My Year As Miss California International- Update!

Wow! How on earth has it already been almost 4 months since I was crowned Miss California International?! These last four months have been incredible.

Since then, I have traveled to Monterrey, Mexico to deliver wheelchairs with The Wheelchair Foundation and Rotary International members from all over the world; I’ve spoken to several different East Bay Rotary International Clubs about my platform, about the Miss International system, about volunteer service, and my plans as Miss California; I’ve read to over eight elementary school classrooms at Tassajara Hills Elementary and discussed the importance of reading and education as well as why it is so crucial to be a leader; and this past weekend, I have officially raised $7,000 for my container of wheelchairs going to Tanzania!

This upcoming Wednesday, I will add another Rotary International Club to my list, and next Monday I will be adding another! Many people ask me, “Why do you work with Rotary International so much?” Rotary International has the same mission as The Wheelchair Foundation: the mission for mobility. Rotary International has been an advocate for volunteerism, community involvement, and ending polio worldwide. My father was the President of his Rotary Club of Danville/Sycamore in 2005, and I had the chance to go to Denmark and Norway for the Rotary International Convention. Since then, I have been incredibly involved with Rotary and have worked to attend as many meetings as possible. The Rotary International Club of San Ramon Valley had watched me grow up as I competed in their annual “Valley Teen Idol” competition for eight years straight, and placed second, thus allowing me to obtain a large cash award that went towards my platform.

The Wheelchair Foundation has truly changed the world. With over one million wheelchairs delivered in over 150+ countries- I have been fortunate enough to have witnessed firsthand hundreds of these lives being changed. On June 13th of this year, The Wheelchair Foundation raised over $1.7 MILLION DOLLARS for this incredible organization!

I spent the evening at the Wheels Around the World Gala selling raffle tickets, in which all of the raffle ticket funds went towards my goal of purchasing a container of wheelchairs that will be going to Tanzania! I was absolutely shocked and honored to find out that I had raised $6,700 towards my container- which far surpassed my goal of $5,000 for the evening. As of right now, I am officially at $7,165! This is almost the halfway mark for the container!

Thank you to everyone who helped donate, advocate, spread the word, and spend the time towards helping me change lives in Tanzania.

This is just the start.

#missamerica