Archive for "Community"
Pictures From Chick-Fil-A and Chipotle
Posted on April 6, 2017 by Ching under Community.
Here are some pictures from our Big Brothers Big Sisters fundraising events at Chick-Fil-A (Central and Rock) and Chipotle (Maple and Ridge).
Alex and Faith manned the Spirit Wheel at Chick-Fil-A. I was in Kansas City that night but Brian was there to support the event and take pictures for me. He kept me posted all evening and made me feel like I was there with them.
Kate came out to support the event.
Christina and Jake were there at Chick-Fil-A too.
Brian got a selfie with Alex.
Here’s a picture of Lila, her husband Michael, and their kiddos.
These next set of photos were taken at Chipotle on Monday night.
Misty came to both events but she only did the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A. Since she came and ate inside this last time, I made sure to get a selfie with her.
April and Gavin came to eat and support the fundraiser as well.
Jeff and Devan came out also.
There were a few others who came to support the fundraiser that I didn’t get pictures with because Brian and I left to go workout after we had early supper. Probably not the smartest idea I’ve had.
After Zumba at South YMCA, some of Missy’s peeps came out to eat with 10 minutes left on our fundraiser.
Here’s a pic of me and Danielle.
Danielle, Erin, Wendy, and Todd.
Here’s a picture of our group shutting down the fundraiser. We had such a great time visiting that I almost forgot to pick up my work car for the drive to Kansas City the next day. We drove clear past downtown before I remembered.
Anyway, if you missed our restaurant fundraising events, not to worry. You can still donate and support the cause. I’m accepting donations via my Big Brothers Big Sisters fundraising page (simply click on the link and follow the prompts). Thanks in advance for supporting this awesome organization. You’re making a difference!
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Zumbathon® Instructor Appreciation Event
Posted on April 2, 2017 by Ching under Community, Zumba.
March was a super busy month for which I am still recovering. It was a whirlwind with something going on every weekend. I still can’t believe I survived.
At least I got to spend lots of time with my favorite people. This is a picture of Missy and Brian at the new Los Cocos in Andover after the Shake Your Shamrocks Zumbathon®. This was the night that we introduced her to the joys of $1.99 margaritas everyday.
The next day, we saw everyone again because I hosted a “thank you” get together for the instructors who generously volunteered their time to teach at the Zumbathon®.
I try to be purposeful about everything I do, so I had three main objectives for this event:
- I bought matching t-shirts for all the instructors to wear at the Dance For Kids’ Sake Zumbathon® as a “thank you” for their participation and I needed a way to get the shirts to everyone without having to drive all over town to make shirt deliveries.
- I needed to make sure that everyone knew the location of the Zumbathon® ahead of time so none of the instructors would get lost and be late on the day of the event.
- It was a good way to have a small, fun get together to show everyone how much they are appreciated.
Pat, Charis, and Stephanie all got the black shirts. Todd, Amy, and Christina got the aqua blue shirts. Andrea, Missy, and I got the neon green shirts.
The event was an instructor-appreciation-slash-shirt-cutting-party, where everyone got to pick up their shirts and bling it out too. To that end, I brought a bunch of old shirts for us to practice on.
This was one of my “practice” shirts.
Charis (foreground) and Andrea (background) both did “practice” rounds as well.
I think Missy must have brought her own “practice” shirt because I do not recognize that one. I don’t think it was part of my shirt stash.
Pat did a “practice” round also.
I have no idea why everyone insisted on cutting on the floor, but they all seemed to be fine with it. Here are a few more pictures…
Here’s Charis contemplating her design.
Here’s Andrea’s finished product.
We brought in cake and sandwiches to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday.
We made her cut her own cake. LOL.
I did two “practice” rounds at the event but didn’t end up finalizing my shirt design until the next day. Here’s the finished product.
I had to be creative and strategic about where I made my cuts because, while I wanted to shrink the one-size-fits-most to fit me, I didn’t want to lose any of the writing on the shirt both on the front and back.
