To be nice and blunt and honest — fundraising scares the crap out of me. It makes me feel awkward and vulnerable and rude and all sorts of not good emotions. When I signed up for the World Race, I was completely set on paying for the entire trip on my own terms — I’ve worked hard and saved up a lot of money and have a good six more months to work and keep saving up before my trip.
My main thoughts in fundraising are:
1. How does it make sense to ask for other people to pay for something that I am expecting to thoroughly enjoy? If I knew that I was going for a sufferable and intensive week of volunteering somewhere I would probably feel a lot better about asking for funding for my trip… but I guess because I had a romanticized vision of what an amazing trip it is going to be for me, it gives me this weird guilty feeling asking for money.
2. I am constantly worrying about what people will think about me asking for money. I don’t want to come across pushy, but then again it’s probably annoying to do the whole “If you feel called to, maybe, possibly, if you feel like it would be a good thing, but don’t feel pressured… donate to my trip? (eyelash batting)”.
But as the weeks have went on and I am nicely procrastinating getting my letter out, I’ve been encouraged by the confidence and boldness in my teammates… and also seen how blessed they have been by their processes. I’ve also learnt a few things that is starting to make me feel better about it, and I’ve realized that fundraising is actually kind of a part of the journey of the trip itself.
A little while back, the World Race sent out an e-mail titled “Don’t sign up for the World Race!”. It was basically an overview of all of the wonderful/horrible things you will likely endure on the race (extreme weather, bugs, not showering for a month, no clean bathrooms, sleeping on hard floors). It excited me and scared me and makes me feel better in asking for funds knowing that this IS NOT A VACATION… it’s work. Wonderful work. Hard work. And work that I will be doing for the Lord and the people all over the world that He loves. And “just because I may quite enjoy the work sometimes, it doesn’t mean I should feel guilty about being funded for it” (said someone to me).
And to my surprise, some people actually really want to donate. It gives people a chance to invest in me and what I’m doing, and also be a really big part of my trip and what I’ll be doing. Even more so, it blesses me immensely feeling like I am a worthy person to invest in, and feeling like there are people who believe that the Lord can work through me enough to contribute to it.
So, as I am still a little stressed about this whole fundraising thing — I have finally found peace in sending out my letters. As much as God provides for my trip through the people around me, whether that be 5 dollars or 5 thousand dollars, it will be an amazing blessing!
And down below is my support letter for those who are not sent one.
Dear friend,
I am beyond excited to announce that this upcoming September, through a program called the World Race, I will be travelling to eleven countries around the world over the course of eleven months! My route’s countries include Haiti, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. Our squad will be placed throughout these countries to serve where we’re led, and in whatever ways we can (working in orphanages, human sex trafficking, construction, teaching English etc).
I’ve felt called to travel and missions since I was a young girl and I had been looking for a mission opportunity since I graduated from high school, but nothing that I came across was grabbing me the right way. This last summer I found the World Race online, and felt drawn to it immediately. The thought of living out of a backpack, sleeping in a tent and serving God and people all over the world was exactly the kind of adventure I was looking for. So after stalking the World Race website all summer, and a few strange coincidences, it seemed clear to me that this is something that God is calling me to. I signed up and have now been officially accepted!
Keeping me in your thoughts and prayers for my upcoming months of saving up and preparation, as well as praying for me on my actual trip would be amazing. Also, for those of you who have travelled and know of necessities I may need for certain countries, advice is very welcome.
In addition to gear, my trip will cost approximately $16,264. This cost includes all travel expenses, food and other things along the way. If you would like to help fund me for this trip you can do so in person, by mail, or online.
To donate online, you can follow this link to my blog http://kellypenner.theworldrace.org/ and click on the “Support Me!” link on the left hand side. If you would like to donate through mail, cheques can be made out to Adventures in Missions and can be mailed to;
Adventures in Missions
PO Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
If you are mailing a cheque, please write Kelly Penner in the memo line so that it will make it in to my account. Unfortunately, because it is an American organization, they cannot offer tax deductible receipts for Canadian donations. If you would rather mail it directly to me, my address is;
PO Box 595
Landmark MB
R0A 0X0
Any kind of support would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Kelly ([email protected])
