Organizing the "Across the USA" Trip
After the great success of the "Love Action" in NYC (10/23/11), many supporters asked us to go to their cities and spread some love.
By December 2011, I came up with the idea to go to different cities to meet people and share my campaign. The first week of January 2012, I bought a wall-sized USA map and started planning a cross-country trip. On 1/12/12 I shared the new project with our Facebook Page’s fans for the first time. Originally I was planning to get my backpack and hit the road on buses by myself; the trip was tentative planned for the Fall 2012.
By December 2011, I came up with the idea to go to different cities to meet people and share my campaign. The first week of January 2012, I bought a wall-sized USA map and started planning a cross-country trip. On 1/12/12 I shared the new project with our Facebook Page’s fans for the first time. Originally I was planning to get my backpack and hit the road on buses by myself; the trip was tentative planned for the Fall 2012.
I knew it could be challenging to do the trip alone, especially planning the trip around the bus schedules. In March 2012, I thought of inviting Belle to do trip with me since we had worked together during the action in NYC. On March 24, 2012, after participating in the Rally for Trayvon Martin in Washington DC, Belle and I had our first meeting to brainstorm ideas on how we could complete this ambitious trip. We knew that we needed money, places to stays and a lot to organize, so we decided to push the trip to Spring 2013. I named the project “Across the USA,” and on March 26, 2012, I officially announced that the plan was to go to 14 states and do an action in each state, in about 14 days.
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We decided that it would be a better idea to rent a car and drive across the country and then fly back from CA to DC. We selected potential cities to visit and designed different actions to promote environmental sustainability, equality, diversity, kindness, love and peace.
Belle and I met a couple of times and spent hours on Skype planning and organizing this trip. By August 2012, I posted a tentative calendar, and I used my PayPal account to get donations to found the trip. I used social networks to ask for sleeping accommodations and plan meet-ups with supporters.
Belle and I met a couple of times and spent hours on Skype planning and organizing this trip. By August 2012, I posted a tentative calendar, and I used my PayPal account to get donations to found the trip. I used social networks to ask for sleeping accommodations and plan meet-ups with supporters.
On August 17, 2012, I posted a video featuring the cities I was planning to visit and information about the project. I wanted to encourage people, through different actions, to take care of the environment, stand up for human rights, and eliminate prejudice, hate and violence.
It was frustrating at times because I did not receive the response I expected, but I also knew that it was going to be difficult since these people did not know me.
Later I created an “Event Page” on Facebook on August 25, 2012, to keep the supporters updated as we planned the trip and shared descriptions of all the actions we wanted to do during the trip. Each action represent a color of our logo.
* General Action (passing around promotional items, and fact sheets for specific social issues)
* Kindness (visiting homeless shelters, sick children in hospitals, nursing homes)
* Love/Affection (offering free hugs)
* Environment (recycling, planting trees, helping local communities)
* Racism/Discrimination (silent demonstrations with signs describing negative effects of prejudice, hate, violence and bullying)
* Equality/Tolerance (promoting acceptance, respect, human rights - street karaoke)
* Diversity (celebrating our cultural differences by encouraging people to participate in trivia games)
By mid-September, we already had places to stay in about 6 states, and we came up with appreciation gifts for those who would make donations or help in any way.
I wanted to visit a Native American reservation and stay with a host family for a night during our visit in Arizona and Nevada, but I was unable to make it happen, so I decided to camp out at the Grand Canyon instead.
At one point, things became overwhelming with so much to do, and I was getting a little frustrated due to the lack of responses. However, I never lost hope because I was very determined to make this trip a reality. Then, on September 25, 2013, we received our first donation, and that definitely encouraged me to continue my plan. I was ready to do whatever was needed to go on the road and motivate people to stand up for what they believe in, speak out against injustices, and take actions to make a difference.
It was frustrating at times because I did not receive the response I expected, but I also knew that it was going to be difficult since these people did not know me.
Later I created an “Event Page” on Facebook on August 25, 2012, to keep the supporters updated as we planned the trip and shared descriptions of all the actions we wanted to do during the trip. Each action represent a color of our logo.
* General Action (passing around promotional items, and fact sheets for specific social issues)
* Kindness (visiting homeless shelters, sick children in hospitals, nursing homes)
* Love/Affection (offering free hugs)
* Environment (recycling, planting trees, helping local communities)
* Racism/Discrimination (silent demonstrations with signs describing negative effects of prejudice, hate, violence and bullying)
* Equality/Tolerance (promoting acceptance, respect, human rights - street karaoke)
* Diversity (celebrating our cultural differences by encouraging people to participate in trivia games)
By mid-September, we already had places to stay in about 6 states, and we came up with appreciation gifts for those who would make donations or help in any way.
