Well, our Christmas Brunch was very small, but a success nonetheless! We considered it a practice run, and learned alot. First of all, I need to make sure I have a ride that will guarantee that I am there on time, as a half hour late would have been disastrous had there actually been people lined up at the door at 10am. lol We also decided that a brunch was a little too early for folks on Christmas day, and will hold dinners from now on. I also think a traditional meal would attract alot more people who can't make one themselves at home. French toast doesn't really replace a turney with all the trimmings! So for Easter, we will hold a dinner, from approximately 3-5pm (time to be finalized at our next meeting), and offer a ham with all the sides. I would also like to have turkey, to give people more choice, but that will depend on if we have enough funds/donations. So, now to start planning for Easter! We will have our next meeting on Saturday, January 15th at the Bonney Lake Library, from 6-7pm! Feel free to join us there! We would love to see and hear from those who volunteered on Christmas, to get your feedback and ideas on how to improve at our next event! We expect alot more people will be coming, and want things to go as smoothly as possible. A huge THANK YOU to all who volunteered and donated to help us host our first event!! We are very thankful for your support...we couldn't have done this without you all!
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Our meeting on December 18th was by far the best! It was nice to see so many new faces there! We covered the shifts and positions that were still needed, and I'm very happy to report that all have been filled! Now to get more people signed up to attend the Brunch!
To do that, we will be contacting local food banks and visit the RV park in Buckley on Monday. We will have tickets printed out and will leave some with the food banks for distribution to families who come to them for help this week. We only have a few days to do this, but I have no doubt in my mind that we will have plenty of people to serve. This is the week where many will be stressing over what they will do for their children on Christmas, and we will be there to offer a solution. I knew everything would come together at the last moment, although I admit, I didn't think it would happen only days before the event. Still, we are prepared and ready! We have received so many cash, food and non-food donations in the past week!! We have $290 in cash donations, which will be matched $0.50 on the dollar for an extra $145!!! We definitely have the funds to cover everything needed for our very first event! And and all funds leftover will be saved and put towards our next event, the Easter Brunch! We have closed our account with Chase bank after learning of the fees we were not informed of upon opening the account. Instead of the $10 fees being imposed on all other accounts beginning in January - we learned that our account was subject to a $12 a month fee if we did not use our debit card at least 5 times each month! And we still have not received that card! So we will be depositing all funds into BECU once we get together the necessary paperwork that they have requested. Instead of just our business licence, as Chase required, we will also need to provide them with copies of our Articles of Incorporation and our Bylaws before we can open the account. I am working on obtaining those documents at this time. Oh, and Chase also charged us $25 just to close the account! Nice, huh? It was still a better option than paying $36 in monthly fees for the 90 days required to close the account for free. We will be meeting at the Buckley Library on December 23rd at 6pm to make swags and wreaths! We distributed wrapping paper to those who attended our last meeting for them to take home and cut to size for the window board covers. On Christmas Eve, we will meet at the hall at 6pm and begin decorating Yikes!! I let November slip by without a single update - the month just went by so fast! And sooo much has happened!
First of all - we opened our first bank account and deposited that wonderful check from the Marion Grange! We also started a fundraiser with Partylite and made our next 3 deposits from those sales! We have been featured in both the Bonney Lake and Enumclaw Courier Herald papers! While they mostly focused on me, which wasn't my intention, the organization was still a huge part of it. That exposure has helped to spread the word and bring in more volunteers! We are also starting an Avon fundraiser, and we will begin selling those items this weekend, December 4th and 5th, at the Rose's IGA Food Center in Buckley. Our first Partylite fundraiser will be wrapping up that same weekend - so we will be selling both products at that time!! Cash donations will also be accepted, which brings me to our next news item........ Hotshot Heating has graciously offered to match all cash donations $0.50 on the dollar!!!! They have also donated 5 free furnace repairs - parts and labor included - to any family without heat who cannot afford this service! PLUS - they will be donating 5% of all sales!!! This is a truly great company and we are so happy to have them as a sponsor! Please check out our sponsor page as we will be adding new information about Hotshot Heating very soon! To help accomodate and attract new volunteers, we have changed the dates of our monthly meetings. We will now be holding them on the 3rd Saturday of each month, instead of thursday as we have been doing. We hope that this change makes it easier for our volunteers to attend! Also - our next meeting will be held at the Bonney Lake library, rather than Buckley, due to scheduling conflicts. It will be held December 18th at 3pm. We have made this meeting mandatory for all student volunteers so that we can get an accurate head count and avoid having anyone show up at the Brunch without knowing what they will be doing at that time. We will have craft materials available at that time for them to complete either while at the meeting or to do at home. I have added a new page to this website with a list of items needed for our Brunch. It can be accessed through the 'About Our Cause' or 'Donate' pages by clicking on the link provided. You can also link to it by clicking here. Any and all food/nonfood donations would be greatly appreciated. We hope to use our cash resources exclusively for the purchase of gifts for each child as well as extra gifts to be raffled off to the adults who attend. I think I have covered everything thus far. I will publish a new post after our fundraising this weekend to keep everyone updated on our progress. Things are definitely picking up speed as we get closer to Christmas! Thanks for reading! =) |
AuthorNikki Thurston Archives
November 2023
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