Does your group need to raise money?

Fundraising is hard. Most of the time it's not much fun.

When I was in school, my mom made me wear my color guard uniform and go door to door in the neighborhood selling wrapping paper or cartons of citrus fruit. In the snow.

Going door to door is kinda scary these days, limiting those school fundraisers to nearby friends and family. And most programs only offer customers over-priced products grossing the organization only 15-20% of the profit.

Most of you know I've been an Avon representative for about nine months now. It's a way, in addition to my writing, to help put food on the table and take care of my family's needs.

What's in it for you?

I'm making you aware of an opportunity to help whatever group(s) you and your kids are involved in raise money.

Avon has a great fundraising arm. An ONLINE fundraising arm. Yup. You read me right. I can create an online event for your group offering all of Avon's deal-priced products to your group's supporters. Church groups, scouts, band/music programs, non-profits... groups with that tax exempt status can raise money through Avon.

What we do is register your group, assigns a special promo code unique to your group. Your group leaders and members do a publicity blitz. Customers go online to my website and order Avon products using that unique code. All of the order and profit activity is tracked and reports are emailed to organizers.

Customers order and pay online. Products are shipped to their door. No little kids banging on doors, collecting pocketfulls of money or juggling armloads of product (unless you really want to do it that way.)

Non-profit organizations earn up to 30% of their sales. Try to beat that with butter braids (15% -20% earnings) or entertainment books. And you get the creative, enthusiastic support of me!

How it Went

Knots ping-ponged in my gut as the abortion skit went public. I swear they turned the heat up about sixty degrees higher than normal in the sanctuary! Horror ripped through my veins when the bulletin and order of service listed it as "Darcie Gudger and the drama group". Why was my name put on there? So people could lynch me if they hated skit? Given the heavy nature of the subject, I hoped to remain anonymous.

Besides, I wasn't the only one involved. Sure I wrote the script, but my friend Dawn started the whole thing. She's a super-talented actress/singer who wanted me to write powerful, provacative sketches for church. We brainstormed ideas for hours. Spent hours on the phone. Hours in prayer. Hours worrying if the whole thing would fall apart, and hours trying to figure out who to cast! Dawn handled nearly all of the logistics and drama coaching. I couldn't have pulled this off by myself. So, I want to publicly thank Dawn for her hard work and for believing in me (when I didn't believe in me). Also thanks to Deb, Jonathan, John and Barb for bringing the characters to life.

So- how it went. After all three performances the audience sat frozen in time. No one coughed, sneezed, scratched or left their pew to go to the bathroom. Pastor Jim climbed onto the stage and started his sermon which really tied up all the loose ends the nay-sayers and skeptics worried about.

He shared some staggering stats about abortion then moved onto adoption as a solution. He also spent a huge chunk of time on healing - healing for people who've had abortions. Condemnation was nowhere to be found.

All the reactions Dawn and I received (at least to our faces) was very positive. Several people thanked me for being brave and courageous to tackle such an issue. Abortion is relevant to the church, not just some political bandwagon. The way to change minds is not charging Capital Hill or bombing clinics (pro-life? Ummmm... that's murder too), rather change happens one woman at a time. We have to reach out to women facing the temptation to take the easy way out and kill her baby. We need to support her, support her in the decision to keep or adopt her baby. Then continue walking beside her as she heals. THAT will change minds.

Let's just say I'm glad it's over now. The spiritual warfare was awful. Obstacles were flung into our paths several times each day. Doubts pervaded the process.

What helped most was giving it all to God. He inspired both Dawn and I. He brought all the pieces together and people were moved. I pray people talk about it and let God speak to them through it.

Joe, Willow Creek? Are you kidding me? That's like, a huge place where they do everything all professional-like! But, if that's what God wants, then...

(I really have no clue how to make that happen... the Willow Creek thing that is...)