When the University of Georgia closed its doors for the coronavirus pandemic, it left a lot of uncertainty among student organizations. But UGA HEROs was determined to remain active. Here is what we are doing to keep our organization running:
1.) Virtual Meetings
Although we can’t see each other in person, we’re still holding our meetings through Google Hangouts and Zoom! Holding online meetings has helped us stay connected and keep morale up.
2.) Social Media
Because all of our spring semester events have been canceled, our social media presence has become extremely important. The communications team has worked hard by creating graphics, blog posts and social media content. Our communications director, Kali Dangar, wanted to make sure that we still have a clear voice on different social platforms.
3.) Fundraising
On April 10, we held our annual $100 day fundraiser where organization members are encouraged to raise $100 in one day to help fund our popular kid's programs. Because of the current pandemic, we had to work harder than ever in order to raise money.
HEROs took over social media that day by livestream. Members sent out emails, posted graphics and went live in order to raise the money. They also did crazy things like dye their hair, post embarrassing pictures and complete internet challenges. Our efforts paid off because we ended up raising $15,440!
4.) Member Engagement
We wanted to make sure that our members felt like they could still get something great out of HEROs, even though our events have been canceled. Committee heads have planned themed virtual meetings, collaborative playlists, recommendation lists and fun polls to maintain the community atmosphere of HEROs.
5.) Our Kids
Most importantly, we’ve been finding ways to make our kids feel special! Because many of our kids are immunocompromised, we are not able to see them in person. To make sure they still know we’re thinking about them, the child relations committee has been sending out homemade birthday cards to the kids and our Hang Out with HEROs program has also started up a pen pal program.
Although we were disappointed that our events have been canceled, we remain hopeful that that things can go back to normal in August. But in the meantime, HEROs is still spreading the WOW!
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