Alright guys, I have been getting a lot of questions lately about fundraising, which is absolutely awesome! I love how involved each and every one of you have been during this journey. So I’ll be honest with you, fundraising is hard. It can be really discouraging and so tasking but it has been such a humbling experience. I’ve had to learn to completely rely on God to provide and all I can do is spread the word about what I am doing and why I am doing it. From a book I have been reading called The God Ask, I have learned that the person I need to be asking for financial support is God. Ultimately everything on this earth is His and I need to make the “God ask” before I can ask anyone else. He will lead and prompt others to give if I am obedient to his callings and to Him. This doesn’t mean I can just sit back and wait for Him to do it all. That’s naive and not biblical. So I will continue to share my heart with all of you and continue to follow his promptings.
So now that you know a little bit behind my heart and fundraising I want you to be informed and I want to answer any questions you may have. So I’ll start out by listing my deadlines and telling you if I’ve met them yet.
- $5,000 due 5/13/2016 Almost met!! Yay!!
- $10,000 due 7/22/2016
- $13,000 due 9/30/2016
- $16,961 due 11/30/2016
My current total is at the top of this page but as of today it is $4,521! Praise God. I could not have gotten this far without God and certainty not without all of you. So where does all this money go and what does it go towards? One of my awesome teammates Bailey Pittman broke it down for her supporters. Here’s her data:
- 2% ($340) Training Camp Cultural training before departure. This is the camp that I will go from June 8-18 and is full of spiritual, mental, and physical preparation!
- 4% ($678) Field Support Getting us supplies, supporting local contacts, etc. This is all for the ministries that we will taking part in.
- 12% ($2,035) WR Development Program Improvements and developments for the current and future World Race Routes
- 17% ($2,883) Administration Fees Processing, paying the staff who literally take care of every detail of our travel, food, lodging, etc. months in advance and during our race as well
- 65% ($11,024) World Racer Budget See below for further breakdown
- $861 Health Insurance
And here’s how that big 65% “World Racer” budget breaks down:
- 45% ($7,632) Intercontinental travel (from continent to continent)
- 13% ($2,204) Food, that doesn’t seem bad to me considering how much I spend in a year on food in the U.S.
- 19% ($3,222) Lodging, we are in tents most months but it is possible to be in a hostel, in a host home, and in hotels in debriefing weeks.
- 11% ($3,410) Transportation, in country travel like Tuk Tuks in Thailand and tap taps in Haiti! (google that, it’s pretty cool!)
- 12% ($3,720) Long Distance Travel and Misc. Supplies, travel from country to country, or airport to field city
How you can help
One of the biggest ways to support me is through prayer. It honestly has been such a journey so far and learning to rely fully on God has deepened my faith immensely. God is so good and he continues to blow me away and show up when I have just about given up. He has rescued me from discouragement and met my prayers EVERY time. There IS power behind prayer. I’ve got tons of stories already about God answering my prayers that I’d love to share with you. Just ask me.
Another way to support me is financially. Monthly donations are possible and if you’d like more information, I’d love to let you know how you can become a monthly supporter. You can support me financially by clicking on the tab that says Support Me.
I also have multiple events coming up. My first is May 7 and it is a silent auction. There are some incredible items in the auction and there will as food, live music and fellowship at the event. You can purchase tickets here for this event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tab-around-the-world-tickets-24295501499
Lastly, you can share my journey. If you feel like there is someone who would be interested in my journey shoot an email ([email protected]). I would love to talk with them and share with them what I’ll be doing and why I’ll be doing it.
Summary of what I just said and information on how to give are listed below:
- One-time donations can be given by clicking on the “Support Me” tab at the top of this page. It is tax-deductible and 100% of the donation is put into my account unlike other fundraising sites.
- Monthly giving can be done by using a secure system called Dynapay. It transfers the bank draft automatically each month for you and is provided by Adventures in Missions. (click on link)
- Checks can also be mailed in to: write out to Adventures in Missions and put “BENCSICSTEAGAN” in the memo line
Adventures in Missions P.O. Box 742570 Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
THANK YOU!!! Thank you all for the support and encouragement you’ve given to me already. You all are amazing and I am continually in awe of your generosity and kind words. You are incredible.
