I went to New York thinking “It’s okay if we don’t win. We’re a tiny organization. Just the fact that a few more people will have heard of us after this trip is a big accomplishment.” But I knew I was kidding myself—trying to alleviate the pressure I felt and hoping to prepare for a consolation prize—I ate, slept, and breathed SKIP for a year and still do everything I can to promote the cause and keep in touch with the people there who became a part of my life.

I wanted to win.

My group flew to New York from Spain last Wednesday and I flew in from Minneapolis. We spent every available second over the next 24 hours honing, perfecting, and critiquing each other’s portions of the presentations. We were nervous and hopeful and when the time came on Friday we gave a better presentation than we had in any of our rehearsals.

“No matter what happens,” we told ourselves afterwards, “we gave the best presentation we could have hoped for. We should feel proud of ourselves.” It sounded good; it was a comforting thing to say. But as the day drug on and we waited for the results to be delivered at 4:00 all we could tell each other was “I want to win.”

We wanted to win because $25,000 would double SKIP’s annual budget. It would mean that 330 more kids—kids who would otherwise have to work all day every day—would be able to enter school over the next two years. We wanted to win because we have been there; we knew what this money would mean in the lives of kids and families.

We won.

I don’t have a picture yet of our group holding the giant check, so you’ll have to imagine us holding it in this picture:

I think my group’s only regret was that I didn’t do something about my hair or lipstick situation prior to the post-win photo shoot.

And while I’ve got you here: Remember that one time when I wrote about how sad I was that most of you will never get a guided tour of SKIP and the experiences I had in Peru? Well, one of SKIP’s founders just put together a video that gives you a better idea of what life with SKIP is like. Go watch it. And then tell somebody else to go watch it, too.

Readers of this website were some of SKIP’s earliest and most generous supporters. As the organization grows and evolves we’ll continue to need all the help we can get, so please keep SKIP in mind if you’re looking to donate this holiday season.