What a WEEK. Millionaires much?

Here's a breakdown of my time spent in San Diego thus far:

Arrived at the house late on Thursday night the 14th.

Started work at 8 o'clock in the morning on Friday. Trained all day until 6:00 p.m., getting a crash course introduction to our organization.

Saturday morning we were back in the office at 8:00 a.m. And thus began the Chase Giveaway extravaganzaaaaa. This past week, Chase Bank held a competition wherein the non-profit organization with the most votes on their Facebook page by Friday the 22nd would win ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Invisible Children was competing against 99 other non-profits for the prize, what would be the largest grant we've ever received, and potentially the largest online giveaway yet.

Additionally, Invisible Children had committed to donating $100,000 to Haiti relief efforts if we won. We definitely want to finish what we've started in Northern Uganda, but we also recognized an incredible need in Haiti, and wanted to step in to that situation and assist as best as we could. So if we nabbed the first place spot, we would be able to help our friends in Uganda as well as our neighbors in Haiti.

Our game plan was to get in touch with EVERYONE on our contact list - essentially anyone who had ever watched a screening, purchased a T-shirt, donated a few dollars, or ordered one of our products online. This entire last week was spent calling THOUSANDS of IC supporters all over the world [New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, England], sending out mass e.mails, texting our entire phonebook, and advertising ALL over Facebook through our profile pictures and status updates. We went full out, and we worked HARD.

Saturday: 8 to 6
Sunday: OFF
Monday: 8 to 7
Tuesday: 8 to 9
Wednesday: 6 to 7
Thursday: 7 to 9
Friday: 5 to 9

[I joked that most people work a 9:00 to 5:00 job everyday. But those of us who work for IC get to be in the office from 5:00 to 9:00. BAH.]

It was a week of ups and downs. We were in second place by 11,000 votes at one point. And then we were up by 22,000. Just when we got comfortable, an unsuspected organization started creeping in on us. The competitor in second place started increasing in votes exponentially, vastly decreasing the margin between first and second place. By Thursday, it became apparent it would be a race to finish, and every vote would count.

GOOD NEWS IS::: WE WON! [!!!!!!!!!!!!] We worked so fervently, and by only 1,300 votes, we were able to pull it off. There was serious speculation of poor behavior by the second place contestant: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/fraud-in-facebookchase-co_n_433928.html

But we STILL WON: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/chase-community-giving-co_n_433689.html

We had tons of celebrity support through Twitter and Facebook: Jessica Simpson, Katy Perry, Jeremy Cowart, Rainn Wilson, David Archuleta, Demi Lovato, To Write Love on Her Arms, Pete Wentz, RELEVANT Magazine, Ashlee Simpson, Kristin Chenoweth, and MORE.

But these people aren't the reason we won. It's because Invisible Children is based on grassroots efforts, on relationship building and being intentional with our supporters. These are the people who were still voting and rooting us on at 8:57 p.m. Friday night.

There was an incredible celebration after we won. A dance party broke out initially, with all 100+ some people who showed up in the office that night to volunteer their time. It was craaaazy. After the dancing subsided a bit, we said a prayer of blessing over the money. A minister involved with our organization came in and prayed that we would be good stewards of the winnings, and that we would remember that this isn't our money, but God's.

It was a powerful moment, and I felt so blessed to be a part of it. Friday night was euphoric, and I want to remember that feeling forever. I want to bottle up all of those emotions and treasure them forever. It was so incredible to have played a part in this achievement, but what an intense first week to have here...!

This is a long post, and it's been a long past few days. Thanks for reading. :]

Here's a link to a local San Diego morning show we were featured on. Yiiiip! See if you can spot me: http://www.kusi.com/news/goodmorning/82187387.html