Mission's Trip Fundraising Dinner Recap

One of our goals this year was to get our students involved in service projects. We started small with service projects last semester but decided go all out and take the girls on a mission trip to Baltimore this spring. It has been an incredible journey and God has blessed us so much. We decided to do a dinner as our main fundraiser and had a couple back-up plans incase we did not meet our goal. I am happy to report that we will not be needing those back up plans, but Im getting ahead of myself. 

On January 30th, we announced the trip to our high school and middle school girls. We explained what we would be doing, how much we needed to raise per person, and started brainstorming. The girls spoke at churches, small groups, and took invitations to their families, teachers, and neighbors. We were so encouraged at how invested and bold they were in their fundraising efforts. 

Fast forward to the main event, Saturday, March 18. We hosted a spaghetti dinner for approximately 50 people. The girls set up, cooked, greeted, plated, and served. We had 8 girls boldly take the stage to pray and participate in panel style discussion where they were asked questions about UMA and the upcoming trip. Through the event and online donations we surpassed our goal, raising $2,200, enough to take all of our girls and leaders on the trip.  We'd like to give a huge shout out to Kroger, Food Lion, and Sam's whose donations allowed us to feed 50+ people for under $100. 

For me personally, one of the most impactful and encouraging takeaways from the night -- even more than meeting our financial goal -- was the support that our middle and high school girls received from our elementary girls group. Even though they are not old enough to go on the trip, we had 5 girls show up at 4pm and stay till about 8 to help cook, serve, and clean. I was so touched by the love and service they showed to all of us.