jungle was fantastic!

I have a serious amount of Thank You's to do, especially to -The 8 Mayo Players who kindly attended and who without a doubt made the event-Aidan O Shea, Seamus O Shea, Conor O Shea, Lee Keegan, Enda Varley, Mickey Conroy, Rob Hennelly and Gerri Cafferky. The players were so good with the kids, playing games, doing penalty shoot outs, signing jerseys, boots, calendars, anything and everything really. -To all my friends and family who helped out, adding a huge amount of banter to the day overall. -To the singers David and Niamh who really drew in all the children with their song covers. (Songs from recent children's movies) -To two local food companies for supplying the chips and chicken nuggets for the kids. -To all the local businesses in town for their generous raffle prizes. In the end I had over 20 wonderful prizes to raffle off. -To the Western People (Local Newspaper) and MWR (local radio station) for doing the free advertisement. -To all the face painters who did an excellent job. -To Corinne Beattie (Photographer) for the fantastic photos -And finally, to all those who kindly attended this event.

It was only after the event was over I actually realised how much charities like Barnardo's and Blossom Ireland have influence the lives of so many families across Ireland today. Everybody was extremely generous in all their donations throughout the day!

I, myself thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the event; from the organising, to the cleaning up! I got so much self satisfaction out of seeing how we collectively will influence the lives of so many children across Ireland as a result this 100 minds project.

THANK YOU <3 Fiona x