Fundraising!

So fundraising has been rather hit or miss, but I feel like it has been more hit than miss lately...

I wrote hundreds of letters to local construction businesses, former teachers, former/current doctors, the Gator Clubs, pageant directors (I am a former pageant girl), some celebrities, local bike shops, and other businesses that I patronize. The response was lower than I anticipated, but I definitely got some response from it. I may do some follow up calls, but with work 9-6 everyday, this does not seem likely.

My dad has said that he will put in some calls to his former business contacts and see if any of them can help me out. Sweet!

I was also able to get a booth at the local farmer's market every Saturday from here on out to collect donations. I realized that just asking for donations every week is not going to keep working (it worked well the first week though!). I was really fortunate and met a local jeweler when I was there the first time (rellergold.com), who is making sterling silver bicycle charms for me to give to people with certain donations ($15 for smaller charms, $25 for larger charms). I also spent a long time with my mom this weekend designing a logo for a t-shirt. She did a lot of the legwork to find graphics and paid for the first set of shirts. Tomorrow night I will be learning how to screen print and screen printing a bunch of shirts in orange, blue, and white to give to people with at least a $15 donation. I think that the two different items will really give me an opportunity to collect a lot of money this Saturday. I am very excited!

Tonight I dropped off information about Bike & Build to two different Publixes so that I can try to collect donations outside of the stores. I also am expecting a call back from Wal-Mart tomorrow about which dates I will be able fundraise outside their store, and they may match the donations I get. Hopefully all of this works out and the next few weekends will be completely devoted to to fundraising and training!

I'll also start teaching an SAT class on Sundays, so that will factor into the schedule. I donated another $300 today, so my total to Bike & Build is now $800. :)