Putting the 'fun' back into fundraising!

Birthday Celebrations Help Children in India and Africa

When Chris Trubridge from Melbourne celebrated her 60th birthday with friends and family, she decided she didn’t want presents – she had everything she needed.  Instead, she invited her guests to make a donation to charity on her behalf. 

After doing some research on Plan’s website, she wanted gifts to support two priority projects for Plan – Early Childhood Care and Development in India and Reducing Community Vulnerability to HIV and AIDS in eastern and southern Africa.  On the night, her family set up a display with Plan materials so that information was available about where donations would go.  As well as having a fabulous birthday dinner, Chris’s desire to help children around the world saw her guests donate a total of $707 to Plan – a great result which helped raise both money and awareness for Plan’s community development projects.

Of the success of her charity party, Chris said:

"I was extremely pleased that so many people contributed on the night.  I feel great that I was able to celebrate my birthday with such a wonderful group of people and help make a difference for children."

Melbourne Knitters Help Children in Malawi

The staff and community of the Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre in Altona spent months knitting dozens of unique comfort dolls for Christmas shoppers and other gift buyers.  The dolls, sold at markets and events, come with their own Certificate of Adoption.  Between November 2007 and February 2008, the sale of comfort dolls raised $840, and the Centre has been able to sponsor a child in Malawi. 

The good people of Louis Joel are happy to be supporting projects in their sponsored child’s community, projects like improving water and sanitation, children’s healthcare, food security, and education.

Art for a Cause

Well known Perth based artist and long time Plan supporter, Pamela Fenton, held a successful exhibition of her artwork in April 2007. She donated the proceeds of the sale of her art, more than $1000, to Plan's Water and Sanitation project in East Timor.

Of her decision to choose Plan as the beneficiary of her art sales, Pamela said:

"I am in a very healthy and happy position myself and want to do something for others. I went to Timor when I was young, and saw the country first hand, so I am very interested in Plan’s work in East Timor. I have 2 sponsored children with Plan and really support the work that Plan does.  I am so happy to help."

Going Green

Kevin Welsh has been a Plan supporter for more than 30 years. Now retired, he spends most of his weekends travelling to markets around his home in mid north New South Wales where he sells plants. All proceeds from his plant sales are donated to Plan.

Kevin has donated more than $20,000 over three years, to projects including Reducing Community Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Africa and Water and Sanitation in East Timor.

Kevin enjoys the interaction he has with people at markets, and has many regular customers.

"The idea of selling in markets came to mind, because that was where I started my plant collections. Then it occurred to me that it might be a good way to support and promote Plan and it has worked out far better than I expected."

As a long time supporter of Plan, Kevin knows that his donations will be put to good use. 

Walk to Rebuild

More than 200 children from Melbourne schools, their families and teachers joined the Walk to Rebuild to raise funds to help rebuild education for children from Yogyakarta district, Indonesia, following the massive earthquake in central Java on May 27, 2006.

The Walk, along the banks of Melbourne's Maribyrnong River, was organised by students, teachers and parents from Wembley Primary School. Students, aged 8 and 9 years, were involved in the whole process of organising the fundraising event, which raised $3,500 for Plan’s rebuilding education projects.

The children's teacher, Sophie Trpcevski told Plan:

"As the terrible aftermath of the earthquake began to unfold, the students learnt about the many hardships facing the victims of the earthquake, especially the children. They wanted to help and decided to hold a Walk fundraiser to help rebuild the lives of the Javanese children whose homes and schools had been destroyed or damaged."

Kids Who Care

Children from McDonald Park School in Mount Gambier decided they wanted to make a difference for children in Africa. Aged 8 and 9 years old, the primary school students held a fete to raise money.

A handwritten letter they sent to Plan told the story:

"We wanted to help the children in Africa.  So we decided to have a fete.  We brought in old books and toys to sell at the fete. We raised $312 and we would like you to use the money to help the children in Africa to write in books, to play with toys and to wear clothes."

The money will go towards Plan's work in Southern and Eastern Africa, where orphans and other vulnerable children are feeling the effects of HIV/AIDS on their families and communities.

Trekking for Charity

Plan sponsor, Louise Reynolds trekked the Great Wall of China as part of an Intrepid Travel Charity Challenge raising over $2000 for Plan’s Early Childhood Care and Development projects in China. The idea came about when she went to an Intrepid Slideshow night about the trek and they mentioned the possibility of doing it as an open charity challenge. The more Louise thought about it, the more she believed the challenge would be a great idea.

"Being a Plan sponsor and having volunteered at Plan events, I have a connection with Plan and it was my first choice as a charity to support.  The trek was great, but the fundraising part was a real challenge so I enlisted the help of my teddy bear Frederick. People sponsored him to see such things like photos of him on the Great Wall."

A novel and fun way to raise money for Plan!

Creative Juices

During 2006, a group of South Australian health workers, led by long time Plan supporter, Dianne Shearer, wrote, directed and performed their own concert entitled 'Screaming Lily' in the Centenary Concert Hall in Goolwa. The concert told a fictional story of the Screaming Lily Concert Hall which was being forced to close.

To celebrate and commemorate its history, entertainers who had performed at the Hall gathered for the last show, which featured some original music and songs as well as cover versions, dance and dialogue. The concert had a happy ending, with the Screaming Lily Concert Hall being saved!

The process of putting on the concert took nearly 9 months, with more than 20 people involved in the production on stage, and many more volunteers behind the scenes. Dianne said the event was a team effort, and completely voluntary, with all proceeds from ticket sales going to Plan. As a result of the wonderful success of the two concerts, $5,500 was raised for Plan's Water and Sanitation project in East Timor. The performers got an overwhelmingly positive response from their audience, and are happy to know that their efforts went to support a worthwhile cause.