Why I Chose LOLO- from the perspective of a student intern

Hello! My name is Katie Howard and I am a junior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. I am from St. Louis, Missouri, I plan to pursue arts management with degrees in music and economics, I play division III softball for Olaf’s team, I play alto saxophone in the St. Olaf Band, and I love dark chocolate- so how did I get here?

Katie and her family celebrating her brother’s college graduation, Spring of 2019.

I actually happened upon Lolo quite by accident- I originally planned to be in Lenox, Massachusetts this summer as a tour guide for Tanglewood, a music venue affiliated with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but like most in-person internships this summer, my plans changed due to corona.

Spring semester finals week I found myself searching for remote internships having to do with marketing and management and applying to local restaurants and grocery stores to find any part-time work where I fell upon ‘Love Ourselves, Love Others’ through my school’s online career networking site.

Love Ourselves, Love Others LLC, or LOLO, raises money through the sale of a children’s book titled, “Lolo’s Superpower” in which a plush, blue doll accepts his/her differing ability of having detachable arms and legs and recognizes this ability as a superpower instead of a hindrance. A portion of the sales goes to Project LOLO, a nonprofit organization in which all donations go towards providing children access to orthopedic care with partnering care facilities around the world.

Katie and Josiah, first day of bowling together at Jesse James Lanes. Photo posted with permission.

Going back to why I got involved: this past school year, 2019-2020, I was involved with Special Olympics Minnesota through St. Olaf and worked as a Unified Partner for a young athlete named Josiah and volunteered in the fall as I was able. Every Sunday, Josiah and I picked up our bowling shoes, chose a dark green and blue 12 lb ball for him (and a 7 lb orange ball for me) and moved a ramp to the far left lane. Although Josiah is nonverbal, he loves the sound of trains, watching his brother play baseball and he liked to watch the ball ‘thunk’ off of the ramp and roll down the lane.

Through this experience, I built a relationship with Josiah, his mother and father, and met one of his brothers who came to watch us compete (and win a gold medal!) at the final tournament in November. I looked forward to getting off campus every Sunday, talking with Jo’s mother about their family updates or how my classes or softball practices were going. One weekend, my mother drove up to campus from St. Louis to see me for a few days and bowled a game with Josiah and me (defeating us both). Through Special Olympics Minnesota, I met this wonderful family beyond my typical world of classes, homework, softball practices, working and not enough sleep, and was given this gratifying break in the day. Most importantly, everyone, from the delegation team to athletes and their families, was extremely kind and genuinely wanting the best for one another.

“I feel as though my work with LOLO indirectly contributes to these same children with whom I met and built a personal relationship.”

- Katie Howard

Katie, Josiah and Area 10 managers celebrating at the State Bowling Tournament at Bowlero. Posted with permission.

This ties into LOLO’s core value: accepting yourself for who you are and accepting others for who they are. I loved being involved with Special Olympics Minnesota and I hope to compete with athletes sometime soon, depending on when we find a vaccination or more permanent solution to Covid-19, but I feel as though my work with LOLO indirectly contributes to these same children with whom I met and built a personal relationship.

So what exactly is ‘my work’? There’s been a lot of research- I knew little to nothing about crowdfunding campaigns (besides the occasional donation to a GoFundMe campaign) nor did I know how LOLO initially received their funding for the production and release of Leslie’s, the founder of both organizations, children’s book, ‘Lolo’s Superpower’.

Leslie, her brother, Greg and I began meeting once per week discussing which crowdfunding platform to use, the best social media platforms to utilize and realistic funding goals based upon marketing, production, fulfillment, a second run of the book and other miscellaneous costs.

We soon realized that the preparation for the campaign was the easy part. We focused on the word choice in the campaign’s description, we compared other campaigns’ layouts and language and decided to go forward with GoFundMe. Currently, I am transitioning to a social media management intern to increase the attention and momentum of this campaign, and I am learning other forms of outreach to local hospitals, schools and families of child amputees.

While LOLO and Project Lolo specifically assist child amputees, the overarching message of supporting one another and building a community of acceptance and kindness is so relevant right now. This process has been a huge learning experience for all of us because hospitals are focused on the safety of their staff and patients, schools are preoccupied with the decision to return to in-person classes or to virtual classrooms, and families are focused on staying safe while trying to retain a last glimpse of quarantined sanity. Nevertheless, I’m excited to see this campaign take off, and see how far Lolo’s message can spread from special education districts to hospitals to individual families and beyond: especially at a time when coming together and support is so critical.