Last December we applied to go on The World Race. In January we were accepted and by February we started the fundraising process. The thought of raising $31,000 for us to go on this yearlong mission trip was a little more than daunting. The price tags of most things that carry value are scary, aren’t they?
We had no professional fundraising skills. We had no donor lined up to pay the total in full. We were not sponsored by a large corporation. Nope. We just had family, friends, and a few strangers who helped us meet this goal.
The timeline of our fundraising is a little blurry for me, but, I want to recap what was done in our fundraising process. We sent out support letters. We started spreading the news of what we were doing to everyone we met. I carried these letters in my purse with our prayer cards and gave them to EVERYONE!!
Next, we started planning our big garage sale for missions. Our apartment was full of donated items! Having a huge garage sale takes a lot of work and we had SO many willing spirits who helped in SO many ways. Again, we say THANK YOU. Our garage sale raised over $2,000.00.
Since we were moving and needed to raise money, we started selling our “stuff” and most of the little stuff went at the garage sale, but in the mean time, we sold some of our bigger stuff, like a bed, dresser, couch, coffee table, TV, TV stand, desk, random tables, chairs, and lamps. Again, people stepped up and purchased our stuff so that we could raise the money to go on The World Race. We even sold our car! THANK YOU for your purchases.
We had a Chick-fil-A benefit night in Houston. Basically, from the hours of 5-7pm, we were able to have a display that we made and collect receipts from customers. We got 10% of the total purchases of receipts dropped in the box. With donations and receipts we raised over $1,000.00. THANK YOU for your chicken purchase!
We had a Premier Jewelry Catalog fundraiser, where a consultant donated the proceeds from each sale to our World Race Account. Thank you for your jewelry purchase!
I know most of you are wearing your WORLD RACE t-shirts that Jamos and I had made and sold as yet, another fundraiser. This was also a way for us to give back to those who donated to us. We sold over 200 shirts (THANK YOU!) and all of that money went straight into our World Race account!
On Facebook we had the $20 challenge. You responded. For my 31st birthday, you donated $31! Thank you!
Words do not express our gratitude for making this mission trip a reality. Though the race is not done, the final deadline has passed and we met the goal!
We are fully funded for the rest of The World Race!
Seriously, a DAY does not go by when I do not reflect back on all of YOU, who gave sacrificially on our behalf. Really. This race has transformed my life. I think differently. I understand cultures better. I have seen the real needs of this world. The World Race is a HUGE part of my life now. Jamos and I will NEVER be the same again. We have healed the sick. We have loved the unlovable. We have preached the gospel. We have dug weeds. We have shoveled dirt. We have scrubbed floors. We have served the best we could for the last 7 months. And guess what? This is going to continue for the rest of the race (4 months)- and the rest of our lives.
Now what? We did meet our financial goal to cover the cost of the race, but we can raise an additional $1,000 to cover the cost of our required international health insurance and shots prior to the race.
So, all of this to say, yes, we are still accepting donations.
If you were thinking about donating and never got the chance, now is the time! You can just click on the LEFT of the screen where it says “YES WE ARE STILL RAISING MONEY” or something along those lines and it will walk you thru the steps of how to donate online.
Again, we say THANK YOU for the financial support and THANK YOU for the prayer support and THANK YOU for the emotional support you have offered along the way thru blog comments and e-mails. It means MORE than you could ever know!
