fundraise for my trip to Kenya

Well, I did it. I have enough money for my trip to Kenya, but I can’t pay my dad back until I get home just incase I need to withdraw money from my account while I’m there…because then I wouldn’t have any.

I made between $800 and $900 from my t-shirts (it went phenomenally well, I put in two orders and I’ve sold most of them) and I recently held an Open Mic Night with my friend who is going to India to volunteer in an orphanage. We made $200 each from that.

As well, I’ve been working and my family has been hugely supportive. So I’ve reached my goal, I’d say.

One really cool fundraiser we did was putting donation boxes all over campus, then holding a giant tag sale a few weeks later. One person’s trash…

Also, if you want to go to Kenya, consider Tanzania too. They’re very similar in a lot of ways, though Tanzanians are more laid back, and the contry’s somewhat poorer. Also, Tanzanians have MUCH better Swahili, if you’re worried about communication.

So, today is my last day of selling my t-shirts at the school. Wish me luck!! I’ve sold a grand whopping total of 14 (out of 50), had one almost stolen and a lot of dirty looks. However, I’ve gotten a lot of support from a few of my friends so of course I appreciate that SO much.

But after crying for pretty much the entire afternoon yesterday, Keri, Ms. Kerhoulas and Ms. Herman all gave me some good ideas to sell the remainder…so hopefully that’ll work out.

Anyway, off to school. It snowed, and I’m not happy about that.

I got the shipment a couple weeks ago, I just haven’t had time until now to screen all of them.

Now that I’m off on March break I will have time to screen all of my shirts and get a poster/display ready to sell them at school.

Exciting!

I got a lovely surprise from my grandfather for valentine’s day. He gave me $1000 to add to my trip funds, so I am currently around $4600 once I deposit this cheque.

What a lovely day! No school, no choir, no meeting, Ivan dropped by and we practiced for cabaret and money. Couldn’t have asked for anything better!

I am at approximately $3500.

$2500 left, which seems pretty achievable in 5ish months. The tentative date that I am leaving is the 5th of July.

Hopefully selling t-shirts I can make about $500 or more,
my yard sale will hopefully be $500 or more
I will continue working so that should be about $1000 (tops, eep.)
aaaand…$500 will hopefully be birthday money, random extra donations and money falling from the sky.

So my mom had some work friends over tonight (we work at the same grocery store) and we had a Chinese hot pot dinner. I made $240, with ingredients costing about $100, so I get $140, which is something but not an awful lot for the effort that was put in. My family and I had a discussion about this, because my mom wanted to do this two more times with different groups of friends, but I honestly do not think it is worth it. Now she has gotten all defensive, and I have tried to make it clear that I sincerely appreciate the effort she has put in to help me and it’s nothing against her but I simply do not have the time and energy to do these small events ten times over. I am not comfortable with asking people I barely know for money without anything in return, really. To be quite honest, my heart was not in this initiative. I didn’t like the idea in the first place, but she wanted to help and I didn’t want to say no because we have been a little bit rocky for the past couple weeks. Now she is defensive and hurt, which I understand but it’s aggravating because I am not mad at her, it is nothing against her. I simply do not have the time, motivation and energy for this.

I don’t know what else to do, I am so frustrated because both of my parents are getting on my back to fundraise for my trip, and they shouldn’t be, because I know I need funds so I can go. It’s on my mind 24/7. It’s the same dysfunction with my family time and time again.

I can’t even explain.

So, I can’t get an account with paypal because I’m not 18. I sent in a question asking if there is any possible way that I could have an account under my name, like a parent endorsement or something, and if not, could they please explain to me what else I could do (because I’d really like the account attached to my name so I can fundraise)? I got back something to the extent of:

no, you’re not 18, you can’t have an account with us.

Thanks, guys.

So, I guess I can ask one of my parents to sign up for one and I can use theirs or something…I don’t know. Eeeerrrgh.

On a lighter note, my mom is helping me fundraise by doing a couple of Chinese Hot Pot dinners with her friends, where they pay about $30 for dinner, and I think about 2/3 will go to me (the other 1/3 will cover the cost of the food, I refused to let my mom pay for it.)

-t shirts
-an event of some sort
-dinner?
-show?
-dance?
-yard sale

hm. i need more ideas.

Paid
-$500 (US) deposit ~ $530
-travel bag and sleeping bag ~ $328.30
-running/hiking shoes ~ $79.78
-1st payment ~ $2400
-flights to and from montreal (not included) ~ $507.17

Total: $3845.25

good lord.

Estimated

-sandals ~
-clothes ~
-rain jacket ~
-headlamp ~