Community Fundraising Ideas

I started going through all my emails from the past couple of days, and I came across one from another mom which had some great ideas on it.  These are some great community-based charity fundraising suggestions.  She gave me permission to share it with all of you. 

Some of these look like a lot of fun, and I can see them being done here!  (We had put our big fall fundraiser on hold, but this could kickstart it!).  If you have any more ideas to share, please add them here, and I’ll add them to the list!

* community walk
* golf tournament or minature golf tournament
* carnival/faire with local companies who want to promote to families
* special “night” with local high school sports event,
* “game show” night which is like a theatre performance with locals as participants with prizes
* Local teams or running groups to take on child as other non-illness related events (ex:  “we are running for child’s-name at URL.com”)
* Local school calendar/neighborhood calendar (candids are good) to sell
* comedy night with local comedians
* concert with local musicians
* Community book sale/flea market with all proceeds going to child (can be online as well)
* Talk to local corporations about taking on child as their “inhouse” charity for the period
* Parent/child community dance/evening at local rec center
* Child Art Show with luncheon
* Sports tournament with local children/families
* Community-wide scavenger hunt with local businesses to donate to draw customers in plus participants pay an entry fee
 
* silent auction/raffle with any of these
* Tshirt sales with any of these
* Bracelet sales with any of these
* Food sales with many of these
 
* Talk to local school booster clubs for ideas
* Talk to local churches for ideas

What a great night at Chic-Fil-A!

We had the fundraiser at Chic-Fil-A tonight.  I honestly did not have any clue what to expect.  Ethan, Hannah, and I got there at about 4:45 PM, as it started at 5 PM.  My friend and neighbor, Christy, met me there, and kept us company and “worked the wheel” (donate a dollar, win a prize) for the first hour.  It started off slow, but then around 5:45 PM, things started to pick up. 

By 6:00 PMish, it was a completely packed restaurant with at least 1/2 the people coming in carrying the pink or white flyer that was distributed!  It was PACKED!  We had friends come to support us, at least 1/3 of our street showed up, Ethan’s teacher was there, and Hannah’s developmental therapist even showed up!  I also met so many wonderful people who received the flyer from a friend who came to introduce themselves. 

It stayed completely packed until we left at 7:00 PMish.  We never ended up eating there, so we went through the drive through on the way home.  We didn’t stay until the end at 8 PM because Hannah was started to get really tired and a bit stressed out with all the people and chaos.  (She did great though considering how many people she saw that gave her hugs and love!).

It was a huge success in my eyes.  HUGE!  I don’t know how much money was raised, maybe a couple hundred dollars.  But the amount of people that turned up just to support us was the biggest success.  It must have been at least 50 or so families that came to be there for us because they wanted to be there for Hannah.

I do have pictures to share, but we are leaving for Los Angeles in 7 hours, and I better try and get some sleep!!!

Chic-Fil-A fundraiser – April 7th!

My wonderful neighbor coordinator a fundraiser with our local Chic-Fil-A, and they have agreed to donate 20% of all proceeds that night to help us fight for Hannah’s life. 

I went by there with Hannah and Abby yesterday, and I was able to meet Mica, the marketing director, who is organizing everything on that end.  It was so nice just to be able to thank her for everything she has done and to introduce her to Hannah and Abby.   She was such a sweet lady, and she even gave Abby a bright yellow balloon (which Hannah had been eyeing the entire time!).

Here are the details:
       April 7th, 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
       Alden Bridge location, Research Forest and Kuykendahl
       MUST bring this flyer for the 20% to be applied

Please share this flyer with all of your friends.  You can even just send them the link at http://www.littlemisshannah.com/chicfila.doc 

Thank you, Chic-Fil-A, for really caring about our community and helping us fight for Hannah!

Our first fundraising meeting!

I’m so grateful for such wonderful neighbors, I tell ya.

We had an informal meeting tonight (6 of us) to talk about putting together a fundraiser for Hannah.  I will admit, I felt overwhelmed and incredibly humbled with all of these amazing ideas they were coming up with and willing to do for us.   They came up with ideas like local dinner nights where restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to our fund as well as a community-wide walk/run and silent auction, most likely in September.  I was listening to all these ideas, and it just blew me away! 

I know that Hannah and my kids are worth it.  It is just so wonderful seeing that others are willing to help me fight for my kids, all three of them.  Not only am I working to save Hannah’s life, but I’m working to protect Ethan and Abby from having to see their little sister deteriorate right in front of them. 

I can’t wait to see what comes out of this!!

Beginnings of a Hope for Hannah Walk!

I was chatting with my neighbor after we got back from the hospital, and she is going to help me put together a fundraising walk to raise money for the Children’s Gaucher’s Research Fund and to get our MOUSE!  I was so touched and grateful!!  We are going to meet next Thursday night (3/5) to brainstorm ideas, and I’m going to invite a few other moms over to see if they can help us come up with a game plan as well, because I know that as much as I would probably try to do it on my own, I just can’t do it.

We were thinking about a walk, a kid’s walk, and perhaps a silent auction and/or raffle, and obtaining local sponsors and donations.  Such an overwhelming concept, but if I can get some others to help me, this is actually doable!!

Would you consider…

Fundraising dilemma

I’m so ready to start coming up with fundraising campaigns to get money for research for Hannah.  Being in the midst of this “economic climate,” it is going to be even harder to raise money. 

Even though I feel better that we are still more likely dealing with a type 3 progress of the disease, the bottom line is it still is going to cause her even more neurological decline over the next few years (including a breathing tube and a tracheotomy), and we may still lose her in the next 10 to 20 years if a treatment isn’t found.

So here presents my dilemma…

1.  My definite first choice would be to work with an already active gaucher’s type 2/3 research group and just raise money for them as the infrastructure is already in place.  But I’m still waiting to hear back from the Children’s Gaucher’s Research Fund to see if they are still active in that area, and if so, what is the latest on what is going on. 

2.  Second choice would be to start our own nonprofit and raise money that we can directly give out to researchers who are working on type 2 and type 3.  Main problem would be the “business” end of setting up the nonprofit, maintaining it, etc.  However, it would give us full control over who gets the grant funding.  Being part of a “business” family, this idea doesn’t scare me at all, I’m just not sure how difficult it would be to seek out the medical support needed for this plus find startup money to get this going.  Also time wise, this would become a full time job for me.

If the CGRF isn’t active in the research department anymore, then I have no choice but to do the startup on our own, as I have yet to find any other group that supports type 2 or type 3 research specifically.  The National Gaucher’s Research Fund doesn’t fund type 2 and type 3 research (I wonder if I could change that — 5% of all Gaucher’s patients have type 2 and type 3, shouldn’t they get at least 5% of the funding?).

What to do, what to do…

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