My biggest hesitation to the World Race (and as I hear, it’s the same for many people) is the amount of money that has to be raised. However, once I started asking God what He wanted me to do after graduation He gave me a peace that He would take care of the finances for this journey. Really, once He said that He was going to take care of it, I didn’t have any other reasons not to go…and He has been using people from all different stages of my life to further His promise!!!
As I’ve told some friends, I feel like a giddy little girl seeing how God has provided and who He has used to do so. Seriously, friends that I’ve lost touch with, family friends that I barely know, some people that I don’t know, and friends that I know don’t have much for themselves have offered what they can. It’s a humbling experience to say the least.
As of right now, I have $8,337 in my account!!!
My first donation came in on my birthday, exactly 2 months ago. Don’t you just love to see God work?!? In the matter of 8 weeks, over $8,000 has been donated!
So from here…I need another $163 before I leave next Wed. the 16th to put me at $8,500.
Then, I will need another $5,800 before December to put me at the $14,300 needed to cover the entire year.
From there, if I raise more I am able to apply for re-imbursement for my airfare to launch and home from wherever we fly back in to and for my international health insurance.
So, where is all of this money going?!? Good question…
$9,255 will be spent on all of my expenses for the year, including travel =)
We will have roughly $460 per month for food, lodging, transportation and visas. This is broken down to $12/ day (for each racer)…$4 for food, $5 for lodging, and $3 for local transportation. The rest of the money will go towards travel between countries. I believe they said roughly $3,500 is the budget for airfare for the year.
The rest of the support that I raise goes to pay for training camp that I went to a few weeks ago, field support for the lovely coaches and staff that are helping up along the way, administrative costs for all of this to happen, and program development to help get the word out there about the World Race. So, needless to say all of the money is raised for a very specific purpose and for a great reason!!
Oh yea, and I’m in charge of my team’s finances while on the field =) I’ll be working with our team leader (Chad) to make sure that we stay in budget and account for every penny (or shilling, or whichever currency we have at the time) that we spend.
I think that the WR staff must have seen my inner nerdiness and secret love for excel sheets =D
