Friends of Villa Maria Golf Classic

The first event of a double appearance day this past Monday was attending the Friends of Villa Maria Golf Classic at the Towson Golf and Country Club. At this rate, I should really make an effort to learn to play golf this year!

One of the first questions I heard from one of the teams of sponsors was "What is Miss Maryland doing here!" And not that they weren't excited, but it's easy to miss the connection if you don't know me personally. As someone who attended Catholic school from K-12 and is currently attending a Jesuit university for my MBA, service has consistently been a foundation of my education. Not only that, I remember volunteering at Stella Maris and Villa Maria as a high school student at Mercy. So there I was-- happy to again be partnering with the Catholic Charities of Maryland for this event and for other opportunities throughout the year.

Villa Maria focuses on providing health and education services to children and families with special needs. It being the 24th annual event is really testament to the faith and continued committment of the organization to serve this segment of our community. For more information, please visit their website-- http://www.catholiccharities-md.org/children/villa-maria-continuum.html

For what was expected to be a fairly rainy day, the weather held off and we were blessed with a sunny afternoon!

The photos below are of me and a great team of volunteers and me in the middle of the caravan of golf carts!

Happy Helpers Carnival at Sarah's House

As a volunteer organization, Happy Helpers for the Homeless has served Maryland communities since 1993 organizing special events and distributing meals and educational resources to homeless women and children. I haven't been to a children's birthday in a while but I imagine it resembles today's back yard carnival at Sarah's House, a homeless shelter in Fort Meade. Note to self: children like treats. America's Miss Maryland, Caroline Kuhlman brought a crown case full of blow pops. She was an instant sensation, until Miss Bobby dished individual ice cream cups that is!

Although I was initially designated to hand out favors, I got roped into a t-shirt making session, welcomed a guest appearance by Sponge Bob Square Pants himself, was the subject for some serious face art (or in my case body art-- please note my sweet half sleeve flower in the photos below) and stained glass painting. One of the girls, Rebecca sent me home with my own souvenier-- a rainbow colored dolphin for my window, adorable.

A high energy and fulfilling time-- and for anyone available to volunteer this Sunday, join Happy Helpers at the Special Olympics!

Photos below are of adorable Paige who couldn't attend the carnival, Caroline and Rebecca, the kids and Sponge Bob and Caroline and me.