Ideas please

Ladies, I visited our mission here in town this morning after hearing they were completely wiped out of food. They had NINETY hungry children there yesterday... that's just the kids. I'll be donating food on a regular basis now that i know about them, and my time as well, but I'd like to raffle off quilts to help raise money for them too. I'm going to get the purple and green sweet menagerie bound and take better pictures, and give it a whirl. Do you have any suggestions on how to handle raffling it? I know I can do it on my website via PayPal... but what about locally? And how do I keep track of the people who buy tickets... and how long should I hold the raffle?

I've never raffled anything, and I'm clueless. Thanks!

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

Before raffling it, why don't you put a price on it and etsy or ebay it? That might work quicker and cleaner?

Also, at times if a place such as that is given the quilt, they can raffle it and the local TV stations will help promote it.

As to a straight raffle - what about a side ad on FB? Those catch my eye.
And about 2 weeks time for bids? Have a reserve amount, or start it off at a certain $$ figure.

Just my thoughs and ideas.

__________________
"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

Great ideas Angie, thank you! I'm going to get with the mission, show them the quilt (I already told them I had one) and see if we can brainstorm the best way to handle it.

I asked about this on my blog, and one lady was kind enough to share many of the ideas her community does. From it, I got the idea to ask at each of my sewing groups if everyone would please bring in a donation item, even if it's a single can, and I'll deliver it to the mission.

I don't get involved with the churches, so I'm looking for other ways to help in the community. I can't stand the thought of a child going hungry!

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

What's the population of your town, if you don't mind me asking?

__________________
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” - E.B. White

if you need some kind of license or permit. I am involved in a small town and we have to have one for a raffle or bingo. We borrow the one f/the town.

Sometimes the state requires the permit...and if they find out, they will shut the raffle down.

Collection boxes - Post office "Help stamp out Hunger", banks, grocery stores.

I intend to find out if a permit is needed, that's on my list for tomorrow. THe population of Russellville is 25k.

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

I think it depends on what they want. Do they want food donated or do they want money? Or both?

One thing we used to do is hang the quilt in different banks for a week at a time and sell tickets. We also would go to local auctions and raffle.

Another possibility would be to talk to local grocery stores and see about hanging the quilt for x# of days at each one. $1.00 a ticket or 2 food items for a ticket. That way you could get both food and money and possibly quite a bit of both if promoted.

They need both Terri. I LOVE the ideas of donating food items!!!

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

In addition to the quilt raffle, you might want to see if your local church is willing to fill a food barrel. We did this during VBS and had everyone bring in food to fill it, and ended up filling 3 barrells FULL. When our trustee took them to the mission, he said the worker there was in tears, he was so happy. He said they only had 1/4 barrel of food left and then our guy brought in those 3 full ones.

Sorry if this doesn't pertain to sewing, but I thought it was an idea you might want to try as well.

Okay got the approval from the city/state to do the raffle, working out the details with the mission now, we're going to do it jointly.

Becka, I'll have to stick with donating food on my own and getting the community involved in other ways, I do not belong to a church.

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

You might get the community involved through the school. Our schools here do a food drive with the kids/parents bringing in food and the class with the most donations get a pizza party. The other classes get a little treat like suckers or pop for participation. Some of the quilt raffle funds could be used to purchase the treats. Several thousand food items have been raised this way in each school every time it's been done and we only have about 15,000 people total in our county.

You guys wouldn't believe how the community is responding to everyone posting on their Facebook wall that the mission needs food! I'm so excited! Donations are coming from all over town, and the pantry is no longer out of food!

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

That's great to hear! You gave them the push they needed.

That's awesome, CJ. Good for you for getting the ball rolling! Summer time hits the missions hard as giving goes down while people are on vacation. . .then the giving goes back up at Thanksgiving and Christmas when folks remember the less fortunate.

Like

__________________
"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

Great Jump Start, CJ!

You don't have to belong to a church to ask them to help, you can ask the Pantry if you can speak to churches on their behalf.

Well I'd love to take credit for the community response, but that has nothing to do with me, people are pitching in to help all on their own!

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

"Shades" of Hope" is now up for raffle at the Main Street Mission. The quilt is 67 x 91 inches, and made of Moda cottons and Hoffman Batiks. The batting is Hobbs 80/20, and it's quilted with King Tut variegated cotton thread.

Full details are on my blog here:
http://www.createdbycj.com/from-my-s...-is-ready.html

__________________
http://tinksquared.com

I sold $78 in tickets last night, woohoo!

__________________
http://tinksquared.com