Fundraising for the Mission trip

So, my oldest son went on a mission trip last year with our youth group.  They went down with Work Groups and worked in Nashville for five days.  Amazing.  He wrote a paper for his English class that said it changed his life and brought him closer to God.  Humbling.  Last year the youth group did garage sales, car washes and sent letters to raise the money.  They fell a little short.  Unfortunately, our modest youth group car washes cannot compete with the cheerleader car washes that almost looked like a porn movie.  I am not exaggerating, I wish I was, it was pretty indecent.  This year, God put it on my heart to help out.  I did fundraising before the twins were born, so I am pretty good at it.  No one at church had really wanted to head this up, so I volunteered.

I have always said, you should take a break from volunteering if you are doing too much.  Just say no for about a year or two.  This will help you find your passion and concentrate on it.  Seriously, I used to do everything, PTA, school stuff, church stuff, all kinds of stuff.  Until my husband literally begged me to stop volunteering.  I told everyone who asked that I was forbidden to volunteer by my husband.  Oh the looks I got.  That being said, it was so freeing.  Society has told us that unless we run ourselves into the ground helping at every function, we are "bad" moms.  Well, bad moms unite.  We do not have to do everything for everyone all the time.  Period.  Your "no" may allow the quiet mom to speak up with a "yes".  God will let you know when you are needed.  Trust me on this.

That being said......we are doing two major fundraisers.  One just finished, Cookie Dough.  If you are looking for a great profit fundraiser, this would be it.  It can be tricky because you do need cold to get this stuff delivered, but hey, I live in Michigan, it's cold enough.  We made just about $1300.00 on 314 tubs of cookie dough.  Pretty good for our first sale.  We are going to do this in the fall from now on, getting it delivered right before Thanksgiving.  Smarter that way really.  So this Thursday, I will be sorting(with all my lovely assistants) 314 tubs of cookie dough.  Should be fun and exciting and exhausting.

Our big fundraiser is a Spaghetti dinner/Silent Auction this May.  We need over $13600.00 to get these kids to Indianapolis this year.  Silent Auctions are awesome, because everything is donated and it is pure profit.  We are having the youth donate different things for different theme baskets.  You know, a sports basket, a coffee basket, a beach basket, all that stuff.  I have put on my fundraiser hat and am getting donations from all sorts of businesses.  The ticket price should cover the cost of the meal.  The Youth group band will be playing a little music for entertainment.  The rest of the youth will be serving.  We are hoping for six hundred people total, should be awesome.  And exhausting.  But I love it.

So pray for this endeavor to succeed.  It is our first year, so there will be pop ups and problems and chaos.  It is always a learning experience the first year.  Pray that God blesses the youth and parents and youth leaders going on this mission trip to help others.  Pray that I don't lose what is left of my mind.

Oh yeah, if you have anything you would like to donate, just let me know!  I will get you our letter of explanation.

What is your passion that you volunteer at?  I need to know.  Share the love.

God bless you and yours.