Put a Fork in Me, I'm Done

I've been beating my head against a brick wall now for over a month...I'm done.

A group of my students qualified to attend the upcoming Flat Classroom Leadership Conference in Doha, Qatar. I've been working tirelessly to raise money so that we can attend. We were awarded a scholarship that will help, but we needed to raise somewhere in the neighborhood of $20K in addition to the scholarship. To date...we've raised around $4300.

I know that the economy is tough, but I really felt like people would help. I started a ChipIn campaign and Tweeted about my students until people started unfollowing me. I contacted a number of media...we were featured on a local station here in Houston, still nothing.

I've been mostly offline the past month making calls, knocking on doors, talking with anyone who would listen about my students and the importance of attending the Conference. Absolutely EVERYONE that I have spoken with says that they believe in Thomas Friedman's work and that they see the relevance, the necessity of the students' attendance, still few are willing to help. If everyone that I have spoken with would have donated $25, we'd be on our way. When I tell people that they give me a funny look, but still do not pull out their wallet to help (although they say they support the cause).

This is it...I am spent...I've done all that I know how to do. Maybe someone will read this post and decide to help us...I sure hope so...

To my Students: I've done all that I know to do to help you get to Doha, but it wasn't enough...I am truly sorry...