Amtheyst Floyd - Upcoming Excitement!

Hi there! My name is Amtheyst Floyd and I am serving with Friends In Deed located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The nonprofit focuses on helping with immediate aid during a crisis and has a chapter with Circles, a nationwide program to bring communities together and work on fighting the barriers of poverty.

As for the immediate aid, Friends In Deed helps prevent utility shutoffs, gives money for small car repairs, donates furniture and cars, and helps direct people where they need to go if they cannot be helped here. Circles, the nationwide program, is a two year long commitment made of people from upper middle class and higher to work along people in poverty. The upper middle class learns what is happening in their community and become more aware of the barriers that people in poverty face every day. The people in poverty create relationships in both a personal and professional sense will having a friend to rely on for questions and guidance.

My goals here are to help bring Friends In Deed a larger social media presence, gather volunteers, create and sustain a process that evaluates their Circles and Transportation programs, and expand their Transportation services. 

Since I have been here, I have worked towards growing their social media presences on multiple platforms, created memes and a volunteer brochure, and learned and updated information on Donorsnap. I have performed KIIs (key informant interviews), which are casual interviews focused on five main questions that help facilitate a conversation to gather as much information as possible. I have recreated their resource manual, which you can find on their website (https://www.friendsindeedmi.org/resource-guides/). Lastly, I attend Circles on Tuesday nights and take pictures for their social media.

As for the events that are coming up this year, we have the annual dinner, the Golf Outing, and Over the Edge! The Annual Dinner is both a fundraiser and also a nice event for the people who contribute their time to Friends In Deed, bringing everyone together for a good time. The Golf Outing is a fundraiser event that I have volunteered at before. After the initial intake of golfers, it becomes a nice day to watch a good game. This is the first year of Over the Edge for Friends In Deed. It is a large scale fundraiser where people raise money for a specific person they would like to see rappel down the side of a large building! This is a year of exciting events!