Happy Holidays!

Howdy and Happy Holidays to All!

The end of 2009 has come so quickly! Looking back now, it has been a long but rewarding journey for GBB Texas A&M.

February, 2009 – The Beginning: establish the exec team and start of a long/exciting journey
March to June – Try to find an advisor and gain recognition from Student Activities and the University
June to August – Plan, plan, and plan more for the Fall recruitment and donation letters
August – Intense recruiting time…we successfully recruit 14 founding members!
September to December – Meetings, fundraisers, hang-outs, retreats, and done with the finals!

And D-day: 2 weeks until we depart for Panama! (Jan. 6th – 13th, 2010)

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At our last meeting of the year, Amy Schulze, an advisor from Study Abroad Program Office, came and gave us the “Pre-departure Orientation.” She discussed important travel procedures, safety information, packing lists, and many other useful tips for an international experience. She answered questions from the members, and she has been a big help with planning this international trip. Thanks, Amy!

We also had a chance to have a conference call with the in-country Panama Director of GBB, Adriana Piñeiro, and Peace Corps’ community economic development volunteer in Panama, Brian Crum. Brian is the one who submitted the project proposal for GBB Texas A&M, and during this call he was able to explain more about our project and expectations as well as the culture, the people, and the region. The name of community we will work with is Rio Oeste Arriba, a village of 400-500 people with no electricity. Their native language is Ngäbere, but most of them speak Spanish as their second language. Only a few will speak English.

Brian also discussed more about the business we’ll be working with. About 60 farmers grow and harvest cacao, sell the beans to processors outside of Panama where it is made into chocolate, and sell the received chocolate for distribution. This ‘chocolate’ business needs our help with basic accounting process, marketing, customer service, and simply running a small business. To be prepared, the exec teams and members have been brainstorming and discussing potential ideas on how to deliver the information to the community. Also, we watched videos and read articles about the process of making chocolate, so we are better able to understand what they’re doing and help them improve their business.

Last but not least, we are bringing donations for the local communities, such as toys, clothes, and school supplies. If you or someone you know would like to help us with donations and/or business ideas on how to help the business, please contact any of the exec team. Our contact information can be found on our website, http://gbb.tamu.edu/.

Again, our trip to Panama is only 2 weeks away!! Please follow our blog starting on January 6, 2010 to keep up with our progress. We are so excited about the trip and can’t wait to share pictures and stories when we return!!

Have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Best,

GBB Texas A&M

Our Wonderful Sponsors and Supporters!

Hello everyone!

GBB Texas A&M is incredibly lucky to have such amazing sponsors, so we want to give all of them a shout-out! Our trip wouldn't be possible without the support and encouragement we receive from so many people and institutions. If you've provided financial support, purchased a t-shirt, or have just shown genuine interest in our cause, THANK YOU! We owe you one :)

Our sponsors are listed below--

The Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)

Check out their website at http://cibs.tamu.edu/

Texas A&M Student Activities

Check out their website at http://stuact.tamu.edu

PWC

Check out their website at www.pwc.com

Llano National Bank

www.llanonationalbank.com

Our advisor and her husband, Robin and Bob Starnes

They are wonderful and so supportive!

Friends and Family

You know who you are!

GBB Team Retreat

Howdy!

We had our first team retreat Sunday, November 15th at Mrs. Starnes' beautiful house in College Station. The retreat was filled with team leadership activities such as Land-Mines, World Game, Caterpillar Traverse and a Balloon Belly Relay. Not to mention free food from McAlister's Deli! The Land-Mine game was so much harder than explained. Im pretty sure over half of our members "blew up" because of communication difficulties, but it was very entertaining. The World game was a great way to learn things about each other like where people came from and where they want to live. Caterpillar Traverse was some what confusing for some, but they got through it. The balloon relay was a way for us to get a little bit closer and practice out team building skills. We also got to just hangout and get to know each other since we are leaving for Panama in less than two months!!! We still have a lot to do and prepare for, but we are super excited! Check out the pictures I uploaded and the video from Young!

GBB's First Blog!

Howdy from Texas A&M!

Global Business Brigades wants to keep all our supporters informed about our project, retreats, and how things are going in general. What better way to do this than a blog?!

This summer, four students came together to found Global Business Brigades Texas A&M. Since then, we have worked hard to recruit members, fundraise, and plan for our first brigade in January 2010. We are all passionate about changing the lives of those we serve in Panama and can't wait to get started on our project.

Charlie, our national advisor, called last week to give us the basic description of our first project. We will be helping a small chocolate factory in Northern Panama market their product. Bocas Del Toro, home of the Kuna Tribe, is the region were we will stay. Please google "Bocas Del Toro" and check out the pictures! They are amazing! We will know more about the business and the community once we recieve the official project proposal, and we'll be sure and keep everyone updated.

Next weekend we have our first team building retreat! We have casual socials on a regular basis, but we will be hanging out at our advisors house on Sunday to play some games, do some team building activities, and talk about our project. This is going to be a great opportunity to get to know each other! More on how it goes next week.

As soon as we know more about our project, we'll tell everyone! We want to keep you updated on what's going on in our organization and let you know how much we appreciate your support. It means so much to every member that we have the support we do. For more information on our chapter, visit our website at gbb.tamu.edu or our national website at http://globalbrigades.org/project/business/. Until next time, thanks and gig 'em!!