I have a confession to make – I am completely and utterly in love, bordering on obsession! I am experiencing a crazy mix of emotions on hourly - sometimes momentary basis – excitement, delight, nervousness, fear, gratitude and more excitement. My mind is constantly racing. It’s even beginning to affect my dreams! I envision a huge room filled to capacity with caring, fun, generous folks who come together to connect, celebrate, and fulfill dreams of some very special people!

If you’ve been following my journey on Twitter or FaceBook - or read my earlier blog post - you know that my new love is KidSave, an incredible charity that matches orphaned kids from countries like the US, Russia and Columbia with loving families. I am honored to have an opportunity to fulfill my vision (and as a result some special kids’ dreams) by chairing a MatchWorking fundraiser for KidSave in June! The idea is to raise money by connecting YOU with just the people you want to meet - each other as well as stars from business, sports, politics, arts, you name it! No really, YOU name it – I want to know whom specifically you’d love to meet and we’ll do our best to get them there!

As you may remember, it all started in January when I attended a book signing of Do Your Giving While You are Living. I was moved to tears by the story of Terry Bough, the Founder of KidSave, who adopted three children in Russia. Afterwards I introduced myself and told her I wanted to volunteer. I was thinking translating for a few hours in the summer for families who foster kids from Russia and Columbia (finally I’d put my language skills to good use!) The following week I walked out of Terry’s office after a 3-hour meeting, somehow having committed to chairing a huge fundraiser! I am still not sure what happened – except I fell in love with KidSave! So now I am in an exciting (and may I just say, SCARY) position to chair a major fundraiser – my very first time. Clearly, need all the help I can get!

In addition to in-person networking with peers, we’ll auction off (live, silent and on-line) time with the renowned people (sports stars, presidents of companies, art icons, etc.) who are generally near-impossible to get access to. Pretty lofty task, no? Luckily, I get to work with the most fantastic, wonderful committee members imaginable. What can I use your help with? Well thanks for asking!

• Who do you want to meet? Simply email me and let me know whom you’d love to (and would actually pay) to meet.Maybe someone high up in your industry you haven’t been able to access.Or a local celebrity (or not local – we do have the on-line auction which means anyone’s fair game).We’ll do our best to make sure the person you want to meet is at the event OR is auctioned off.

• Recruiting committee members. We have two committees – one for well-connected folks who’ll help us raise funds and get sponsors. You’ll get to make a HUGE difference to our fundraising goal AND connect with like-minded high-profile peers. Know anyone who fits the bill (and wouldn’t mind sending one to companies they know? ;) Another committee is for…

• Volunteers.Looking for folks passionate about the cause who’d love to help us pull together the best, funnest event known to Washington (I am setting a high bar, I know!)You’ll get to do lots of good while networking with the most amazing, connected people in Washington (and beyond!)

• Awareness. As details of this event come together over the next few weeks, we’d love for you to spread the word to your networks, especially via FaceBook. If you fall into this category, please email me and I’ll alert you when our event page is up and ready for your friends to join. Also, if you have media contacts, we’d love to talk to you!

And, if you can think of anyone I should talk with who doesn’t fall into any of those categories (someone you think would make a great sponsor, or a famous person you can connect us with) please email me! I am in love, consumed, and ready to follow any lead that will make this fundraiser a huge success. Thank you for your support, as always!

Tags: Fundraising, KidSave, volunteering