It seems that every year I run the Fairy Godmother Initiative event the enthusiasm grows more and move.  This month has definitely been exciting.  Word is getting out.

This month I registered our event to be a part of the Disney Give a Day. Get a Disney Day. program.  This program is being offered by Disney as a way to inspire people to volunteer in their local communities.  Our registration was approved on January 25, 2010.  Individuals interested in volunteering can visit http://www.disneyparks.com - You must pre-register and sign up through this site to volunteer and complete your service  to receive a ticket after verification of such service.  This is a great incentive for our volunteers. 

I have posted many volunteer opportunities which you can find on http://www.disneyparks.com by searching for opportunities in the 06460 zip code area.

Another great event that will be running to support our cause is being hosted at Northeast Utilities Community Relations Team in Berlin, CT. They will be collecting dresses, shoes, accessories and personal items for our event throughout the month of February. I can't even being to express my gratitude for their huge support.

New England Home Care's Shelton office is also sponsoring a private dress drive which is being coordinated by my mom, Carmen Rodriguez - (Thanks Mom!).  They have already collected their first dress which is an exciting milestone.

On February 6, 2010, I will be hosting our first volunteer meeting.  Time and Place TBA, as I am still looking for a convenient location to host our meetings.  I am excited to have Julie Tirinzoni of Northeast Utilities come on as our Project Manager and Lori Cannon of Northeast Utilities joining on as a Assistant Fairy Godmother.

My daughter, Jean Segalla, who is a student at Sacred Heart who serves as our webmaster and is also an Assistant Fairy Godmother is reaching out to local bridal boutiques requesting dress donations.

Lastly, but by no means least.  Heather LaCasse of the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents (CAFAP - our sponsors) has also be diligently earning her Fairy Godmother Wings by taking on event planning details to ensure our Prom Dress Giveaway Day is a success.  Without Heather and the members of CAFAP our event may not have been able to run this year.  So I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

I can't believe that we are in our 3rd year already.  I didn't think I was going to be able to pull off another prom dress drive.  I started planning this years event with my daughter, Jeana who helped me pull of the event last year at Sacred Heart University with the girls of Delta Phi Kappa. 

We were hoping to be able to host the event at Sacred Heart again this year, but things got a bit complicated and we weren't going to be able to use the University for our event.  We were homeless. 

That is until in November, I received an email from Heather Lacasse of the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents expressing an interest in supporting our Prom Dress event for 2010.  I guess we each have our own Fairy Godmothers.

By December, Heather Lacasse had helped us secure a location for our event and this actually gave me a renewed sense of purpose.  Heather had gotten us the most fabulous location, I was flabbergasted; she managed to get us St. Clement's Castle in Portland, CT.  St. Clement's Castle is a beautiful location where lavish wedding receptions are held.

Now it's January and we are in full swing.  I started contacting the media for hopes that we could start getting some coverage for our event.  The first to respond (within minutes I should say) was Michael Maze of KC101's Total Access a very popular CT Morning Radio Show.  He arranged to call me on Monday, January 11 around 8 am.  I was a bit nervous but very excited.  Maze was familiar with my event from previous years and he recorded our conversation and has played in on his morning show and provided a link to our website.  The response has been phenomenal.

I hope we can keep the flow going.  So far we have two organizations that will run private dress drives to kick start our dress collection.  Jeana has started reaching out to bridal boutiques and dress retailers asking for donations.  I will be hosting a volunteer meeting to get our volunteers going.

Keep an eye out for more updates!