We Flap Butterflies ROCK!

So much has gone on these past few years, when the thought of "We Flap" and the ideas behind it began to blossom. Priyanka (Mandira's sister) had reached out to her dear friends in the neighborhood to help as volunteer coordinators for We Flap Outreach. They were a super energetic team of teenagers (Beverly, Joanne, Julien) who got together to do their homework projects around my dining table, raid my pantry for cool snacks and just chat up.

Mandira would reserve special days to do "We Flap" work and plan their snacks and rewards for a job well done. Priyanka was responsible for their presence and getting the task done. All that I did was to set the goals for the day and suggest how best to manage their time to accomplish the specific task. I could be reached at any time they needed help as well. It turned out to be so "FUN"! As "We Flap" volunteers, our team of best friends really enjoyed their space and were so much at ease working aggressively while being themselves...... just joking, helping and making fun of each other. And for the reward, they mostly wanted the banana split ice cream at "Amy's". With their super appetites this felt like a huge treat after a day of hard work. We even made trips to "Kerbey Lane Cafe" for brunch. Well, if you ever travel to Austin, you've got to check out these two places. They totally ROCK!

Now, for the funnest experience they ever had....our volunteers were assistant facilitators for the "We Flap" Enrichment Slot at an elementary school here in Austin where I was facilitating the E-Slot. Full of ideas on how they would manage their time at the E-slot and take leadership roles they started interacting with the 4th and 5th graders at ease. Kids were super excited to be split into groups and have our volunteers guide them and help them understand what "We Flap" was all about and introduce them into the incredible world of "Giving".

Our enrichment slot sessions were a huge success and the school has allowed us to continue by facilitating both the enrichment cluster and the enrichment slot during the school year. To top it all, there was also an amazing response from our students who attended the sessions last year wanting to take on leadership roles and be assistant facilitators this year. Also, we needed to come up with a creative name and as "We Flappers" we could not think of nothing better than being "Future Change Makers".