Raising money is never easy
Today, I learned what it’s like to try and raise money. Why am
I trying to raise money? I’m going to Tuscaloosa Alabama this spring vacation
with a few of my classmates and it costs each person $1,100 to participate.
Through Habitat for Humanity, we are going to be helping those who suffered the effects of the natural disasters
that have been happening there recently by building homes. In an effort to
lower this cost, we are trying to fundraise money for the trip. Our first
effort to raise money was a jog-a-thon. We asked for people to sponsor us while
we ran laps for an hour straight. However, I don’t really like asking people
for their money, so I only got two sponsors – my grandpa and my aunt. Some of
my friends said that they would sponsor me, but none of them actually did,
which is fine.
So anyway, today we stood outside of Whole Foods with an
informational booth explaining our mission. We also passed out flyers with
information regarding our trip, earthquake preparedness fliers, and a flyer
saying that if you go to California Pizza Kitchen (with the flier) on March 12th,
20% of your purchase will go to the funding of our trip.
There were lots of people who walked right by us when we
tried to talk to them, pretending like we weren’t even there. There were also
those who politely said “No, thank you” and walked on… along with those who
said it not-so-politely. However, we did get a few people to donate which made
us feel accomplished. And for those who didn’t have the time or money to
donate, we gave them our fliers (if they didn’t turn them down).
This experience of trying to represent our cause helped me
to understand what it’s like to stand outside a store for a few hours, trying
to get people’s attention. Usually if I see people in front of a store, and I’m
with my parents, I just walk away because I know my parents don’t like me “talking
to strangers”. However, when I’m by myself or with friends, I do make an effort
to talk to these people. They’re putting their time and effort into informing
the public and asking for donations, so I feel it’s nice to give them my time
as well.
The most entertaining part was to see how people react when
someone is trying to talk to them.
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