Rather than cutting along the bottom to shorten the shirt (it was almost to my knees #ShortPersonProblems), I decided to cinch the sides to hike it up to a more manageable length.
I braided the back of the shirt to shrink the width of it but I had to start below the Zumba® logo/design because I didn’t want to lose any of it.
Here’s a close-up shot of the braid design.
Here’s another view of the back and side.
I decided the front was too boring so I cut some slits on the right shoulder.
It’s still pretty boring on the front but there wasn’t much I could do because I wanted to keep all of the writing. It turned out pretty well overall. This is by far my favorite “destroyed shirt” to date.
When I write my post about the actual Dance for Kids’ Sake Zumbathon® event you’ll see how everyone’s shirts turned out. Everyone did a fabulous job of customizing their respective shirts. All of our shirts turned out different and uniquely our own. Stay tuned!
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Shake Your Shamrocks
Posted on April 1, 2017 by Ching under Community, Zumba.
We’ve had back-to-back fun Zumba events in the community of late. First, there was the Zumba Love Party at East YMCA; then Step Up & Dance at West YMCA; then Member Madness at North YMCA; there was also a Blacklight Z-Party at South YMCA; and finally we had “Shake Your Shamrocks” at Andover YMCA.
Our event in Andover was so named because we decided to hold it on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.
As someone who cannot resist a good Zumbathon®, I attended many of these but I was only involved in organizing the member appreciation event at my home branch Andover YMCA. There are actually five of us Zumba® instructors who teach Zumba® classes in Andover — Tiffany on Monday mornings, Charis on Monday nights, Mandy on Tuesday nights, Hannah on Thursday nights, and me on the weekends — but only four of us were available that Friday. Tiffany could not take the time off her regular job so she sat this one out. She participated in the one at South YMCA though, so she had already done one of these events.
Charis, Hannah, Mandy, and I decided to teach six songs each. Mandy put together a killer playlist. Charis and I volunteered to take care of the decorations. Charis got streamers and these dangly star things. I had some balloons set aside for the Dance For Kids’ Sake Zumbathon® event that I was organizing so I decided to dig out all of the green balloons from that bunch and use it for this event.
Initially, we weren’t sure if we should have the event in the studio or the gym so we reserved both. Jackie was there that night to set up the sound system in the gym just in case we needed the larger space. Since she was around and she’s much taller than Charis and me, we asked for her help with taping up the streamers at the top of the mirror. You can kind of see the decorations in the picture below.
I think it turned out pretty well. I was a little bit worried because I popped three of the balloons in transit but we had more than enough to make the studio look festive.
We were able to stay in the studio because, in addition to it being St. Patty’s Day, all three of our local college teams (KU, K-State, and Wichita State) had basketball games that evening. We still had a pretty good turnout (about 55 people) but not enough that we had to overflow to the gym.
It actually wasn’t too crowded in the studio. We had plenty of room for everyone. And, it turned out better, as far as I’m concerned, because the studio has a better sound system and mirrors. Dancing is way more fun with mirrors!
Here’s a better picture of our group. Those who stayed for the photo at the end, anyway. Some people don’t do photos.
Here are some action shots we took during the Zumbathon®.
This is Mandy in the green shirt in the foreground.
Mandy did a fabulous job of mirroring. That’s when you face the class and do a mirror image of the moves. She did this a few times throughout which, I think, is super helpful. The recommended way is always to face the class because it allows you to connect with the students better. We can get by without doing it because we have mirrors. However, one of my goals for 2017 is to teach facing the class more.
Christina came late but she made it!
This is Alicia and her daughter Kariana.
They have become regulars on weekends. I love having them in my class.
This is my friend Andrea behind me. She is also a licensed Zumba® instructor. She started teaching classes at Derby Rec this month.
Of course, I had to get a selfie that shows off our fabulous decorations that Charis, Jackie, and I worked hard to put up. We were going for festive yet tasteful and understated and I think we achieved it.
I love that we had this fabulous photo backdrop. I wish more people would have taken advantage of it. Here are some.
