Happy 4th of July! Well, I guess happy day – after the 4th. Here in Middle Tennessee it poured down rain, literally the entire day. I wonder if the police and firemen who probably dread the day weren't breathing a little sigh of relief. No wise words or stories from me today, just an update on how my fundraising is going. Somehow I have to raise all the money needed for my trip or I don't go. I had already sent out support letters but needed to think of other ways to fundraise. I had thought about mowing lawns but realized first I would need a lawn mower so that wasn't really an option. Were there people who had working lawn mowers but just didn't want to mow their own lawn but would pay someone else to do it? Not sure. I thought of hiring myself out like to clean gutters but I lacked the ladder and other supplies I would need. I also asked myself, how does one hire oneself out? Craigslist? Um, that is super sketch so I nixed that idea right away. I wondered about the bulletin at church but know that I get handed one every Sunday and rarely, if ever, open it. So I have been praying about it a lot because I still don't know a ton of people and I wasn't sure where or even if opportunities would come about. This is what I've got so far.
On June 29th I held a silent auction. I had mentioned a raffle to the pastor at my church who informed me that Baptists don't believe in raffles. Hahaha, ok. I hadn't known that but he said maybe it was just a southern Baptist thing. But, he said, they did believe in silent auctions and that people in the past had done them and they were successful. He also very generously donated the church for me to use for my event. To be honest I have never done a silent auction before so I had no idea what to expect. I picked a day and had 2 bands in mind who could play music. Then I found out one band's singer and lead guy was out of town all of June and most of July, the other band's members would be on a mission trip to Jamaica. So I asked the pastor for names of others from the worship band at church. They were all busy or out of town. Apparently I had picked a bad weekend. Then I remembered Dr. Raouf Ghattas who pastors the Evangelical Arabic church here in Murfreesboro. So I asked him and thankfully he was not only available but super excited to help out. With emails, flyers, lots of phone calls, and personally meeting with people during the month I was able to get over $800 worth of goods and services donated, not including the handmade things generously donated. Things ranged from oil changes, meals at local restaurants, make-up and bowling to a night's day at a B&B, a mini session with a local photographer and even $100 towards a tattoo. I also found a gentleman to play music and Dr Ghattas talked about Islam and reaching out to Muslims in our community. Finding the time to meet with people or pick things up turned out to be a bit tricky around my work schedule but for it being my first silent auction I was amazed at how generous the local businesses were. When the evening was over, everything had been sold and I made $540.
I have also started selling bracelets for Threads of Hope. I hadn't even heard of the organization until a fellow World Racer mentioned the organization. 50% of the proceeds I get to keep and 50% goes back to the Filipino people who make the bracelets. It's really a cool story, a missionary couple met 2 girls on a beach and purchased some of the cloth bracelets that they had made. The bracelets were a huge hit and so the organization was born.
"Threads of Hope is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that was born out of a small act of compassion and $100 in 2003 by Alex and Chris Kuhlow who were missionaries in Manila, Philippines. Through years of visits to the island of Mindoro they befriended two girls who sold cotton thread bracelets on the beach together. One girl ended up going into prostitution due to lack of income selling bracelets and was never seen again. The other girl received the $100 and was asked to make as many bracelets as she felt was fair for the money. During a summer furlough, the bracelets were sold very quickly in the U.S. and the proceeds were returned to the family with the request to have more bracelets made. That began the cycle that exists today. Currently there are around 250 families and over 700 Filipinos making bracelets, anklets, necklaces, lanyards, bookmarks, key chains, and head or hat bands. Threads of Hope purchases 180,000 items per month and growing! The vast majority of the products are used as fundraisers globally for a multitude of causes, which creates more demand for the products. We sell the products on their behalf so they do not need to be faced with the temptation of selling their children into prostitution or slavery as a means to survive. They are no longer hanging on by a thread of hope. Their physical, educational and spiritual needs are being met through Threads of Hope in partnership with the local church. No one working directly with Threads of Hope receives a salary from the sale of the bracelets…our work is a labor of love and a demonstration of our Christian faith and Christ's love for these people." http://www.threadsofhope.com.ph
I have also received money from my support letters that I sent out and I thank everyone again so much for your support.
In the mean time, I have decided to get a 2nd job, one that will be just part-time but will allow me to put away more money towards my trip. During the month of June if people ate at Carmen's Taqueria, a local Mexican restaurant here in town, the owners would donate 10% towards my trip. Well I met with the owners this week and they not only offered to extend the time of giving 10% until I leave in November but also offered me a job. I have known the owners for awhile, so I am excited for this opportunity. It'll be a challenge since I have worked in medical offices for the last 5 years so it'll definitely give me lots of new things to learn. The other servers seem really nice and very willing to teach me. I'm also excited to be around Spanish more as my language has grown pretty rusty from lack of use.
On September 21st the Women's Ministry at Calvary Baptist, the church I have been attending, will be having a craft fair. Anyone who wants can sign up and have a booth for $25 and then anything made the person can keep. I am planning on selling the Threads of Hope bracelets and having jars of dry ingredients for something easy like cookies but also have some samples of bread and sticky buns that I have enjoyed making and if people choose to buy those I will bake and then deliver them so everything is fresh. Baking is at least something I can do, something I can contribute.
Some of the guys at our church have a band and they mentioned wanting to do a benefit concert for me so I'll be talking to them more about that. Time is going to fly by and in October I will have training camp for a week where I will meet the other members of my squad and my last day at work will be November 1st. So far, though not everything is in my support account yet since it's in the mail, from support letters, the bracelets, and the silent auction I have raised $2,857! September 30th is my first deadline of $3,000 so I have almost reached that already and can start working towards my next deadline of $5,500 which is due on December 14th.
$13,500 is a lot of money. Knowing that it covers everything for 11 months puts it into perspective but it's still a lot. Those of you who know me know I could probably easily eat at least half of $13,500 worth in food alone. I know too when I have traveled to Chile any visitor automatically has to pay a $100 fee to enter the country. I'm not sure about all the countries that we're visiting but visa and travel costs quickly add up. My contact at Adventures in Missions who has been answering my questions suggested that I look at it instead as 13 1/2 apples, instead of money so it wouldn't feel so overwhelming. So, the good news is I'm almost to 3 apples!
Please keep me in your thoughts as I work towards the rest of the "apples"
