So.. there are now 223 until I turn 30 but only 208 days until I start my volunteer placement in Ghana.... i'm excited but no doubt excitement will become nerves nearer the time!
I have now made a total of £298 towards this appeal. I am really really grateful to everyone who has donated and those that have promised to donate soon. I'm so pleased to have done so well so quickly but I do hope to make a lot more so please keep donations coming in.
Now I have recieved my fundraising booklet I shall be trying some other fundraising ideas too. As I am a fully qualified Massage Therapist I am offering a discounted rate of £20 for a full body 1 hour massage at my house in Clapham Junction (or £30 to come to your house to cover travel costs). All profit will go to this appeal so please get booking if you want a massage!!
I shall hopefully be holding a hand made jewellery sale in the summer too and have my thinking cap on for other fundraising ideas. Please please get involved if you can! Any advice definitely welcome :)
Thanks again everyone for donating and keep checking back for more updates!
Wednesday 21 April 2010
Thursday 8 April 2010
236 days
Today I recieved my confirmation letter of my fundraising so anyone that may have been doubting whether I am legitimate here's your proof...any questions email me or the co-ordinator on the confirmation letter... made another £10 in the last couple of days but still got a long way to go!
Will update more as and when I have something new to tell you!
Have a good day :)
Monday 5 April 2010
239 days... and counting
There are now 239 days until the BIG 30!! It’s been a week since I first posted my idea online and the response has mostly been brilliant! I was meaning to update this more often but work, job hunting and preparing to move house have made things extra busy for me at the moment so hopefully I will get on here at least once a week to update but not daily.
So, where are things at right now? Well, it’s been a busy week with quite a few developments…. Firstly, I’ve made a total of £276 so far so I’m well on the way to my first target of £330…. I shall be starting my volunteer placement on November 15th for a total of 3 weeks. My initial fundraising target was an estimate for 2 weeks volunteering but as I’ve now agreed to 3 weeks I need to increase my target to £430 to cover the fees. Any extra will go direct to the orphanage to buy supplies and things for the children. I have managed to now confirm my place on the program and I have paid the initial registration fee to hold the place for me. I am going to be going to an orphanage in…. wait for it…… GHANA. I don’t have the exact location yet but it will be somewhere near Accra. I shall be going with International Volunteer HQ which places volunteers all around the developing world in places where they need support.
Now there seems to have been some confusion as to what it is I’m actually doing…some people seem to think I am asking for funds to pay for a holiday for my birthday… I can’t stress enough that this is not the case. I think my attempt to be light hearted and to suggest ideas for donating instead of birthday drinks etc has been taken the wrong way. I am doing this because I want to help and make a difference for at least one other person less fortunate than myself. I want to do what I can to help those children and I chose to tie it in with my birthday as a way of giving some focus and to make people think about what they normally spend on themselves and that it doesn’t take much to help and change things for someone in need. I am not sure I’m explaining this properly but my intentions are definitely all for the right reasons and this is in no way to give me a birthday holiday. I have done my fair share of travelling and if it was a holiday I wanted then I have a ton of other destinations where I could have a great birthday holiday… living in poor conditions and working 5-7 days a week is not what I’d call a holiday.
As for paying fees to volunteer, anyone who has done any research on volunteering will know that nearly all volunteer programs require a fee (and usually they are very expensive!!). You can not just offer your time or show up in a country expecting to volunteer etc without any sort of planning, organisation and administration. This planning costs money as does accommodation, getting to the volunteer placement which can sometimes be in very rural areas, and food. All of these things are what the fee is for. The reason I could not offer gift aid for your donations is because IVHQ is based in New Zealand, not the UK so gift aid is not applicable. They are also not a charity but are an organisation which recruits volunteers and arranges all the program details, links to the in country charities, checks the area etc out for the safety of volunteers etc etc..
Now that I have officially registered and paid the initial registration fee I can link you to the company I am volunteering through
( http://www.volunteerhq.org/faq.html ). They explain more about the fees and the programs etc on their FAQ page. I am now waiting for my volunteer information booklet to arrive with my official ‘fundraiser’ letter and ideas booklet. I will make a copy of the letter to go on here once I receive it to prove I am legitimate.
Anyway, enough of all the explaining. I hope you all now realise what it is I am doing and why and are happy to go ahead and donate. I am very thankful for the donations so far and for getting so close to my target but the more I can make the better.
I am also trying to get donations of supplies like pens, pencils etc for the orphanage. I have had a possible donation of a few books to take with me but any other donations are welcome.
If you have any more questions, doubts, comments, anything then please do get in touch and I’d be happy to answer you. You can either leave a comment on my blog, facebook ‘event’ or email me on corrie.kay@gmail.com
One more thing, for those that were a little confused with the ‘event’ on facebook. I’m not having a birthday event… I will be in Ghana volunteering by then. I only sent it as an event on facebook as a way to reach all my facebook friends and get everyone to look at it. This whole thing will be taking place around my birthday (hence linking it with my birthday initially and confusing people) and I am doing it in place of a big 30th birthday party so anything you would have spent on party drinking can be donated to the appeal instead. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks for reading and do keep checking back for more updates. As things progress they should hopefully become more interesting and once I get back in December I will update this with all my stories and pictures from Ghana.
Thanks all. I appreciate your help.
Cheers
Corrie
So, where are things at right now? Well, it’s been a busy week with quite a few developments…. Firstly, I’ve made a total of £276 so far so I’m well on the way to my first target of £330…. I shall be starting my volunteer placement on November 15th for a total of 3 weeks. My initial fundraising target was an estimate for 2 weeks volunteering but as I’ve now agreed to 3 weeks I need to increase my target to £430 to cover the fees. Any extra will go direct to the orphanage to buy supplies and things for the children. I have managed to now confirm my place on the program and I have paid the initial registration fee to hold the place for me. I am going to be going to an orphanage in…. wait for it…… GHANA. I don’t have the exact location yet but it will be somewhere near Accra. I shall be going with International Volunteer HQ which places volunteers all around the developing world in places where they need support.
Now there seems to have been some confusion as to what it is I’m actually doing…some people seem to think I am asking for funds to pay for a holiday for my birthday… I can’t stress enough that this is not the case. I think my attempt to be light hearted and to suggest ideas for donating instead of birthday drinks etc has been taken the wrong way. I am doing this because I want to help and make a difference for at least one other person less fortunate than myself. I want to do what I can to help those children and I chose to tie it in with my birthday as a way of giving some focus and to make people think about what they normally spend on themselves and that it doesn’t take much to help and change things for someone in need. I am not sure I’m explaining this properly but my intentions are definitely all for the right reasons and this is in no way to give me a birthday holiday. I have done my fair share of travelling and if it was a holiday I wanted then I have a ton of other destinations where I could have a great birthday holiday… living in poor conditions and working 5-7 days a week is not what I’d call a holiday.
As for paying fees to volunteer, anyone who has done any research on volunteering will know that nearly all volunteer programs require a fee (and usually they are very expensive!!). You can not just offer your time or show up in a country expecting to volunteer etc without any sort of planning, organisation and administration. This planning costs money as does accommodation, getting to the volunteer placement which can sometimes be in very rural areas, and food. All of these things are what the fee is for. The reason I could not offer gift aid for your donations is because IVHQ is based in New Zealand, not the UK so gift aid is not applicable. They are also not a charity but are an organisation which recruits volunteers and arranges all the program details, links to the in country charities, checks the area etc out for the safety of volunteers etc etc..
Now that I have officially registered and paid the initial registration fee I can link you to the company I am volunteering through
( http://www.volunteerhq.org/faq.html ). They explain more about the fees and the programs etc on their FAQ page. I am now waiting for my volunteer information booklet to arrive with my official ‘fundraiser’ letter and ideas booklet. I will make a copy of the letter to go on here once I receive it to prove I am legitimate.
Anyway, enough of all the explaining. I hope you all now realise what it is I am doing and why and are happy to go ahead and donate. I am very thankful for the donations so far and for getting so close to my target but the more I can make the better.
I am also trying to get donations of supplies like pens, pencils etc for the orphanage. I have had a possible donation of a few books to take with me but any other donations are welcome.
If you have any more questions, doubts, comments, anything then please do get in touch and I’d be happy to answer you. You can either leave a comment on my blog, facebook ‘event’ or email me on corrie.kay@gmail.com
One more thing, for those that were a little confused with the ‘event’ on facebook. I’m not having a birthday event… I will be in Ghana volunteering by then. I only sent it as an event on facebook as a way to reach all my facebook friends and get everyone to look at it. This whole thing will be taking place around my birthday (hence linking it with my birthday initially and confusing people) and I am doing it in place of a big 30th birthday party so anything you would have spent on party drinking can be donated to the appeal instead. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks for reading and do keep checking back for more updates. As things progress they should hopefully become more interesting and once I get back in December I will update this with all my stories and pictures from Ghana.
Thanks all. I appreciate your help.
Cheers
Corrie
