Fundraiser #34~ 60% to Goal!!

Maria's fundraiser is over halfway finished!!  Only $154 more is needed and the family will be able to start their own business!  Every dollar counts- to donate to this fundraiser, visit her webpage fundraiser here

And the Winner for Day 8 is...

(We are still waiting for the results of raffle #8. They will be posted as soon as they are received.)

Barbara writes:

Without a scanner or knowledge to work a complicated computer programme the draw was done old fashioned and done on the honour system. Each person who participated in the raffled was given a raffle ticket for each dollar donated and their names deposited in a bowl. Then, my elderly neighbour, Jack, without looking picked a name out of the bowl and the name drawn was........John. So, many thanks to him and others who also participated in helping Miguel's family to open their own small business. I know they will be delighted. John please let me know what you would prefer either the $20.00 donation to a fund-raiser of your choice or the leather cushion covers.

Many thanks

Cheers

Barbara

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

Today's raffle is for a $20 donation to any fundraiser of your choosing (this could mean that you would be able to put $20 into another raffle for another chance to win as well!).

OR

Two small or one large soft real leather cushion covers from Morocco. The larger one is a light brown colour - about 17 inches across and when stuffed 2 inches high hand tooled with squares and gold stars. The two smaller covers are about eleven inches across and one inch high. One is dark green with similar tooling to the larger one and the other is a cream colour with a central gold tooled star and square and eight extensions ending in a decorative square. These would make an exotic gift for the person who has everything but loves decorating their house with eclectic items.

The raffle will benefit Miguel in Mexico. His family would like to start a business selling milk, soda, and tortillas. Every $1 gets you one raffle ticket. To enter the raffle, click here to donate by December 10th at 10PM CST:

http://www.firstgiving.com/generalstoreigp

Good luck!

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Today's raffle is for:

Tao Digital Photo Key Chain
It comes in 6 different colors: blue, pink, purple, red, black & gray
1.5-Inch TFT photo display (128x128)
8MB internal memory, save 100 photos
Rechargeable Battery
USB 1.1; no memory cards
PC / MAC Compatible
a perfect gift for your family member or sponsored child

The fundraiser the raffle is benefitting is Yoselyn and will help her mother start her own business. You get 1 raffle ticket for every $1 you donate to
http://www.firstgiving.com/vendingigp You must donate by 10PM CST on December 7th in order to qualify for the raffle. Good luck!

And the Winner for Day 4 is...

Heather G used random.org to choose a number which was 29.

Sara 1 -5
Melinda 6 -10
Heather 11-15
Barbara 16-20
Katja 21-25
Jim & Mack 26-35

Congratulations! More fun raffles to come! Thank you to all who have helped!

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

Today's raffle is for a $20 Bath and Body Works E-Gift Card or a $20 donation to your own fundraiser! The fundraiser this is benefitting is Diego of Ecuador. The funds will provide Diego's father with tools for his trade and allow him to get more jobs. Remember $1 gets you 1 raffle ticket, so every dollar counts!! The more you give, the more chances you have to win. To enter the raffle, make your donation to Diego's page here by December 5th at 10PM CST: http://www.firstgiving.com/constructiontoolsigp

Thanks! Good luck!

Get on the boat!

Jump on and join the fun!! We are only a little over 1 week to the beginning of our 12 days of Christmas raffles! There are only 5 people signed up to do raffles, so we need 7 more items to raffle off. If you are planning to do more than one raffle for your fundraiser, let me know. Here is the updated list of the upcoming funraisers:

36. Katja~ Ana Gabriela in Guatemala

37. Candace~ Adriana in Colombia

38. Cherise~ Sabrata in India

39. Barbara~ Miguel in Mexico

40. Bernie~ Josselyn in Ecuador

41. Shana ~ Sonia & Yiseth in Colombia

42. Dorothee ~ Sayonika in India

43. Heather G ~ Diego in Ecuador

44. Holly ~ Yoselyn in Honduras

45. Jennifer~ Santanu in India

46. Candace~ Johel in Colombia

47. Mack ~ Mercy

48. Inga ~ Yuselfi in Colombia

Diego Update

For those of you who have been following Diego for the past 2 years, can you pick him out in this group of children? If not, he is the one with the sleeve-less white shirt on.

Thanks to most of you, he was able to receive things for his health including a bed & nutritional drinks. He got 6 months of private school tuition paid; a refrigerator for his aunt's business. His aunt's business loan was paid off, and now all of the profit can go to needs for the family. Because of this, his family income just jumped to $300 per month!! How awesome is that?!

Here is his updated family record:

Age: 13 Sex: M Date of Birth: 7/24/1997
Height: 4 Feet 7 Inches Weight: 82 Pounds Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown
2. Attends School: Yes
3. Favorite School Subjects: Mathematics, Reading
Favorite Pastimes: Playing soccer, Listening to music
Chores at Home: Running errands
Talents or Hobbies: Sport
Languages Spoken: Spanish

INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S FAMILY:
4. Approximate monthly income for the family (in U.S. Dollars): $300.00
5. Name of Father: Manuel Occupation:
(If not present, why?) Deceased
6. Name of Mother: Marilis Occupation:
(If not present, why?) Deceased
7. Brothers and Sisters:
Name: james Age: 30 Sex: M Name: Laura Age: 34 Sex: F
Name: Maria Age: 37 Sex: F
8. Child lives with: Relatives

INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD'S HOME:
9. Description of Home: One Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen
Construction: Walls: Concrete block Roof: Corrugated tile Floor: Tile
Cooking Facilities: Gas Stove
Sleeping Accommodations: Wooden beds
10. Facilities and Services:
Water Source: Running water in home
Electricity: Regulated use
Sanitary Facility: Toilet

Owning a Business Free and Clear

At long last, after years of struggling, Diego's aunt has paid off her small buisness loan thanks to Aura's House. The great news about this is that with the refridgerator and extra funds, she can buy the groceries for her business in bulk (instead of daily). This will give her more time to spend with Diego!

$255 to go!!

$255 to go on Maria's fundraiser!! This is a fundraiser to help the families help themselves by setting them up with an income generating business. Please help Maria's parents to provide for their family. You canfind her fundraiser here

Lontia's new business and introducing little Zambian Barbara

A post from Barbara:
With so many successful Mac fundraisers taking place I thought you might like to see the results of one which took place this time last year. It was to provide a second hand clothing business for Lontia, the grandmother of my 7 year old child Nsenzeni. It began in the summer of 2009, during the worst time for fundraising, and took several months before it was finally completed. Finally, during December Lontia received two bales of second hand clothing and a wooden table. At first the business did well but then the demand for clothing ceased as the recession took hold. Consequently, Lontia reverted to selling vegetables, dried fish and beans and charcoal which business is now going well. This was only made possible by the generous donations of many of you so, once again many thanks for your valuable help in helping this poor family make a small living.

About the same time Lontia received her purchases a new grand-daughter was born on 23rd December and you can imagine my delight when the family decided to give the new baby girl my own name. Since this was the first time that anyone in my life had given me that honour I was naturally tickled pink and asked CI if while taking a photo of the new business that they could take one also of little baby Barbara.

Below you will be able to see the proud grandmother, Lontia, a beaming Nsenzeni (it only took five years to get a big smile from her) and little Barbara. If you look closely in the background you can just see her wearing her pink hat with her mother waiting patiently in the courtyard of their home. I just wanted to share with you all the results of a very succesful fundraiser."

Cheers

Barbara

Fundraiser #34 for Maria only needs $280

$100 has already been raised for Maria so far. This is terrific news for her family who will be using the fundraier money to start a business. The business is well thought out. In fact, it is estimaed that in 2 months time the initial investment will already be paid for. They will reinvest and keep the business going. They only need $280 more to make this dream a reality. To help Maria, please donate to her page on FirstGiving here Thank you!!

Make a Change Fundraisers End of 2010

Here is the list of how the rest of the fundraisers shake out:

36. Katja~ Ana Gabriela in Guatemala

37. Candace~ Adriana in Colombia

38. Cherise~ Sabrata in India

39. Barbara~ Miguel in Mexico

40. Bernie~ Josselyn in Ecuador

41. Shana ~ Sonia & Yiseth in Colombia

42. Dorothee ~ Sayonika in India

43. Heather G ~ Diego in Ecuador

44. Holly ~ Yoselyn in Honduras

45. Jennifer~ Santanu in India

46. Heather M~ Henry in Colombia

47. Candace~ Johel in Colombia

48. Barbara ~ Crismairy in Dominican Republic

49. Inga ~ Yuselfi in Colombia

I would, also, like to do the 12 days of Christmas Raffles like we did last year. I am not sure whose fundraisers will be up at that time, but it is something that we can revisit in November. We are shutting off the fundraisers at number 49 for a little while. We will have fundraisers going on next year for CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA as well, but those will not be via FirstGiving. Our two current fundraisers are:
34. Maria's IGP
35. Nisha's Tutoring
Thank you for your continued support!

Fundraiser #34 has Launched!!

We have 2 fundraisers that are finishing up today, so Chrystal's fundaiser for Maria is the next in line. Here is what Chrystal would like you to know about Maria:

Maria is 7 years old and lives with her parents and 8 year old brother. Her mother is a homemaker and her father is unemployed. He recently lost his job and is desperate to look for work. CI did such a great job sending me detailed information on an Income Generating Project. They broke everything down on an Excel grid on the items they will sell and the profit they would make. The family provided us with a list of items they think would sell easily. The total cost would be $500. I will provide the $150 since the limit for this fundraiser is $350.00. The items Maria’s family will sell are hangers, jars, containers, baskets, dish racks, trash cans, etc. They would sell these items to their neighbors by visiting them, and would also set a small table at the entrance of their home to display some of their products.

Therefore, if they sell all the products the prices they have established, they would earn $745.85 within two months. By selling everything in two months, they would have recovered the initial investment, and would have gained a net profit of $195.30, or approximately $98.00 per month. The family would use this amount to cover their basic needs, and would use the other $500 to reinvest in the business.

This business is very well-thought-out, and should be a big help to the family. If you would like to help Maria's family start their new business and bring income into their household, you can find her fundraiser here: http://www.firstgiving.com/igpformaria

Maria's Fish Vending IGP

Maria's Letter:

Dear Ms. Griffin,
Good day to you... I hope your always fine together with your family circle. I feel so proud writing this letter for you. I just want to say thank you for all the support you've given me. I am so lucky for having you as my sponsor. Thank you very much for this fund raising project. It can help us to our daily lives. Having this boat was my father wish. Thank you for making his wish granted. Me and my family are very happy. Again, thank you for everything. May God Bless you always.

Respectfully Yours,
Maria Ner

And the Winner of a massage is...

Using Random.org, I plugged in the numbers and have the raffle numbers starting with the first donation being number 1 to the last donation being number 380. Here is what it came up with:


Min: 1
Max: 380
Result: 93

The winner is number 93!!! Sara S!! Congratulations!!

Franklyn's Fundraiser Complete!!

Franklyn's fundraiser has now funded!! Stay tuned for raffle results. I will post them as soon as I get them. Thank you for helping Franklyn!!

Alejandra & Fabiola's IGP

Su received an update on on of our MAC fundraisers. We raised money to provide items for Alejandra and Fabiola's mother to sell out of her home. The money was raised a year ago and provided to the family. The update on this business is that their mother is no longer selling the items from her home. Instead, she is selling items in a street market!!

She has had much success in the market, and has used some of the profits to purchase more items to sell (which you can see above). In addition, she has a catalog that customers can order bedspreads from. This guarantees that the items will be sold. Awesome report!! Congratulations Alejandra and Fabiola!!

Franklyn's Fundraiser- $70 more needed!!

Franklyn's fundraiser needs it's one last push- We only need $70 to get this completed!!! Plus, as a bonus, you will even get your name in the drawing for a massage!! To donate, click here Thanks, every one!!

Only $150 away from Completion!!

Franklin only needs $150 more, and he we be on his way to his own business!!! This is something that any sponsor child would be happy to receive. Can you imagine how he will feel when he is giving his own welding machine to start his business immediately after graduation!? It would be great if he could get himself out of the poverty his family is in!

To help with his fundraiser, we only need 10 people to donate $15 each! You can donate here:

Franklins Fundraiser