Well, it has been a long time since I've updated this blog. Our fundraising slowed a bit over the summer, plus I had a lot of personal things going on and never got around to updating our blog.
So here's our update!
After the success of our first two movies nights, we decided to hold two additional movie nights.... that didn't fare so well. The third movie we decided to show was Jurassic Park. We thought it'd be a huge hit, but it turns out that many parents didn't want their children to see it. For our last movie, we showed a more family friendly movie Night at the Museum, but the turn out was not so great either.
I think movie nights as fundraisers have huge potential, but location is key. We live in a small town that has been saturated with our fundraisers. Plus, I have to admit, although we did put an announcement in the local paper, we didn't advertise as well as we should have done. I do encourage, however, other groups to consider movie nights if they're fundraising because it is a lot of fun and the potential to raise money is there.
Also, we found that we made a little more money when we sold hot dogs and nachos in addition to popcorn and candy.
A few weeks ago we had another garage sale and raised over $1100!! One of the keys to our garage sale success is that we kept all of our garage sale leftovers from the previous sale in church storage. That, plus new donations, meant that we had a huge selection of things to sale. We also decided that Fall garage sales tend to better than Spring.
Our last fundraiser (we think) is scheduled for this Saturday, November 14. We're holding our 2nd bake sale and we're doing a raffle as well. This is turning out to be a GREAT fundraiser!
We have three prizes to give away:
1. A Wilson NFL football autographed by Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys
2. An iPod Touch (16 gb)
3. A Nintendo Wii
Truthfully, if you have someone in your group who is good at soliciting, you can probably get prize donations for free. I'm terrible at that, so we ended up buying the prizes ourself and we're just considering it a donation to the cause. The football (which sells for around $350) was autographed by Emmitt Smith for free because India's Hope (Sarah's Covenant Homes U.S. parent organization) is a nonprofit and we were able to show nonprofit status in our request.
Thank you Emmitt Smith for autographing our ball for free!
We had 750 tickets printed online (ticketprinting.com) for $36. We're selling the tickets for $5 each or 5 for $20. We've been advertising via facebook and blogs and several members of our church have been selling tickets at work. So far, we've raised over $1000!! Never underestimate the power of good hearted blog readers!
One family who is in the midst of raising money for an adoption bought $200 worth of tickets. Another family who is going through a personal crisis gave $100 and a single mother with 4 children gave $60. Thank you!
We will also be selling tickets at the bake sale and drawing the winners at the end of the sale. I hope I'll be able to report that all our tickets were sold!
And, finally, I wanted to say that our fundraising efforts allowed us to buy 3 tickets to India AND donate $1000 to help Sarah buy new beds for the new children that she's about to take in at Sarah's Covenant Homes. Praise God! I want to mention, though, that the biggest help for our fundraising efforts has been church members designating their tithing funds to the mission trip fund. Without church financial support we never would have gotten as far as we have. Thank you Cornerstone Church members!
Until next time!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Willy Wonka Movie Night Fundraiser
Whew. We did it! Another successful movie night under our belt.
Earlier tonight, Books For Less hosted a "Movie Under the Stars" event to benefit our mission trip to India. They showed Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory and nearly 100 people were there. Yeah!
The movie was free, but we did have a concession stand. Also, as an incentive, we played along with the Willy Wonka theme and sold Hershey Bars with tickets taped to the back. Three tickets were the "golden tickets" and came with a prize.
I've never seen such a mad rush for chocolate in my life!
Overall, we made $213 to go towards the mission trip. Fantastic!
A big thank-you to Buddy & Cherie for lending their space, the Rhys Family & the Parker girls for working the concession stand and for setting up, all the Cornerstone guys who helped tear down the "theater" after the movie, and especially everyone who attended and made the night a success.
Don't forget that next month we're showing Jurassic Park. Mark it on your calendar.
Until then, here are some pictures from tonight's event:
Abbie, Allie, Tuesday, Madelynne, & Kaity working the concession stand
Everyone's waiting in line hoping to get a chocolate bar with a golden ticket!
A
A view of the audience
Tuesday with her golden ticket: An Ipod Shuffle
Marky with his golden ticket. He won a pinata filled with candy!
Natalie won a movie basket with DVD's, candy, and drinks with her golden ticket!