I had to demonstrate how it’s done. LOL.
Here we have another mother-daughter duo, Sonia and Carolina.
I love these two for going all out. I think they are regulars from Downtown YMCA.
They’re party of Missy’s crew.
We had a few Andover YMCA faces but we had great representation of Zumba® lovers from all over the city, which is actually what I liked best about the event. Missy brought in a ton of people. While we hosted the party to show our appreciation from our members, it was great that we got to share it with all members not just those who are based in Andover.
The event was actually free to non-members as well so it was a great opportunity to check out the Zumba® classes offered at the Y, Andover in particular. And, besides the event being free, our group exercise coordinator Kristen gave us bottles of water and t-shirts for everyone. I think everyone who attended the event got one and we still had some left over. She really hooked us up.
I know that St. Patty’s Day won’t fall on a Friday next year but this event turned out so well that I hope we do it again next year. It was fabulous! I wish you all could have been there to dance with us.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters Fundraising
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Ching under Community.
I know I have been quiet lately. I can’t believe it has been two weeks since my last blog post. I’m still very much alive, in case you were wondering. The reason I’ve been MIA lately is that almost all of my spare time has been consumed with planning and preparing for our upcoming Dance For Kids’ Sake Zumbathon® for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
My individual fundraising is off to a pretty solid start. We still have about six more weeks until the end of the fundraising period and I’ve already surpassed my personal fundraising total from last year. And, we haven’t even done our major fundraising events yet.
Dance For Kids’ Sake is the big one, which you can learn about here, but we also have a couple other fundraising events coming up.
We’re getting some help from Chick-fil-A and Chipotle, two of my favorite places to eat.
If you’re going to eat out anyway, at least make it count. Our spirit day at the Chick-fil-A on Central and Rock Road is March 21, Tuesday.
If you eat there anytime from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM and mention that you want to support Big Brothers Big Sisters, 20% of your total bill will be donated to our fundraising campaign. I believe drive-thru works as well. The key is to mention the organization when ordering and paying for your food.
Here’s a picture of our Chick-fil-A flyer:
Our fundraising night at the Maple and Ridge Chipotle is April 3, Monday, from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Chipotle will donate 50% of the total to our fundraising campaign as long as you bring one of our event flyers, show them a picture of the flyer, or simply mention that you would like your purchase to support Big Brothers Big Sisters. You could even order food online and still support the cause by selecting the “pay-in-person” option.
Here’s a picture of our Chipotle flyer:
You’ll notice that one restaurant is on the East side, while the other is on the West side. That’s because Wichitans are notorious for not wanting to drive across town. No matter what side of town you live in, you can still support our fundraising efforts! Please mark your calendars and eat at one or both places on the designated days. You will never have a more satisfying meal. I promise.
May your hearts be as full as your bellies. Cheers!
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YMCA Annual Celebration
Posted on February 27, 2017 by Ching under Community, Events.
My new Lularoe Amelia dress arrived just in time for the YMCA Annual Celebration so I didn’t have to figure out what to wear to it. I wore my Lularoe dress to work and took it straight to the dinner.
The dress actually got quite a few compliments at work. My favorite part of this style of dress is the pockets.
I’m not sure what was going on with my hair that morning but it was very 70s.
Brian was off work that day (he was actually off almost all week because they were redoing the floors of their office) but he put on his three-piece suit for me anyway. What a great hubby he is!
Speaking of great husbands, I ran into Johnna’s husband at the event.
A little bit later, Johnna came by our table and we took a selfie together. Of course, Brian and I had to selfie also.
I love going to this event because you learn about the Y’s new initiatives and you get to preview the campaign videos. They always do such a great job with the fundraising campaigns. This year it was a real treat seeing some familiar faces in the videos. This is the one with Missy and Todd.
They participated in the very first late night program for teens. It was really cool. I hope they roll the program out to all the Y branches in the area. We have the best YMCA facilities in the nation and it would be possible without the support of the community. I love Wichita!
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