November is finally here and my neighborhood’s mailboxes are all decked out with Sage Bows.  This is my first opportunity to fund-raise directly through the November Sage Mailbox Bow project and I am super excited and EXHAUSTED.  Besides making the bows by hand (there are 211), I have to construct, print and cut the mailbox flyers.  This part of the work alone takes about fifteen to twenty hours.  Then, I spent about four hours attaching all the bows to mailboxes in my neighborhood, in addition to putting the flyers in each mailbox.  Thankfully, my parents were able to help me or it would have taken much longer.

It was really rewarding when several neighbors asked me what the green bows represent.  I was able to share the mission of the Sage Project and received really great direct feedback during these few face to face conversations.  Also, as part of the project, as asked our HOA to share an email explaining the reason for the bows and the mission of the Sage Project (essentially reframing the language from the mailbox flyers.)  I believe that as a result of this communication, the Sage Project received its first contributions via Zelle from this specific endeavor.  I was excited to see this response and hope that more donations roll in during the month of November.  

The time leading up to my annual push is always stressful and tiring.  As I drove through my neighborhood on the way home from school, it was gratifying to see all the sage bows happily atop our mailboxes.  If even a few people learn more about our Native American history, it will be worth the effort.  Now off to bed to be for me.  It has been a long couple of days.