Thanks inkydigits!  I just can't imagine trying to get together $1000+ a day to run this website! I'm pretty clueless about computers/websites anyway. ^_^   And I don't know what I would do if AS went down due to nonsupport. :-((  AS is such a big part of my life now that I feel some responsibility about helping to keep it going, if that makes sense? So just thought I would mention the Home Interior fundraiser since I think it goes on year round and is pretty simple to do, just have to find a HI Dealer and sell some candles!  We also have candy bars here that we can sell as fundraisers and I may do that too.  Just a drop in the bucket but I hope it helps out some.

Ronda

rcinky:

Well, I just donated $600 to Anysoldier.com due to a fundraiser I did with Home Interior Candles! YAY!

Wow, that is amazing!!! Great job!

I think other direct sales companies will do similar fundraisers, so if anybody has friends that do direct sales, ask them. All they can do is say no!

  Two thumbs up, Ronda.

Jen you are correct, most direct sale companies now have some sort of fundraising opportunities.  If any of you want to know more about Home Interior candles fundraising, feel free to email me.  I am a Home Interior consultant and will be glad to help you with this.  Ronda is correct that 50% is a great amount to get back in for fundraising efforts.

Lynne Ball

Hi Lynne,

 That is cool that you sell Home Interior! I don't think even some HI consultants know how easy these fundraisers are for them. If I sold HI, I think I would push these candle fundraisers on everyone I met! LOL Have even had the passing thought of selling it myself.....anyway, I hope some Junkies close to you will consider doing a fundraiser. It is getting close to the Holidays and everyone loves candles!! And most people will buy one if they know it is a fundraiser for Military support! Good luck and I hope you get a lot of business coming your way!

Ronda

Hi Jenifer_one_N,

Sorry for the late post. I am working too much and belong to a bunch of groups(lots of meetings) and don't get online enough to keep up. :-0   But Thank You for the kind words! The Candle thing was easy and I just wanted to see if I could do it by myself, since I have helped others with theirs but never did one of my own. It worked out well and I definitely will do another one before too long, with a little more planning and help and hopefully a bit more $$ to donate to my favorite website! ^_^ What other direct sales companies are you thinking about? I am always interested in new fundraising things, since every organization I am in or have ever been in, raising money is always a major activity to keep things running. Thanks  again for the kudos and hopefully I can get another one going before too long!  Take care!

Ronda

I have had my thinking cap on for over two years now and any of you who have read about the Twin Cities fundraiser this weekend, can see I did come up with a way.  My local Applebees is hosting a benefit breakfast and there is a silent auction too.  Well, it has been a lot of work and the one thing I have found out is "who my friends really are".  Plus, I have found a great group of people and a few via this forum. 

 One of the things I have decided to do this year is as follows.  Instead of buying Halloween candy and giving it out I am going to donate the amount of money I normally spend on the candy to AS.  I will be handing out an AS business card with a note attached telling them that I am donating to AS and suggest they go and adopt a soldier on AS. 

The second thing I am going to do is instead of giving the Christmas money I give to various people I do business with, they will get a card saying that x amount of dollars was donated in their honor to AS. 

 The above two ideas will be really good to think about as I am sure during the Holidays that giving drops to AS. 

 The third thing I am thinking about is seeing if local business will have a "donation" jar to collect change from customers and then perhaps they can either allow me to collect it from them and send it on to AS or else they can themselves.  I am not sure how successful that will be but I am suggesting that people all over this country can do that.  Think of the amount we junkies might be able to raise just by doing something that simple. 

 One last thing, just by doing this breakfast benefit/fundraiser, I am raising awareness to  AS with the general public, business and even people connected to the military.  It is really a win/win/win.  It is stressful and hard work but the people who respond positively make it all worth while.  I have been encouraging businesses to adopt a soldier and/or donate on their own to the site. 

I will add more ideas as I come up with them. 

Nancy C.

Minnesota

NancyC:

 One of the things I have decided to do this year is as follows.  Instead of buying Halloween candy and giving it out I am going to donate the amount of money I normally spend on the candy to AS.  I will be handing out an AS business card with a note attached telling them that I am donating to AS and suggest they go and adopt a soldier on AS. 

Nancy C.

Minnesota

Hi Nancy,

This is just my humble opinion, but I can soooo see  problems arising from this...you'll have kids of all ages coming to your door and a lot of the parents just might frown on them getting something like that...war and how a parent deals with it with their children is a private manner...if I were a parent whose kid came home with that in their bag of candy, I would think you had way overstepped your bounds.

Rosemary

Hey Nancy,

I think you have some marvelous ideas.  The one having Applebee's hosting a benefit breakfast and silent auction is ingenious, and priceless.  Also a lot of work on your part.  Kudo's to you.

I have already done the Christmas one with my nephews as I gave them their gift and a card, and said the rest of your Christmas present is that I sent care packages to the troops from a website I heard about on Fox & Friends called AnySoldier.  Then we got on my nephew's computer, and we pulled up the AnySoldier Website so that they could learn how they could send a letter to our troops. 

