4/17 - Fundraising and More Fundraising

Right now we're focusing on raising funds to cover the hosting fee ($3,120.00) and home study fee ($1,200.00). Once the children have come and gone, we'll know more about whether we'll be able to adopt them. What's awesome about the Simple Obedience Orphan Hosting program is that they don't profit at all from the hostings. Their fees are comprised of the airfare costs for the children and the cost of a small insurance policy to cover medical emergencies. The only additional funds we'll need to raise in connection with the hosting will be for food, clothing and medical exams for the children.

Here's a brief overview of some of the fundraising projects we have going on right now. You may find these helpful in your adoption fundraising. We're open to new creative fundraising ideas, so let us know if you have any you wish to share:

• Mary Kay Sales - I started using Mary Kay products myself recently and liked them so much I decided to become a consultant. I'm not doing parties and classes though, at least not right now. Most people I know (myself included) are extremely busy and don't have time for that stuff. I've had success by loaning out my testers for people to try in the comfort of their homes and by passing out books and taking orders through my Mary Kay website. All profits from my sales are going towards our hosting/adoption expenses.
• Garage Sales/Bake Sales - Our first garage/bake sale will take place on 4/29 so I'll report back to let you know how that goes. We've been spending the last few weekends sorting and pricing items. Thanks SO much to all of you who donated items for us to sell and offered to loan us tables. It's so sweet to see the children who want to help with this too. Many have gone through their rooms looking for items to donate and brought us clothes and toys. So far the bake sale items will consist of various muffins, brownies and cake slices. I'll be baking my little heart out next week.
• Selling items on eBay - We've gone through every inch of our house to pull items we can sell on eBay. There are some items that are a little too nice to sell at the garage sale so eBay is a good alternative. It's amazing what people will buy!! I'm learning a lot and may venture out to locate cheap items at neighborhood yard sales so I can turn around and sell them for a profit. It sounds good in theory, but I'll keep you posted on how successful it really turns out to be.

We can't thank our friends and family enough for their support. Whether you've donated items for our garage sale, made a cash/gift card donation, bought Mary Kay or just kept us in your prayers, we are so blessed to have you in our lives and can't wait for you to meet these children who will benefit most from your kindness and generosity.