Earlier tonight, Books For Less hosted a "Movie Under the Stars" event to benefit our mission trip to India. They showed Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory and nearly 100 people were there. Yeah!
The movie was free, but we did have a concession stand. Also, as an incentive, we played along with the Willy Wonka theme and sold Hershey Bars with tickets taped to the back. Three tickets were the "golden tickets" and came with a prize.
I've never seen such a mad rush for chocolate in my life!
Overall, we made $213 to go towards the mission trip. Fantastic!
A big thank-you to Buddy & Cherie for lending their space, the Rhys Family & the Parker girls for working the concession stand and for setting up, all the Cornerstone guys who helped tear down the "theater" after the movie, and especially everyone who attended and made the night a success.
Don't forget that next month we're showing Jurassic Park. Mark it on your calendar.
Until then, here are some pictures from tonight's event:
Abbie, Allie, Tuesday, Madelynne, & Kaity working the concession stand
Everyone's waiting in line hoping to get a chocolate bar with a golden ticket!A
A view of the audience
Tuesday with her golden ticket: An Ipod Shuffle
Marky with his golden ticket. He won a pinata filled with candy!
Natalie won a movie basket with DVD's, candy, and drinks with her golden ticket!Tuesday, June 16, 2009
$1 Parking Lot Book Sale Fundraiser
Cherie and Emily are one of the mother-daughter teams that will be going with us to India in January.
Cherie and her husband, Buddy, own and operate the local bookstore in our town - Books For Less. They have been instrumental in helping us fund raise for our trip. Not only have they been emotionally supportive, but they have graciously allowed the use of their parking lot for our monthly movie nights.
Thank you!!
Last Saturday, they decided to clear out some of their excess stock by holding a $1 Book Sale in their parking lot. All the proceeds will go towards Emily's portion of the trip.
They made $147!!! That's a lot of books!
This was a great idea and we hope that they continue to do it at least once a month until we leave in January. Not only will it be a great way for Emily to raise money, but it also gives us an opportunity to buy some fabulous books at a great price.
Here are some pictures from the event:
Katelynn & Emily
View from the parking lot
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Garage Sale Pictures
Nathan, Nyah, and Naomi had a blast killing time with the plasma cars
Nandini tests out the baby swing to make sure it's still working...
The toy section 
Hmmmm... leave it to Eli to find all the dinosaurs in the sale
The men's section
Cherie manning the register
Julie setting up the books and videos
A small portion of the clothes for sale
No event is complete without a popcorn machine!Garage Sale Success!
We had an amazing garage sale this past weekend. We made $1042!! We stored all of our leftovers and plan to have another one in the Fall. There are also a few items that we took out to put on Craigslist and Ebay later this week. We're hoping that our grand total will equal at least $1350 - which is the cost of one roundtrip ticket from Dallas to Chennai.
God is good!
Here's our advice for garage sales.... plan plenty of time to set it up! We started on Monday and worked all through Thursday evening just to get it ready. We held the sale on Friday and Saturday from 8 - 4.
We found that it's a great idea to have a popcorn machine and ice cold drinks for sale. The popcorn was a donation only and the drinks sold for 50 cents a piece. Clothes were marked from 25 cents to $1.00 and jeans were $2 - but we came down on the price on the second day of the sale.
We also discovered that men are always looking for tools and that women love costume jewelry. We set our good jewelry up at the front at the register to catch everyone's eye as they walked in.
Helium ballons on the door and road signs are also a sure way to attract customers.
We have plenty of pictures to post later on in the day.
A big thank you to Cornerstone Church for letting us hold the sale inside the building. Also thank you to everyone who donated items and your time to help us have a successful fundraiser!
Extra big thanks go to Cherie, Donna, Tristan, and Leslie for spending their entire week up at the church. And thanks to their husbands for letting them come up (and for watching the kids!). Also, thank you to Kenya and Julie for working the sale on Friday - and Kaylee for working the sale on Saturday. (Kaylee, now that we know you can make popcorn, we're specifically requesting you for each event! :-)
Also, thank you to the Crosses, the Newmans, the Holts, the Blacks, and the Smiths for coming up on Thursday night after Lifegroup to help us put out the last items we needed before the sale begin on Friday. And Gina and Melissa, we sure appreciated your help setting up during the week.
