Servants for Haiti is hosting a fund raising event that uses trivia for a distinctly non-trivial purpose.

On April 17, 2010, at 7:00, there will be a Trivia Night and Silent Auction at Grace Community in Chelmsford.  Entrance fee will be $10 per person, all proceeds going to SFH.

Trivia questions in a variety of categories (history, movies, music, geography, etc.) will give you and those at your table a chance to show off your wealth of knowledge, all the while knowing that you are helping a great cause.

A silent auction will be held throughout the evening of the trivia contest.  Some of the prizes you can bid on are:

• A weekend on Martha’s Vineyard at the Edgartown Residence Club
• A week at Meadow Breeze Day Camp
• A week at Meadow Breeze Soccer Camp
• Videos and books from Walden Media, the folks who make the Narnia movies
• Lowell Spinners tickets and merchandise (we’ve got bobble heads!)
• Gift cards for local dining establishments, theaters, etc.

… and a few more exciting surprises.

Write today to reserve your spot or even an entire table for six trivia masters!  For more information or to make a reservation, write to trivia@servantsforhaiti.org .

Grace Community is located at:

275 Billerica Road (Route 129), Chelmsford, MA

Directions can be found here on their web site.  Note that parking and the entrance are around behind the building.

Parents: Childcare will be provided at $5 per child if you give us notice in advance at trivia@servantsforhaiti.org

Interested in holding your own fund raising event?  Contact us at development@servantsforhaiti.org for advice and assistance.

Although the situation in Haiti is still grave, there are bright spots to be grateful for.  Our supporters have truly gone the extra mile with us for our friends in Haiti.  Here is a partial list of those who have given us gifts, both large and small but always appreciated.

• Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, MA, took a one time collection that raised more than $11,000!
• Two different friends of SFH, Paula Mason and Kathy Ablondie, held baby showers for their daughters.  They both gave the money that they would have spent on favors for their guests to SFH.   Thank you, ladies for thinking outside the gift box!
• The Lowell Kiwanis, always a strong supporter of our efforts, pitched in once more with a $1000 donation.
• Ceragon Networks employees’ generosity was (literally) matched by that of their employer.  Together, they gave over $10,000.
• Our good friend Kevin Ashley raised money to buy more than 250 tents then arranged to have them shipped down to Haiti – no small feat in itself!
• Green Mountain Diapers (we have friends in all lines of work!) donated a water filtration system and a generator that are both now in use at the orphanage.
• Three schools in Westford, MA got into the act.  The pre-school and kindergarten held a fundraiser for food and cash donations, while the Abbot and Nabnasset schools combined to raise over $2000.
• Northern Bank and Trust, based in eastern Mass., put signs in their windows and at the tellers’ stations to collect money for SFH.

Thank you all for your generosity, your compassion, and your creativity.  We couldn’t have helped so many without your help.

Some folks at Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, MA, came up with a fun way to help Servants for Haiti.

These people are members of a group called “Quest” and they are on a quest for the perfect meal at local restaurants.  Last night, however, they combined that quest with one to help the people of Haiti.  Instead of going out to eat, the group’s members brought their own dishes to one member’s home and donated the money they would have spent on dining out to SFH.

No one suffered for lack of quality food.  The home made specialties were delicious! In the process, however, they managed to raise almost $700 for SFH.

Thank you, Quest-ers!

We’re particularly excited about this fund raiser to support Servants for Haiti.  Three young guys are doing a cross country bike ride to raise money and awareness for Haiti.  They’re still in the planning stages, but check out their web site and see how you can help!

It will be hard to “top” this fund raising idea.  The kids in the small Champlain Valley Christian School in Vermont were given the chance to “break the rules” by wearing hats to school for Haiti.  Each student donated $2 for the privilege of wearing a baseball cap.   These capped rebels raised a total of $290!  Hats off to you, kids, for your support of Haitian children!

Kids at Champlain Valley Christian school putting on hats for Haiti

Some of the collected goods

The Single Again Ministry (SAM) of the Essex Alliance Church, Essex Junction, VT, (www.essexalliance.org) serves men and women who are single again through death, divorce or separation as well as those who have never been married.  Recently, they served a completely unique constituency.

Twice a month they host dinners with games at the Community Center at the church.  As part of those gatherings, they perform community service projects.  At a recent meeting, Kingdom Kids orphanage was the beneficiary of their generosity.  Everyone in attendance was asked to bring a toiletry item for the orphanage.  As an incentive, they displayed pictures of the children in the orphanage.

They collected an amazing array of items, from toothbrushes and toothpaste to Pampers and sippy cups.  Beyond those items, about $400 in cash was collected.  Everyone was so thrilled to be able to contribute, that they asked to do it again just a few months later!

Next time you have a get-together of any kind, why not follow SAM’s example?  Give a higher purpose to your gathering.  Let others experience the joy of helping children just as these folks did.  Contact us (info@servantsforhaiti) for assistance or ideas.  We can help you with background information, photos, and whatever else you need.

The Loose Change fundraiser described in the accompanying article is now complete.  In the end, all those bottles filled with pennies, nickels, and dimes – yes, there were a few bills in there, too – added up to $7504.25.  That money will go to feed unsponsored students at CJRA school.  Now the kitchen staff won’t have to turn away as many hungry students just because they haven’t been sponsored yet.

