Guys. I can’t even fully express how in awe I am with these two fundraisers.
Apple Butter:
This was my first big fundraiser & I truly count it as a huge success. I was accepted to the World Race in October but was super late in putting on my fundraising pants. The fall was a huge mess of back to back events for me, from bridesmaid girls weekends, to a bridal shower that I helped plan, to traveling for worship weekends, October and November were a blur of meetings, road trips, and a ton of sparkles! No lie, I took PTO in order to finish & mail my support letter. Then. The holidays hit. It seems all the crazy in the world converges which creates a time sucking vortex. Toward the end of November & beginning of December I found myself panicked & overwhelmed with the idea of being so far behind in fundraising.
One of my squad-mates gave me the idea of selling apple butter since she had such great success with it. So I pitched the idea to my mom (she is seriously a beast at fundraising) and a good friend. From there we formulated a plan. I had never made apple butter before & neither of my parents care for it so I used my friend, Tori, who grew up with it as a staple in the home, to help me perfect the art.
It was such a blessing & learning experience. Having never made it before I kept questioning if it was good or the right consistency, but eventually I got the hang of it & even canned them so they would last longer!
In the end I sold over 50 jars and made a profit of $268.10!
Chocolate Covered Strawberries:
This one was my mom’s brilliant idea. We made these for Valentine’s Day. Fun story: I advertised these at work for a while & didn’t get a huge response, which is fine, but I kept thinking that it was going to be a flop. My goal was to sell at least 30, I thought that was a stretch & didn’t really believe that we would be able to sell that many. God was probably shaking His head at my unbelief & I was shocked to find that we sold 50! Guys! 50!!!!
The process was killer, everything had to be made as late as possible because chocolate covered strawberries start to “weep” (that’s really just a nicer word for oozing strawberry juices) if they sit there for more than 24 hours or so. What resulted was an extremely stressful week of prep work and an even more stressful weekend of dipping, setting, prettifying, and packaging strawberries (on top of some previously planned decorating for a wedding weekend…). God must have known how much of a wreck I would be after all was said & done (I didn’t get that much sleep & the stress caused a physical reaction in the form of hives) because the Monday after Valentine’s Day was President’s Day & since I work at a college we were closed!
In all of the mess, God still showed up. All my plans for how perfect the weekend would run fell through & chaos ensued. When I say I was a wreck, I really truly mean it. I was drained of sleep, had hives from stress, my heart was weak, I was utterly spent. And yet. God arrived & carried me. He helped my through with glimpses of Him from the most unexpected people helping me finish decorating to the men and women at church who came up to me wanting to pray & support me on this journey.
I couldn’t have imagined how difficult & rewarding that weekend would have been. In many ways I think God was showing me how life may be on the World Race. We probably won’t be making chocolate covered strawberries but we probably will be sleep deprived & in stressful situations where we have no control.
So what was the end profit? $654.42!!! God definitely showed up in sooooo many ways with this fundraiser.
I need to give a huge shout out to my parents who helped me I am constantly amazed at your love and support! Thank you for helping my wash, dry, dip, prettify, package, and deliver the strawberries. I really could not have done it without you!
Thanks to everyone who tuned in for the update! In case you didn’t see I am almost 50% funded! Praise God!!!
Thank you for all of your continued support & prayers!
Much love,
~Bethany~