As for Halloween, giving out the cards is neat, but I would definitely have the cards attached to some candy, or the kids might be disappointed and wind up egging your house.......especially the older ones.  Let's face it, little kids want a treat too and if they aren't old enough to read, they can give the note to their parents, and the parent will take it from there.  But I would definitely give some candy.  I think most kids know about the war, and I think learning how to show their gratitude to the troops by sending a letter to them is a gift for both the troops and the kids.  Also, since Halloween is October 31st, near Christmas shopping time, everyone wants to send something to the troops; and learning about AnySoldier is a great way for these people to show their support.  I wish I had known about it when AnySoldier first started, as at Christmas time, I would go down to the Post Office and donate money for calling cards to the troops, which is great, but AnySoldier lets you actually pick your own soldier.

I work at Home Depot as a cashier, and I ordered the AnySoldier pens, and give them out to the customers and inform them about a wonderful website that let's them show their support of our troops and send a personal letter to them.  They love it, and they get something for free.  Everybody loves something for free.

Mimi 

Mimi and Rosemary, (kudos to the Northeast)

Thank you for your input, I guess I should explain what I normally do on halloween.  I usually give bunches of candy to each kid.  I did re read what I wrote and I realize I did poorly word my thoughts. I would have a small treat like those little candy bars or something attached to it.  So, my overall spending for the candy will drop significantly.  I had the picture in my head but I didn't get it down properly on my comment. (not by a long shot) Thank You both for pointing it out to me as I don't want to look like a "grinch" and yes, I have been very careful in my neighborhood to not become a target at halloween, or any other time of year for that matter.)  One more thing, my husband is creative in writing so I was going to have him make up a cutsie "poem" for the note so that it wouldn't be an adult note but one that the parents can read to the younger kids to draw the interest.  And as a side note, I have the good fortune to live in a neighborhood who is huge on standing behind the military. 

 Mimi, you are more awake at 2 a.m. then I seem to be at 2 p.m.  When I wrote that I was thinking about a million things I still have to do for my soldier and his families arrival on Fri. and then the benefit/fundraiser. 

 Thank you for pointing out my error and I have hopefully made a more clear picture of what was in my thoughts when I commented.  It just shows that a person should always proofread what they write first.  I usally always do. 

 Thank you again,

 nancyc

Hi Nancy,

When I read your initial post, I got this thought in my head...soldier's in Iraq are giving candy to the kids to teach them about peace, and here we are are giving them AS business cards to teach them about war...seemed a bit out of balance at the time.  I know what it's like to type and read it back later and be amazed at yourself...sometimes our fingers and brains don't connect :-).  I think putting the little piece of candy with it and the poem is a great idea.  They can learn about helping a soldier, but on a positive note and that's a good thing!

Rosemary

I'm not sure AnySoldier is teaching about war so much as it is teaching about compassion. I think handing cards with candy is a great idea. In our neighborhood, parents are with their children. It would be very easy to hand cards to parents as children are getting treats.

CWP:

I'm not sure AnySoldier is teaching about war so much as it is teaching about compassion.

I agree...compassion, and patriotism, pride in our country and gratitude for those who are willing to serve and sacrifice on our behalf. 

Lots of good ideas coming up here! Hey NancyC, I hope you let us know how you did with the breakfast. Wow, I have helped with some silent auctions and they are a JOB! Kudos to you for what you did!  That is sooo cool that your Soldier was there!! I know he made a big impact!  I was also thinking about getting jars and collecting change, since it really adds up  and most people don't mind giving their change. Since school is in now and I have at least one teacher here who has been overseas, I might get a school thing going. Thanks again for your hard work at the breakfast! And thank you Jenifer for keeping us updated on the other thread!

Ronda

I am new and probably shouldn't stick my nose in but being a woman I can't seem to help myself..lol. I read that somebody wants to draw attention to the site being here. Has anybody heard of smile cards? They can be made up and printed from your computer and you can laminate them, magnetize them, whatever you please not to mention they are simple to distribute along with a good deed while telling others about the site. They would cost a little bit of nothing for us to make and would cost the recipient nothing at all unless they chose to donate to the site. Then there is marble pictures, if you haven't heard of these they are so cute and again cheap. You can make up some with just the sites name on them. Or you could make up some with the sites name on them, camo, soldiers, etc. You can make some really cool things with them. If you would like to see one let me know, I have some with football team logos or with my hubbys pic on them. They make awesome necklaces as well but those get more expensive. If nothing else have you thought of crafts? Handmade items. You can set up at Walmart and have crafts, baked goods, etc for donations. It may not bring in a fortune but it will bring in something. We did a bake sale for church one year and I sold a lopsided cake for 100 bucks. So the possibilities are endless. I think if you want to go the fundraiser route it may be best to try to get a few people together who live close to each other (if there are any who live close enough) and every area try to do it about the same time so that there is actually a chunk of money coming in at once instead of all spread out? Anyway that is just my two cents. I know we are crafters at my house and have lots of bath bombs, pinatas, marbles, marble magnets, marble tacks, etc.