I wanted to visit a Native American reservation and stay with a host family for a night during our visit in Arizona and Nevada, but I was unable to make it happen, so I decided to camp out at the Grand Canyon instead.
At one point, things became overwhelming with so much to do, and I was getting a little frustrated due to the lack of responses. However, I never lost hope because I was very determined to make this trip a reality. Then, on September 25, 2013, we received our first donation, and that definitely encouraged me to continue my plan. I was ready to do whatever was needed to go on the road and motivate people to stand up for what they believe in, speak out against injustices, and take actions to make a difference.
In October 2012, I opened an account with GoFundMe to get donations, and I started to get the merchandise (stickers, key chains, wristbands) that I wanted to give away during the trip. I offered prizes through a raffle that I was planning to do at the end of the trip for those making donations, helping and offering places to stay.
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On November 17, 2012, we modified the “Racism/Discrimination Action” which was supposed to be a silent demonstration, and we changed it to an anti-violence demonstration called the “Peace Action.”
In our December meeting, Belle and I made some route changes to meet those supporters who had shown interest in meeting us, and we changed some cities because of where we found sleeping accommodations. By the end of 2012, we had received about $1,000 in donations from our supporters, friends and family members. |
On January 12, 2103, exactly a year after I announced the project for the first time, we officially announced that the "Across the USA" trip was going to start on Friday, May 10 through Saturday, May 25. We had planned a route to visit more than 30 cities in 14 states.
By February 2013, I had printed out the posters, for the “Equality Action,” designed a green tips/facts card for the “Environment Action”, and completed the world trivia questions for the “Diversity Action.”
On February 21, 2013, I sent an email to about 600 people (co-workers, old acquaintances, ex party-buddies, and friends), telling them about this campaign, and asking them to support the "Across the USA" project.
On February 21, 2013, I sent an email to about 600 people (co-workers, old acquaintances, ex party-buddies, and friends), telling them about this campaign, and asking them to support the "Across the USA" project.
On February 23, 2013, Belle and I practiced putting together the tent we will use while camping out at the Grand Canyon and recorded a fundraising video trying to get more donations to fund the trip.
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Although we still had a lot to do, nothing prepared us for our next obstacle. On February 27, 2013, Belle informed me that her work did not approve her request for the 2-week vacation to do the trip. She was only granted 1 week off. Even though I was very discouraged and anxious, something was telling me that somehow I was going to be able to make this trip possible.
I continued designing materials, fundraising, asking for places to stay, planning meet-ups with supporters, and organizing the actions for each state, as the trip was getting closer and closer. I asked a couple of my friends that I felt could do the trip with me because they shared my vision as well, and I even posted a request on our Facebook page to see if any of the supporter was interested in joining me on this trip. |
On March 19, 2013, less than 2 months from the trip, my good friend Matt confirmed that he could do the trip with me. Bringing someone in after planning the trip for over a year was not easy, but Matt caught up well and was ready to go out there and make a difference.
In April 2013, we started checking car rentals and trying to get the best deal since we were short on money. After several discussions, we decided to drive back to DC since it was cheaper than dropping off the car in CA and flying back. We were planning to drive through 9 more states on the way back, but I knew that we were not going to be able to do any action in any of those states due to limited time. The plan then was for Belle to fly to New Orleans and do the second week of the trip with us; she then would fly back to DC from CA and Matt and I would drive back. |
On April 19, 2013, Belle and I put together the thank-you gifts for those who offered us a place to stay and tokens of appreciation for those supporters we were planning to meet during the trip.
On May 5, 2013, Belle, Matt and I went to Washington DC to practice the "Peace and Equality" Actions; we had a good time and received great feedback from people we met. We knew then what to expect for the trip and made a few changes as needed.
On May 7, 2013, I posted a "Note" on our Facebook page sharing a little more of me, the reasons behind the "Across the USA" trip, the plan, the actions, etc.
By May 10, 2013, we had received almost $3,000 in donations; $853.73 from Facebook fans, $1,032.37 from friends, and $1,191.00 from family members. This was awesome, especially because I had spent about the same amount on materials, props, 4 hotels, fly tickets, camping permit, and rental car.
This was our final schedule:
On May 5, 2013, Belle, Matt and I went to Washington DC to practice the "Peace and Equality" Actions; we had a good time and received great feedback from people we met. We knew then what to expect for the trip and made a few changes as needed.
On May 7, 2013, I posted a "Note" on our Facebook page sharing a little more of me, the reasons behind the "Across the USA" trip, the plan, the actions, etc.
By May 10, 2013, we had received almost $3,000 in donations; $853.73 from Facebook fans, $1,032.37 from friends, and $1,191.00 from family members. This was awesome, especially because I had spent about the same amount on materials, props, 4 hotels, fly tickets, camping permit, and rental car.
This was our final schedule: