Unusual Request from Us

So any of you who know us know that we're not super religious. We believe in God, we pray, and we're in search of the perfect church for us. Here's the thing. Fundraising when you're not a non-profit is really hard. It's hard to get donations, sponsors and the like. You rely on others who do this on a regular basis for guidance and advice. Well, it seems like we hit obstacle after obstacle despite which type of fundraiser we plan.

We've spent close to $1600 already in Longaberger baskets and Vera Bradley items for our bingo coming up. We spent $900 to rent the hall and bingo equipment and for one of their people to call bingo for us that day (they require it if we rent their equipment). We were told that a bingo supplier very close to us always donates most of the stuff for fundraisers, so to contact them, which I did in person yesterday. They called today to tell me what they decided and what they decided was to give us a 10% discount which left the cost of the bingo supplies at $776. Ouch. I was sleeping after work when I got the call, and I just felt defeated. You question whether your cause is as worthy as others. I don't have a family member who needs surgery, thank God. We just want to bring home another child and are willing to do the work for the fundraisers, but we're only asking for some help getting there. We're putting so much money, time and energy into making this a successful event, it's just frustrating. It's hard. It's hard to go out and ask businesses during a recession if they could donate anything, even closeout items, gift cards, or services to help.

Last week we sent out letters to about 100 businesses. We're waiting to hear back from even one of them. I am prepping some more letters to go out later this week. This Thursday we will be going out to personally ask some businesses to help us. It just doesn't make you feel very good to question if your need for assistance is seen as worth it to others when it is so important to you and your family. I guess I'm just feeling discouraged, mainly about the bingo supplier, especially when they supposedly generally give others everything that they need to do their bingos.

Anyway, our request is just prayer. We know that God can provide for us and we trust that He will and that this whole fundraiser will work out. There was another blog that I discovered yesterday where He did just that. You can see their pickle jar post here. The entire $20K cost of their international adoption has been provided for. How awesome! And it's funny because she talks about how they want to "pay it forward" and help others struggling through the same thing, which is what I mentioned to Archie. I crazily enough really like this fundraising stuff, except for the fact that it's so hard to ask for donations when you aren't a charity or non-profit organization and so we can't provide documentation for people's tax purposes. I said to Archie that after our adoption, I'd love to set up a non-profit for the purpose of helping other families with their fundraising. That is exactly what this family is going to do for others, and I think it's great. We've already told them we'd help however we could to support their endeavor because I was already thinking about doing something like that myself in the future. Pay it forward.

We're not expecting for our adoption to be paid for, believe me. We just hope that some will help us in our endeavor, and find it a valuable enough cause to support. Please just pray that we get some businesses or individuals to help offset some of our costs by sponsoring the baskets and bags. Please pray for patience and strength during this process for us. And please pray for us to continue to put our faith in God's plan for us, whatever that may be.