preliminary internship doings

I guess I could explain how I got involved with LIFTED events.

This time last year, my good friends Catherine and Jess invited me to play music for what they called a "benefit concert." I was looking to play more, and was really excited to do it for a good cause. Catherine, who was the visionary for the event, said the event was called LIFTED. It was to be a one-time event in Raleigh to raise money and awareness for Remember Nhu.

Carl and Laurie, the founders of RNhu, were impressed with the outcome of the LIFTED event, and flew Catherine and Jess to Ohio to talk about the potential of future LIFTED events.

What came out of that meeting was a "go" on a pilot year for LIFTED as a NPO in and of itself, directly partnered with RNhu. Catherine is a full-time 5th grade teacher at a year-round school, so this year (April 09-April 10) was and is to see if Catherine could be employed as a full-time employee of RNhu and LIFTED. Catherine takes her weeks of track out to work full-time with LIFTED events, but also finds herself working on these things in and during school days.

So, when I approached Catherine and Jess last summer about possibly doing this as my internship with her, she was so excited at the thought of having someone who could give LIFTED attention full-time, and someone who could help her with things she doesn't always have the time to do.

When we got the "go" for the internship, Catherine began sending e-mails and informing me on the current and future goings-on of LIFTED. So, I've kind of been working on things unofficially since December.



This was Catherine and I's first official LIFTED meeting, which we decided will be every Monday and will be called "Monday Funday!"





This is an event we did last Saturday, January 9th, which we called a "Spark"
The Spark was a coffeehouse-style event, very casual, to inform those in the area who were familiar with the event we did last April about our current status, what's going on with us, and our upcoming trip to Thailand and Cambodia. It gave these people a chance to give money towards this trip and to commit to prayer as we travel. I played some of my music at the event, and spoke a little about my role as an intern as well.



We put maps on the walls for some nice aesthetics :)





Catherine, singing and playing guitar during the casual dessert & coffee time.



Jess and I, waiting for our turns to play and sing!

More on LIFTED's partnerships with North Ridge Church and Jess Ray & the Rag Tag Army (music) to follow!