Thursday July 15th Update

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations" - Charles R. Swindoll

With the two week mark rapidly approaching, as promised by the JTC grads, everything is starting to fall into place.

It makes me really happy to see that all of the hard work has paid off, and to see how incredible this learning experience has been in retrospect. I know that it will play a huge role in how I am able to market myself in the future.

As Mr. Swindoll says, there were times that I felt I wanted to sit down and stop fundraising. I think having the perseverance to keep pushing little by little is what keeps us on the Less Travelled Road.

I want to once again that all of my friends and family for your support over the past couple of months. Each of you were a vital part of this incredible experience, and I will always be grateful to you for that.

So what am I sitting at right now?

1. Sylvite's sponsorship is still filtering through the system and should be received within the next few days

2. I got in touch with Leslie Cornelius at the London Economic Development Corporation. She both arranged to have my cheque prepared (which we had been waiting on for a while) and got me in touch with a number of the larger organizations in town.

3. I had a meeting with Catherine Madden at 3M and gave her all of the Global Vision information. There seemed to be some interest there in forming a long term partnership with Global Vision, but we will have to wait and see what the results are from that. The head of her department is on vacation until the 19th, so I will find out whether they will be sponsoring me shortly after that.

4. Mr. Mike Potters (Youth Ambassador from Komoka, Ontario) and I joined forces to tackle Diamond Aircraft and Trojan Technologies (a UV water purification company).

Diamond Aircraft seems like an unlikely sponsor, apparently they were hit fairly hard by the economic downturn but I'll follow up with my contact there today and find out for sure.

Our meeting with Trojan went pretty well. It was interesting to see how we could play off each other’s strengths during the meeting. Mr. Martensson has been away on business but hopefully we'll hear a positive response by the middle of next week.

5. I had a meeting with Barry Cleaver and his associate Jacquie McWatt at Siskinds Law firm. They have a large affiliate office in China, so I thought there might be some potential there. Mr. Ed Holder (MP London-West) was kind enough to help me set up the meeting, however Siskinds' sponsorship session ended over 6 months ago so that negated any possibility for support from them.

6. I was in Toronto this past Tuesday (July 13th) to both get my Chinese Visa (check) and obtain sponsorship from a Ginseng exporting company, Sun Ming Hong (cheque :P).

7. I will be returning to Toronto next Tuesday to meet with Steve Rodgers, President, Auto Parts Manufacturers Association who was sympathetic to the mission and has also agreed to sponsor me.

8. Finally I just got out of a meeting with Dr. David Wardlaw, the Dean of Science at Western. He confirmed Science's interest in sponsoring me and is going to speak with the VP Internationalization (Dr. Ted Hewitt) on my behalf. Though I have already met with Dr. Hewitt (and been rejected) hopefully Dr. Wardlaw can garner some support through a joint venture.

9. I dropped a letter off for Dr. Chakma the President of UWO in order to voice my concerns regarding the lack of support that Western has had for this mission. It was surprising to me because our affiliate College (Kings) has contributed significantly on numerous occasions.

10. I have received a lot of sponsorship support in the form of personal donations. To those friends and family members who contributed I cannot say how much it was appreciated.

On my to do list remains:

A) Finalizing all remaining partners, including getting the cheques from them
B) Arranging my medical insurance
C) Going after two or three more potential sponsors
D) Packing :D... Beijing here I come!