Fundraising for Finn

I'm not going to lie, fundraising season is rough.  If anyone thinks that I actually enjoy it, they are very mistaken.  Normally, I hit a point each year where I say I'm done and that next year we are skipping it all.  But thankfully, I get a good 7 month break from thinking about it and my kids start asking to go to the walk and so I end up doing it all over again.  

This year was no exception.  I had big plans for the year but hit many brick walls.  There was complete disorganization with one planned fundraiser.  That one resulted in me wasting hours of my time, several dollars, and crying when I got home completely frustrated.  And then our tennis fundraiser was a mess despite attempts to get organized much earlier.  We finally were able to put in on the calendar just weeks before the event and we luckily were able to pull it off....during a snowstorm.  And then there was a new project....selling Krispy Kreme.  This one seemed easy, even fun.  And for the most part it was.  There was a whole lot of drama when one person volunteered to help and then after meeting her and having my spidey senses go up I found out she was a con artist with a history of arrests for fraud and fictitious businesses.  Of course, I had already given her money by this point and so I was stressed out for 48 hours.  But it worked out and we were able to raise a lot of money.  

This year our team raised $2,929.70.  It was our best ever by over $1,000! It took almost two weeks but once all of the money was added up, our team came in 3rd place in all of Colorado Springs. The hard work paid off and now we are enjoying being done with that season again.  

I did 2 Krispy Kreme days.  The first one was  just a small order for our ward friends for General Conference.  It was a bit of a test run.  The kids loved running donuts to their friends' doors and collecting the money.  After coming home from the deliveries I began making plans for a much bigger attempt at Donut day.

Donut day #2 was Friday May 6th and this time I advertised to a local FB group that has over 10,000 members.  I ended up selling about 75 dozen donuts (I ordered some extra) and man did it fill up my car and make it smell delicious.

I had arranged to meet people at several different locations around town at various times so they could pick up there donuts.  We made this sign so people could find our car.  One of my friends help with one of the pickup  locations and got in trouble with the store owner whose parking lot we were meeting in.  I'm wondering if she parked right in front of the store or something.  I just parked in a corner far away from the building as we really just needed the parking lot to meet people.

One person bought a dozen donuts and then asked that we donate them to the childwatch staff at the gym we were meeting at.  So, Finn and I took this box into them after everyone else had picked up.

Extra donuts that I was trying to sell all weekend.

Our last drop off spot was the mall in the evening so we went ahead and had dinner (and dessert!) there.

Another change to this year was that our walk fell on Kai's birthday.  So, instead of presents Kai asked for donations.  We were able to raise about $65 or so from Kai's friends.  

As always, my friend Renee makes the tennis event a lot of fun.  Here was our table of prizes (lots of gift certificates and some Mary Kay, etc.!) and a really nice fruit tray.

Tennis pro Sam is in the green shorts and getting ready to lead some people in drills.

Finn and his friend Tate were playing on the side and stopped frequently to get drinks of water

Left to right:  Ellie (Renee's daughter), Lora (our Primary President), and Kaitlyn (Lora's daughter)  They are being instructed by Robert (one of the pros)

This is Keegan.  He is the tennis and fitness manager and the one who allows us to do this every year and helps us pull it together.

Me, Bree, Tate, and Finn delivering water

They thought this water dispenser was a blast!

The club had these posters everywhere.  This was the door that led to the tennis courts.

Finally it was walk day.  I had purchased bubbles, leis, and ribbon wands to hand out to our team.

It was down right miserable on walk day.  It was the worst weather we ever had which is a shame because we had a great turn out as a team and had worked really hard to raise so much money this year.

Those with CF at the walk got these shirts that said "I Am A Fighter" on the back.  It was a way to help those with CF identify each other.  Finn had a great time walking with his friend James from kindergaarten (he is in the red hoodie).

Bree was miserable the whole entire morning.  I had her layered in a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweat, tights and jeans and she was still cold.  So thankfully one of our team members had a snow suit in her car which she loaned to Bree.  Still Bree sat motionless and whimpering the whole time.  In hindsight, her super large wet diaper might have been part of the problem.

Crabby

Finn and his friend James