You are not the only broke one! We are Christians and we believe that God led us to adopt and so we just started out. We don't own a house, so an equity loan was out. All we had the funds for at first was the homestudy and it has gone from there. We have prayed that the money would be there when we needed it and it always has been for each step so far.
Here are some things we have done so far to raise money:
- Baked potato dinner - we held this at our church after the service one Sunday and it was by donation only. I think we spent about $400 on food and we raised $2500.
- Letters to friends/family - a lot of people have a heart for adoption, but they do not feel like they should adopt themselves. In the letters we sent out, we just told people what we were doing and asked them to consider being a part of it. If you want, I can give you a copy of what we sent out.
- Grant applications - no luck yet, but you never know!
- Cutting back on expensese - eat out less, drive older cars, buy clothes on clearance racks or at thrift stores
- Setting up a website to give people information about our adoption and also provide a chance for people to get involved through prayer or giving if they would like to. (I'd be happy to give you our website address, but I'm not supposed to post it here because of TOS. PM me if you'd like the address.)
Here are some things we still plan to do to raise money:
- Big garage sale (asking for donations from friends, church,etc)
- Selling "live strong-type" bracelets - you can get them with your child's name or whatever you want on them and they sell for $5 each.
- We are also looking at several other fundraisers, not sure which ones we will do yet.
- I also know people who have temporarily taken a second job - like delivering pizzas - to help fund the adoption. We may do that, but right now our jobs are both pretty time consuming.
- We are going to sell our second car and carpool together. The care is old, but paid for, so the few thousand that we will get for it can go towards our adoption expenses.
We know so many families who have lower incomes and who have been able to adopt. Don't let the funds stop you. If you are determined, you will be able to raise the money you need. These kids are so worth it!
You might also want to check out the Yahoo group that talks about fundraising for adoption. If you go to Yahoo groups and type "fundraising for adoption" it should come up. If not, then PM me and I'll get you the link.
Good luck and don't let the lack of funds keep you from adopting if that is what is on your heart. If you want to chat, feel free to pm me or send me an email.
~Rachel