We also can't forget the men! We couldn't have taken down the sale without the help of Jeff, Mark R, Noah, John, and Mark G.
I know that we're forgetting some names, so please excuse us if we've forgotten anyone.
Don't forget that Emily and Tuesday will be holding a fundraiser at Books-For-Less on Saturday, June 13th. It will be a $1 book and popcorn sale in the parking lot. All funds raised will go towards the purchase of their individual tickets.
Our next movie night is Friday, June 19th. We'll be showing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Prizes will be given to the three people who discover a golden ticket in their chocolate bar. So brings lots of change with you to load up at our concession stand!
Again, one last big thank-you to everyone who is helping to make our fundraisers a great success. We still have plenty more to do, so please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any ideas.
Hope you all have a great week! Pictures will be posted later today.
God is good!
Here's our advice for garage sales.... plan plenty of time to set it up! We started on Monday and worked all through Thursday evening just to get it ready. We held the sale on Friday and Saturday from 8 - 4.
We found that it's a great idea to have a popcorn machine and ice cold drinks for sale. The popcorn was a donation only and the drinks sold for 50 cents a piece. Clothes were marked from 25 cents to $1.00 and jeans were $2 - but we came down on the price on the second day of the sale.
We also discovered that men are always looking for tools and that women love costume jewelry. We set our good jewelry up at the front at the register to catch everyone's eye as they walked in.
Helium ballons on the door and road signs are also a sure way to attract customers.
We have plenty of pictures to post later on in the day.
A big thank you to Cornerstone Church for letting us hold the sale inside the building. Also thank you to everyone who donated items and your time to help us have a successful fundraiser!
Extra big thanks go to Cherie, Donna, Tristan, and Leslie for spending their entire week up at the church. And thanks to their husbands for letting them come up (and for watching the kids!). Also, thank you to Kenya and Julie for working the sale on Friday - and Kaylee for working the sale on Saturday. (Kaylee, now that we know you can make popcorn, we're specifically requesting you for each event! :-)
Also, thank you to the Crosses, the Newmans, the Holts, the Blacks, and the Smiths for coming up on Thursday night after Lifegroup to help us put out the last items we needed before the sale begin on Friday. And Gina and Melissa, we sure appreciated your help setting up during the week.
We also can't forget the men! We couldn't have taken down the sale without the help of Jeff, Mark R, Noah, John, and Mark G.
I know that we're forgetting some names, so please excuse us if we've forgotten anyone.
Don't forget that Emily and Tuesday will be holding a fundraiser at Books-For-Less on Saturday, June 13th. It will be a $1 book and popcorn sale in the parking lot. All funds raised will go towards the purchase of their individual tickets.
Our next movie night is Friday, June 19th. We'll be showing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Prizes will be given to the three people who discover a golden ticket in their chocolate bar. So brings lots of change with you to load up at our concession stand!
Again, one last big thank-you to everyone who is helping to make our fundraisers a great success. We still have plenty more to do, so please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any ideas.
Hope you all have a great week! Pictures will be posted later today.
New Craft Fair Total
We sold an extra $36 dollars in pillowcases. This brings the total to $190.50 - with $35 still going into the general pool.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Craft Fair Grand Total
Well, we just did a final count and we made $154.50 at the craft fair. It's actually not bad. I know that if you live in a larger town or city then it might not seem like a lot. But you have to remember that we live in a really small town, so $154 is not that bad.
Out of that $154, 50, $115.50 goes towards one individuals ticket, $4 goes towards another person, and $35 goes into the general pool.
All of the money that you see on our sidebar is money that's in the general pool (unless otherwise specified).
We're setting up at Pioneer Days in Eustace on June 20th and we'll be selling popcorn, drinks, doing a bit more face painting and maybe some crafts.
Until then, be sure to come by Cornerstone Church on June 5th and 6th for our super humongous fundraising garage sale!
Out of that $154, 50, $115.50 goes towards one individuals ticket, $4 goes towards another person, and $35 goes into the general pool.
All of the money that you see on our sidebar is money that's in the general pool (unless otherwise specified).
We're setting up at Pioneer Days in Eustace on June 20th and we'll be selling popcorn, drinks, doing a bit more face painting and maybe some crafts.
Until then, be sure to come by Cornerstone Church on June 5th and 6th for our super humongous fundraising garage sale!
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