Fundraising Full Force

Well, my friends….my fundraising efforts for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention roll on!  And boy! Those efforts sure are rolling fast!

Let’s start with the donation cans. I’m sure by now you’ve all seen them. Those neon little coffee cans scattered around town. Those “cute” little facts about mental health slapped on the lid. They have been skulking in their corners for about two and a half months so far. Some have moved from their faithful locations. (Remember how I mentioned that cans were being hidden? I moved the cans to different stores.)  However, their presence flitters by with the other brightly colored charity signs and cans all over town.

I had no idea what kind of profit to expect from this. I’ve never done such a thing! To date? The people of Cranford –Thank you all very much – have raised $104.69 for the AFSP!!! You should all be so proud! I’ve decided these cans are going to come out the first week of August. That’s about three to three and a half months in. The walk is September 30th, and I want to be able to focus on other fundraisers, too.

The other big money maker? My mother’s friend’s eight family garage sale. I’ve been preparing for this sale for over a year. Gathering things I want to rid myself of and turn a nice profit at the same time. My mother’s been doing the same thing. She and I both dropped over 50 pounds recently. This causes the problems of our former wardrobe being null and void. Most of the recent garage sale was clothes. 20-30 trash bags full of clothes! I wish I was kidding!

Everyone manned their own tables, and I got a percentage of the clothes sales. I had a nice colorful sign on my table saying “50% of my proceeds will be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.” When the weekend was over, $35 went to the AFSP.

My 12 year old niece, Ashley, is walking, too. Finding ways a 12 year old girl can raise money is a lot harder! She’s a cute kid, though. She had a bag full of toys on a table at the yard sale, too. Just like everyone else. Things she “grew out of.” The day before the sale, she and I made a donation can not dissimilar to the ones around town. She placed it on her table and provoked donations throughout the day. She raised a little over $11.

There’s going to be a second garage sale before the walk because everyone had so many left over items. We’ll see how much we raise next time!

Ashley is really excited for later in the summer. I have promised her that we will host a Lemonade stand for one of her fundraising events. She’s in charge of the sign. I’m, well, in charge of the adult things (everything else).  Maybe her 15 year old sister will Facebook about it and more customers will show up. Hah!

We have a few other events that we’re trying to get off the ground.

I’m trying to plan a private movie night event. I want to show a couple movies at my house for close friends. The movies will all have a theme like Disney movies, Superhero movies, or Harry Potter Movies. It will be an all-day marathon. People will pay a flat rate and will be able to eat and drink unlimited amounts.  This –if the planning goes accordingly – will be the next event.

After that, I’m trying to have a Mary Kay party. This will be an open event. I have a consultant waiting in the wings, and actually, I just became a consultant myself (so new, my kit’s not even in yet). I’m having some difficulties finding location, time, date….Ya know, the little stuff. Hah!

There are a few other little hush-hush things that I will talk about once more details come out. But these are the events I KNOW I’m doing. It’s just getting them to fly out of the nest.

I would like my team to raise $1,000 for the AFSP this year. I would be so honored if that happened. I would feel like I did something so great with such great people.

To donate yourself: http://afsp.donordrive.participant.com/stoltechris

To join my team as a walker: http://afsp.donordrive.com/team/jaimelavie