Creeping up on half way

Fund raising and donations so far comes to a whopping £1393, Gift Aid is a total of £392.90. That makes a current grand total of £1785.90 raised so far! Getting close to my target of £4000. My employer do a matched donation scheme, so for every £1 raised they will donate £1. I am currently waiting on a pretty little cheque for £1193 from them which will rocket me even closer to the total. Despite the fact that due to the matched donation I technically only need to raise £2000 in order to get a total of £4000 i really really want to raise as much of it myself as possible. I'll still request the matched donation for everything I raise but I would love to end up with a total of more than £4000.

I did the Race for Life 5k last weekend. It was a last minute thing as my mum was meant to be doing it but she wasnt well enough so I took her place. My 2 sisters and my aunt also did it. Here we are with our medals, proud as punch (and a little knackered)

L-R - Me, Eileen, Sarah, Aunt Isobel.

I finished in what I deem to be a fairly respectable 1hr 3 mins. I think thats not bad considering I didnt do any training.

I have had lots and lots of responses to the many letters I sent out a couple of weeks ago. As expected the majority have been 'no', I have had a few advise me to contact my local branch of their office, as I wrote to head offices. I did however receive one prize so far. Blair Drummond Safari Park very kindly donated a complimentary pass for 2 adults and 2 children which I am incredibly pleased about (http://www.blairdrummond.com/). Hopefully there will be a few more decent prizes before the night!

Any way I had better skeedaddle as I need some dinner before going of swimming tonight with Eileend. Cheerio!

http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/group-giving/jennifers-project-brazil

hits counter

So, things are fairly rocking and a rolling in the old fundraising. I had managed to secure a slot to do a collection at the front door of the building I work in on May 7th. I had 2 colleagues as my little helpers and between our wonderful wit and charm and the generosity of the people who work in my building a whopping £684 was raised.

I also spent about 2 hours last night folding 53 letters requesting raffle prizes, putting them in to 53 envelopes & addressing those 53 envelopes to 53 (hopefully very generous) companies. Today I spent a ridiculous amount of money on stamps and posted the letters out. Fingers crossed that I'll get a few pretty decent donations for the raffle to go with the quiz night next month. If you would like any details on entering a team for the quiz, leave a comment.

My mum and Aunt Isobel have also been organising a spa day that will be in July, which will hopefully be finalised in the next few weeks. My Aunt has also got a couple of other fundraising ideas up her sleeve which I am very greatful for.

I would now like to introduce you to my travel companion. Meet Fernando. He put on his best suit for his photoshoot, doesn't he look dapper? He is looking forward to going to Brazil, mostly because he's getting a free trip.

He'll also be helping with some fundraising events so expect to see him from time to time.

Anyway I better dash, Top Gun is on. Bagsy being Maverick!

Yes, thats right! A venue has been secured. However it is not for the Brazil night. Nope, it's for a pub quiz. After a crisis meeting with my 2 second in commands (sister Eileen and brother Graeme) we decided (well they decided and convinced me) that a pub quiz will be worth the time and effort. It will be infinately less effort to pull together than a party night.

So we have a pub function room, Graeme is busy coming up with the quiz, I will need to sit down and write nice letters to lots of places asking, ever so nicely, for raffle prizes. Eileen has not yet been allocated a job, but I am sure I'll think of something for her to do. In the next couple of weeks I'll get some posters up in work letting people know so they can get teams together and hopefully it will be a jolly old night.

In other news, the sweetie jar was won on Friday. One of the managers managed to guess the exact amount - 524 - which apparently is her house number. How lucky is that? This is a picture of said jar a whole 3 minutes after it was won. I believe her team were very greatful for its sugary goodness and spent the day in a sugar high.

Location, location, location

So I am trying to organise a charity night to raise money for my trip to Brazil. First step was getting a venue. After that everything should fall in to place, however it is almost impossible to find a venue!

Everywhere is either too big, too small, to expensive or too far out of town.

2 weeks ago I went into Glasgow with my older sister, Eileen, armed with paper work, determination and a dream. I came home with no venue, £25 worth of Primark clothes and more makeup than I could afford (really, Eileen had to lend me £3).

Today I met up with my younger sister, Sarah. I had no paperwork, no determination and the full intention of booking the first venue we went to. I came home with free henna on my hand, fashion specs, 2 for 1 teeshirts (score!) and again no venue.

I want to hold this even on June 19th and I am rapidly running out of time. I cant book bands or acts until I have a venue. I cant start printing or selling tickets until I know what's going to happen on the night. I think I might just stick a gazebo up in the field out the back of the house and go for a farmer theme. Perhaps have a rodeo and sheep wrestling.....

That would work, right?

I'm going to Brazil!

My name is Jennifer and in October I will be going to Brazil for a 10 day charity trip. The main aim of the trip is to help repair a school in a small village and to raise funds for a mobile health unit.

The trip has been organised through my employer, Santander UK, and Cancer Research.

I will be joined by 39 of my collegues on the trip and we each have to raise £4000. The money we raise will cover our food, accomodation and fares to get to and from Brazil, as well as a donation for Cancer Research.

So far I have managed to raise £448, before Gift Aid, through a raffle, two bakes sales (everyone loves a bake sale!) and through donations from family. I still have a long way to go to reach my target and have many ideas on how to do this. I am trying to go for interesting ways. I am not the type of person to sit in a bath of baked beans for money, nor am I wanting to rely on the simple generosity of others. I think a bit of value for donation is the best idea. Currently I am running a 'Guess how many sweeties are in the jar' contest in work. I have another bake sale planned for the gannets, erm, I mean my colleagues and have managed to arrange a collection at the front door in work.

In the pipelines I have a carnival/Mardi Gras themed night. It'll be held in a pub function room (one I manage to find a decent one!) and I am hoping to have live music and a decent raffle. My mum and I are trying to work out the logistics of a tea party/spa day/garden party type event.

I am hoping to keep this blog up to date, and get some pictures up of all the wee bits and bobs leading up to Brazil. It would be nice if you follow along on my journey and feel free to comment!

If you would like to sponsor me my sponsor page is http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/group-giving/jennifers-project-brazil

Any donations, no matter how small, are greatly appreciated.