I know I said I was going to post about the 30 Hour Famine last night but that was before Comcast (in it's all-knowing ISP customary level of excellence) decided that a light rain should completely prevent my access to the internet. Now that that's out of the way...
We are joining thousands of students all over the world by participating in the 30 Hour Famine on April 27th and 28th. Starting at noon on Friday the 27th, participants will stop eating for 30 hours and spend that time in praying, raising awareness, and fundraising for world hunger and serving our local community.
$30 may be "almost enough for a good video game" to you and me, but to children in many countries, it's enough to eat for 30 days. For that reason, in order to participate in the 30 Hour Famine, students and leaders must all raise at least $30. Fundraising materials will be available to all participants starting Sunday, March 24th.
I HATE fundraising even more than I hate Comcast... so do some of you and so you've asked for some ideas on how to raise money - here are five ideas from several places, including the official 30 Hour Famine website that has several other interesting tidbits!
1. Write letters... Everybody gets too many emails. Sit down and write a handwritten note to a few people who either really like to help with stuff like this, or really like you! Tell them why your doing the famine, that you're trying to raise money, and that you wanted to say hey anyway. At the very least, most people will think it was nice that you thought of them.
2. Hit up your relatives... Depending on your age, you've got a small window of years left where certain relatives will think its "cute" that you care about world hunger. Make them pay for all those years of gratuitous cheek-pinching!!!
3. Sell something... Sell some video games that you don't play anymore... Drag some of your old clothes to Plato's closet... Stand outside a gym and sell Snicker bars... Be creative!
4. Work. Do extra chores at home. Do a little yard work for somebody. Knock on a neighbors door and offer to pick up the 2 years worth of dog poop that's accumulated in the back yard. Seriously... I'll pay somebody to come out and deal with that at my house!
5. Bug your entire neighborhood. Grab your 30 Hour Famine fundraising pack and go to each door and ask if they'll contribute $1 to eradicate world hunger. A lot of people will be happy to contribute that way!
Got any other ideas or know how your going to do it? Post a comment here - maybe someone else can use your idea!
Finally, we discussed at length on Sunday, the merits and detriments of the official 30 Hour Famine "Hungry Child" logo. Guest artist Andrew Brookhart contributed his revised version of the logo on Sunday and to be honest, I like it better. The little abstract stick figure with the metaphorical void in his tummy is a lot easier to look at but the fact is: 29,000 children (CHILDREN)die each day from hunger and other entirely preventable causes.
We can do something, so let's.
30 hour famine is going to be awesome! The last famine we participated in was one of our most successful events and helped me have more awareness of the needs in this world in an experential way. At first I thought it was going to be lame but I was amazed at how cool it was. Hope that everyone comes and checks it out. Its a great event to bring a friend to. Who doesnt want to be part of changing the world?
Posted by: Matt | March 20, 2007 at 10:25 PM
Since no one's going to be eating on that Saturday (if I have my facts straight)...what about having a huge yard sale. All proceeds to go to the cause. (You can use our yard if you want to.) I'm sure there are people at the church who have stuff they need to get rid of.
Posted by: paulette | March 22, 2007 at 08:41 AM