T-Shirt Fundraising

We have had the idea for a while now, but just now we put it to use. We have designed a t-shirt and are using a t-shirt fundraising website to sell them www.Bonfire funds.com
We have to get at least 11 shirts sold for them to be shipped out and we have 9 days before the deadline December 2nd. We set the deadline to December 2nd because we wanted people to be able to get them by Christmas if they were being bought as gifts. The website link is below and so far we have sold 5 shirts and it has only been up for 7 hours! There is no  up front costs to set up the fund and they do the shipping. All we had to do was design a shirt and make sure to promote it. We wanted a design that would apply to everyone and have to do with service and this is what we came up with.

http://www.bonfirefunds.com/to-serve-with-love-in-china

UPDATE: T-shirt sales went great. We were able to sell 24 shirts and make $208

Horse Help

I have been able to go with my grandma to work with horses in exchange for a donation towards our trip. I am so glad I have been able to do this because it is something I love to do and also helps with fundraising. I have found that it is a lot easier to want to fundraise if you are doing things you love. Here are some pictures of one of the horses I have been working with.

 

 

 

Raking leaves success!

Raking leaves has proven to be a great way to earn money. We have raked up what we have estimated to be about 115 bags of leaves and pine needles. It has been a family effort, with brothers and sisters, moms and dads helping. We are thinking snow shoveling will prove to be the same, so we will be offering that service also, if snow comes. Here are some of the fun pictures we have taken at the 7 different homes we have been able to rake for.

Update on tutoring

Valencia and I have been able to tutor for a young kindergarten boy. It has been so fun to see him grow in his learning, reading and writing. We started with 1 hour two times a week and now are doing 3 times a week for 1 hour sessions. We switch back and forth on who goes. We are being paid in Gift Cards to Vida Nail salon and then we are able to sell the cards at a discount to make money. Yes it is a round about way to go, but it brings in money.

Raking leaves in the Fall

We have been out raking leaves and have more homes to visit and rake. So Excited! We just ask for donations for this service. Great way to help out families and get donations. The girls have been working hard to make this happen. When you get donations it is important to keep a record (excel spreadsheet) of them so you can send out thank you cards. We had my sister Garianne decide to join us on our trip and we are excited to have her with us. She has joined us in our fundraising and we will be posting more of the fundraising opportunities we are trying out.

Cleaning the Dentists

We have all been cleaning the two dentist offices that Grandpa Gary and Grandma Terry clean while they were out of town for a week. It has been a great opportunity to earn some money for our trip. So awesome that they trusted us with this big responsibility.

Donations through Christmas Card Lists

We received another very generous donation from one of Clint's friends from when he was younger. Thank you so much!! We have kept in touch throughout the years mostly through Christmas cards. We sent out donation letters to many of the people on our Christmas Card list. This is a great way to get donations from people that do not live near you but would still like to help with funds for the trip. We would like to provide a service for donations but with people far away it makes it harder do be able to do this.

Tutoring

So I have decided that tutoring is a good way to earn money also, I am going to be tutoring a boy that is in kindergarten, and I would be comfortable with tutoring any child that is in elementary school. This is a great way to earn money because you spend time with kids and teach them and help them with their homework, and then you get paid for that! :)

Mini photo session

So my mom does photography so this is an idea that only some people would be able to do, but we are going to do a MINI PHOTO SESSION!:) The sessions are short but they are awesome to do if you need a family picture:) This is one of our more creative ways of fundraising, and I have a feeling it will be a lot of work but also will bring in a lot of funds:)

Update: We were able to raise over $400 from doing this for one day.

1st Donation

So yesterday I came home from my cross country meet late at night and I had a letter waiting for me from my aunt. Since I never get mail I was so excited no matter what it was. This letter when I opened it contained my first donation to my China trip! I am so thankful for that and it will help me a lot along my journey:)

Fundraising

OK so the hardest part of wanting to go in a trip to china is the fact that you have to do a major amount of fundraising. But this also can be fun, and it teaches you to work hard for the things you want. I currently am able to AR and Referee for soccer so I am able to earn money that way, but that is not nearly enough profit, so I am trying to get as many babysitting jobs as possible, I can do yard work, walk dogs, and anything else that someone might need help with. We are also sending out letters asking for donations. By November 9th we have to have $1,000 to make a down payment and then we have more time to raise the rest, but right now we are trying to get to that point. I am so exited that we have this opportunity and we are going to try our best to get the best experience out of this trip as possible.

UPDATE: We are so excited to say that we made our goal for our down payment and now we are locked in! We are going to China!