March Of Dimes, The Transportation, Building and Construction Awards Luncheon

I’ve been interning for the March Of Dimes in King Of Prussia this semester. When I first started I wasn’t completely familiar with the organization and its cause. After a few weeks of interning there, I started to gather that even though the March Of Dimes is a non-profit organization there is a ton of work and long hours that go into fundraising for the mission and putting on events in the greater Philadelphia area to raise awareness of the problem of premature child-birth.

My favorite part about my experience so far has been putting together the larger events and working side by side with the community director, and my supervisor, Alexis to help make it a success. Alexis herself has been pregnant the entire duration of my internship and it is very inspirational that a woman who promotes healthy pregnancy is able to work so hard in order to raise awareness for a situation she is in herself.

The event that I was mainly working on with Alexis is called The Transportation, Building and Construction Awards Luncheon.  Held every year at the Philadelphia Convention Center, this event honors those in the respected fields for their contribution to the organization over time and recognizes improvements in architecture in the Philadelphia area. This year the Philadelphia Union Stadium and The Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine at Pennsylvania University were the honored projects.

For this event I was to help do a bit of everything. Mainly I was to compile the PowerPoint that would be shown at the event throughout the duration, and create the layout and compile the program book that would be handed out at the event. Sending out invites, keeping a running list of those invited, making table signs for every company, making name tags, calling companies and kindly asking if they would like to sponsor the event. Problems arose nearly every day I was in the office. What I’ve come to realize about the field is that a lot of people are demanding and want things done their way even if it’s not their place to call the shots. This is something that I realize I will have to deal with from now on and just learn how to handle it calmly and professionally.

At this event, the March Of Dimes raised over $300,000 towards the mission and exceeded the goal that was set for this year, and total numbers for previous years. Working on this event has exposed me more to the Public Relations/Event Planning field and I have learned a lot from working on this timely and at times, stressful project. I understand that when all is said and done, the hard work and stress are worth it because of the generous donations the issue of premature birth can be further researched and examined and prevented to help save children and keep mothers healthy.