JJ,
I thought your idea of holding a silent auction was great!!! I asked my husband if he would let me explore that possibility, and he said to go for it. It is just not in his nature to share our needs, and he has only told two people that we are adopting, but this is something that will benefit everyone, not just us. The merchants get advertising, the buyers get something tangible to take home, and hopefully our adoption fund will grow. In the grand scheme of things, our adoption is not really costing much (our facilitator is free, our attorney sees doing the legal work for adoptions as a ministry and charges substantially less than the going rate, and our home study is only $500). The entire adoption will probably be less than $2000, but we still need help to cover all the costs.
I just got home from "pounding the pavement" and after just a few hours, I already have 12 donations from merchants, and will call back another 9 tomorrow when the owners or managers are in. This is so exciting!!! I did get some pretty weird looks today--one lady said, "Well, *that's* a new one!!" She wants me to come back closer to the auction date, but I probably won't...she acted like I was a little *looney tunes* (which I probably am
)
If anyone has any other great ideas for fundraising, I'd love to hear them!!
musicmama