Brainstorm

This was really written on 2/27...


Things are getting down to serious time. I have about 20 days left at work, but all my focus is on Rwanda. Specifically on fundraising. Natasha is a god sent and I thank Katie with all my heart for introducing me to her. These 2 women are another reminder to me that i have chosen the right path. Natasha is this young beautiful spunky gal that is going to school for nonprofit business and she specializes in putting fundraisers together. Her idea-a casino night with a silent auction. I have asked a handful of people if they would donate artwork and so far they have all said yes. I have a list of others to ask and am pretty sure they will each love to donate a piece of their work. And Natasha has a list of businesses for me to pop in on and ask for donations. It amazes me how fast this is all coming together. I am hoping to get the casino night scheduled for april...no date or venue set up quite yet. hopefully by next week we will have more details. my goal for the weekend …to finish the fundraiser letters. I have my mailing and invite list, so i just need to get the letters in order. my brain is overloading. i have so many ideas floating around and continue to imagine how things will pan out and it is all so exciting. for casino night the basis is...gamblers come in and purchase play money to gamble with. there will be 3 grand prizes...not sure what those will be yet but hoping a roundtrip airline ticket, a weekend stay in a condo in tahoe and not sure the 3rd yet...but that is all dependent on how well i can sell the trip to certain companies...so anyways, gamblers will come in and buy play money to gamble with during the evening. hopefully we will be able to convince a bar to allow us to have the event so we may help sell alcohol for them...ok let’s face it alcohol helps adults spend money...and while all the gambling is going on we will have items up for silent auction paintings, pottery, jewelery, haircuts, dinners, hopefully sports items, and maybe a silent auction date type thing..not sure on the latter yet but it’s an idea....another idea is doing a phoneraiser...collecting peoples old phones to cash in for donation money. there is a website that specifically is set up for phone donations with a list of how much each phone is worth.
for now my main ideas are casino night and fundraiser letters. Fundraiser letters to be sent out no later than a week from today and a one on one with natasha to start to narrown down the date and venue for the casino on wednesday...it is coming together....hopefully the fundraising will continue to fall in place as the rest of the whole adventure has and continues to.....