As I completed my final exams of junior year, packed my car, left Clemson in the rearview mirror, and headed home to Charlotte, I had one thing on my mind: summer. While summer is a special time for many reasons – going to the beach, being home with family, taking a break from school – it’s an extra special time for me because summer is the time when I get to work full-time for TFFT. While I’m able to stay up to date with TFFT during the school year through assisting in gala planning and coordinating the communication with our sponsors, there’s something different about being in the office. I love walking in each day, sitting down at my desk, and knowing that for the next 8 hours, everything that I will do (no matter how random it may seem), will benefit our 114 scholars.

I began work in mid-May, which meant that the Annual Fund campaign was in full force. While this meant that there were mailouts to send and thank you notes to write, this was still an exciting time because thanks to all of you who participated in the Annual Fund, we were able to exceed our Annual Fund goal by 38%! To see the excitement on Meghann’s face and to hear how much this fund will allow us to thrive and grow made each minute spent writing a thank you note so worth it.

Now that the Annual Fund has wrapped up, I am beginning to work on some new projects. As part of our sponsor communications, I designed postcards for sponsors to send to their scholars in Tanzania. This should make communicating with scholars a little bit easier for sponsors, as they can fill out the postcards and pop them in the mail. I know there will be tons of smiles and excitement once those postcards reach TZ.

I am also beginning the planning for our 9^th Annual SOS Gala (mark your calendars – November 6^th!). Even though November seems far away, it will be here before we know it, and there is much work to be done. If you are interested in being on our event committee, send me an email at Maggie@TheFoundationForTomorrow.org – I would love to talk with you about it!

Lastly, I will be working with TFFT’s newest interns for this summer – Lucy, Lambeth, and Grace. I’m excited to see all of the new ideas they will bring and to show them why TFFT is so special. I’m looking forward to working with Ray, and I can already tell how much of a positive difference he’s making with TFFT. His 9-year-old son has come into the office a couple times this summer, and he’s the highlight of the office (Meghann’s Labradoodle Kona, who I love so much, might have some competition for favorite office visitor!). I’m also excited to spend more time with Meghann, since she’ll be in the U.S. this summer. She brings so much fun into the office each day (which sometimes includes jumping in the air with Annual Fund joy) and I learn so much from her each summer – I know this year will be no different. And as I type this post, while sitting in Kaitlin’s desk, it reminds me how sad I am that this is my first summer without Kaitlin’s glowing presence in the Charlotte office. I can see her smiling face in this picture on my desk in the meantime, but I can’t wait for her to come visit Charlotte soon!

So as I begin my third summer with TFFT, I know this year will be the best yet!