My friend and I volunteered to chair the raffle basket committee for our next guild quilt show. Our thoughts were that we could accomplish this task, contribute to the group, meet our hours of donated time to the guild and still not have to attend meetings and be involved with the politics of the guild.
Our charity this year is very local and a bit unusual. I anticipate fewer corporate donations. Hope I am wrong. We have adopted a local high school girl to help with some of her college expenses. This fund has been set-up through a lawyer with ways to redirect the money if this young lady changes her plan. The girl came to U.S. from the Ivory Coast seven years ago not knowing any English and having very little education in her own country. She has worked very hard and is an honor student. She plans to attend our local Junior College for two years and then move to a four year institution. There are scholarships available for tuition and she will live at home (although she works to help her mother pay the rent). As any parent of a college student knows, books can cost almost as much as tuition. The money we raise will be issued to her in the form of vouchers she can use to purchase text books at the school. If she decides not to continue her education the money will be made available to another worthy student at the junior college. I will send letters to the usual quilt manufacturers and ask local quilt stores and long arm quilters for gift certificates. We also plan some non-quilter baskets such as a sports theme for men, spa items for women, and toy/activity themes for each age group (0 to 18 years) for which we will contact local stores.
We plan a special American Girl basket. The guild will purchase a doll (I wrote the company to ask for a donated doll. They respond that they only donate to charities that help children under the age of 12. This makes sense as they probably receive so many requests it is better to serve a target market close to their customer base.) Guild members have been asked to make items to go with the doll. It was the consensus of the mothers whose girls enjoy the dolls that the girls don't mind mixing the era of clothing and accessories. Has anyone made any special donor contacts in the last two years that they would be willing to share privately? Contact me at snipped-for-privacy@speakeasy.net. We wouldn't want to tell the entire world that such and such company is great with freebies.
Does anyone have any unusual raffle basket ideas that were popular at your guild show? Themes?
The show isn't until February so we will not begin to contact businesses until September. Right now I am at the thinking stage and would appreciate any helpful comments.
Susan