What I’ve learned working at the local shelter

Our youth group leadership recently decided that instead of just talking about how we should be showing Christ to the community – we wanted to help our kids do that.  So, we called our local rescue mission and set up a recurring service date for our youth to go serve there.

I will admit that my original thought process when talking about scheduling such a thing was that I would really be helping out our youth and in turn, they would be helping out the local community.  But, now that we’ve been doing this for a few months – my perspective has changed.  It’s funny how God does that for us, isn’t it?

So, here are a few things I’ve learned while working at the Good News Rescue Mission:

1. I am insanely picky about what I eat, how often I eat the same thing, and how it is placed on my plate.
2. Parents who are homeless or just hungry still love their kids enough to make them eat their veggies first.
3. Smiling at someone can change their entire attitude.
4. My children and I really need to spend more time with people who are in need.
5. Even though I want to love people who are ‘poor’ the same way Christ did – I am truly scared the majority of the time. (This hasn’t stopped me from volunteering, but it’s a fear I face each time we do it)  Pray for me in this!
6. People who are in need still appreciate a good sermon.
7. Good manners are not necessarily based on someone’s income.
8. I haven’t been truly hungry in a long time and I have no idea what it would be like to be grateful for just one meal a day.
9. Our youth have big hearts and even when they are out of their comfort zones they are willing to serve.-
10. I am blessed beyond measure.

Fundraising 101

As a mother I am amazed by how generous people are with my children.  There have been so many times I’ve been blessed beyond anything I could express.

After 14 years of parenting I’ve become quite familiar with fundraising.  It seems that all schools do it and even other groups the kids are involved in do fundraising.  There are even things I am involved in that have expected fundraising efforts.  I have come to consider myself a bit of a ‘professional fundraiser’.  I am sure that’s probably a real job.  It’s not what I do and get paid to do full time, but I still do a lot of it.

I have lead the planning for the giant benefit we do for two local community educational programs at work two out of the last three years.  I was heavily involved in the third year, but I wasn’t in charge.  I also have been in charge of the fundraising for the church’s youth group for three out of the last four years.  I didn’t do anything this last year, and I’ve noticed that no one else planned anything.  And now, I’m in charge of the fundraising for the basketball team.  The good part about being in charge of it for so many different groups  is that most fundraisers can be reused by all the groups.  People still give money and are so supportive.  It’s fantastic.

There are a few standby fundraisers that I do that are generally low effort, low overhead cost, and seem to bring in an excellent amount of money for whatever we’re raising money for.  Here are a list of my favorites:

• Bake Sale – it seems like so many people will volunteer to bake for these and then even more people are willing to buy.  We usually have them at our office because it’s filled with hungry engineers.  We’ve also coupled them with other fundraisers and that seems to work pretty well too.
• Car wash – as long as the kids are supervised this is a pretty great fundraiser.  The kids enjoy doing it for the most part, people will generally donate over and above the expected amount.  I think that when we ask for ‘donations’ instead of asking for a specific fee we make more.
• Recycle drive – having everyone in the group get their family, neighbors, and friends recycle they would normally just set out for the waste management to pick up or that they would normally take in for themselves and then taking them in for cash.  This is the easiest fundraiser I’ve EVER done.  Seriously, it’s so simple and so brilliant.
• Taco or Italian dinners – we’ve done this a lot and have always had the food donated.  We have the kids dress up and ‘wait tables’.  Sometimes we have them do a little performance, but that’s not really necessary.  Some cheap dollar store decorations (that we can reuse over and over) make the dinner complete.  Spaghetti and tacos are cheap (especially when everything is donated).

There are lots of other good fundraisers.  Believe me, you will be involved in fundraising at some point and will be searching out this blog to help you.  You’re welcome. 😀