Three New England churches combined for this fundraiser.  Grace Community in Chelmsford, MA, raised $4143.49 on its own.

Would you like to part of the solution to this situation?  Here are two ways you can do so:

1. Hold your own Loose Change fundraiser.  Contact us at info@servantsforhaiti.org and we’ll show you exactly how to do it.
2. Sponsor a child… or two… or more.  Every student sponsored is one less child who requires the help of this extra feeding program.

Think of this as a way you can make a difference for more than one child at a time!

“March Outreach Madness” Loose Change Fundraiser

It’s estimated that, at any given time, there is about 7.7 billion dollars in loose change out of circulation, often collected in bottles and piggy banks in our homes. If  you want to try something like the following to make the most of that situation, contact us at info@servantsforhaiti.org

Grace Community Church in Chelmsford, MA, is holding a unique fund raising program, taking advantage of something you probably have lying around your house. Read this description and see if it’s something your organization can try…

Do the coins in your pocket, under the cushions in the sofa, and tossed on the kitchen counter drive you crazy?  Coins have less and less value in our society, especially those copper pennies.  But, if we all throw our coins into one big pool and send them to Haiti, the value of those coins exponentially increases.  It can feed many children for months.  [GCC] Outreach Ministries has dedicated the month of March to collecting as many coins as we can to feed Haitian children living in poverty.

Servants for Haiti (SFH), an organization built by people from Grace Community, have a sponsorship program to feed children at the College Jean Rigaud Antoine.  There are 500 children attending this school.  Only 50% of the children have either the means to pay for lunch or are covered by SFH.  The other children cannot be fed.  They spend lunchtime playing while the other children eat.  We can change this equation.

Beginning March 1st, Kristin Scott and Laurae Richards, from SFH, will have bottles available for you to take and fill with coins.  You can bring them home, to work, the neighborhood, the gym or school.  Let’s stretch ourselves and see how many bottles we can fill, and fill, and fill.  At the end of the month we will pool our coins and release them, with God’s blessing, to Haiti.

Goodsearch.com is a new and easy way to raise funds for our Haitian friends. Choose Servants for Haiti as your charity of choice on this search engine and they will donate money to SFH each time you search. Here’s how it’s done:

The first time you visit www.goodsearch.com ,  in the box that says:

WHO DO YOU GOODSEARCH FOR?

…enter “Servants for Haiti”. It’s already in their list of approved non-profits. Now all you have to do is use Goodsearch to search the web. Every time you do, they put a penny in our account. It’s that easy! Simpler and faster than zap-frying your Pop Tarts!

Andrew Stewart has traveled to Haiti with SFH a couple of times. When the Londonderry National Honor Society, of which he is a part, was looking for an organization to support for a fundraising event, he recommended Servants for Haiti. As a result, a dodge ball game raised $3000 to help the children of Haiti!

Dodge Ball Tournament Meets Fundraising Goals

Members  of Londonderry’s National Honor Society (NHS) found out that an effective way to raise money is to simply invite people to play some dodge ball.

Last week, the NHS held a four-day dodge ball tournament to raise money for Servants for Haiti, a charity that promotes education and healthy environments for Haitian children.

The NHS board members learned about the idea of a dodge ball tournament fundraiser in the fall when they were at a conference. They decided to implement the concept into their annual fundraising efforts.

Thirty two teams made up of five to eight members registered for the tournament. The faculty teams were eliminated in the first round, but two senior teams, “The Neighborhood” and “The Terror”, advanced to the championship game, which was held last Friday night. The eight members of “The Terror”, who were mostly varsity athletes, won the final game and were rewarded with gold crowns, T-shirts and a ceremonial dodge ball.

The proceeds from Friday night’s semifinal and championship games alone raised over $800, according to Jessica Schofield, an NHS board member. After counting all of their proceeds, the NHS board members realized they had met their fundraising goal of $3000. The games attracted huge crowds every night, and close to 1,000 people showed up for the final games on Friday. The money raised came from team registration fees, admission charges, concession sales and donations during the games.

The NHS board members are all seniors, and they played the largest roles in organizing the tournament. Several NHS members who are juniors also helped during the tournament, and they may organize another tournament next year after seeing the success last week.

“We’re definitely hoping it will continue next year,” said Schofield.

Maybe this event will inspire others to use their creative powers to come up with fun ways to support the children of Haiti. Why not you? Why not now?

Many local groups have been showing tremendous financial support for our work in Haiti. Here are some of the cash donations we have received in recent weeks…

The Derry Village Rotary donated $2,250 that will be used to purchase a stove and sink for the orphanage.

Derry Rotary  (a different organization) has given SFH $2,500 so that we can buy the orphanage a new freezer and refrigerator.

The kids in the orphanage will be the recipients of a new play area as the result of a $1,000 donation from the Westford Rotary.

The following unrestricted gifts were also given:

• Derry Village Rotary donated another $300.
• Dracut Rotary gave a $200 gift.
• Lowell Kiwanis donated $3,000.
• Finally, “Team Kids”, a children’s club at Calvary Baptist Church in Meriden, CT raised $272.20 for the orphanage!

On behalf of the children of Haiti, we extend our deepest gratitude to these organizations.