The How-To's of Adoption Fundraising, Part 1, The Ice Cream Social

One of the most intimidating things about adoption can be the cost. Many, many people have looked at me with shock/dismay at the amount it will take to get A home. It seems like an impossible task. I think a lot of families/individuals would pursue adoption if they weren't so doubtful about coming up with the thousands and thousand of dollars that it can take to bring a child home.

I would like to put a plug in here for foster adoption. Adoption from foster care can be very, very low in cost. A fraction of what other types of adoption can be. But more on that a different day. Even as an adoption advocate, I can only handle so much at a time:)

Also, I would say, consider your priorities. If it's important to you, you will find a way. I don't write this flippantly. We are a low middle class family, mostly single income. This adoption is surely being boosted by our last two, because of the adoption tax credit, but we could have put that tax return into other areas, other needs. We have chosen to sacrifice and face a slimmer margin, because we believe a soul hangs in the balance. A's, as it so happens.

BUT, there is no way we could have scrimped and saved the thousands and thousands it will take to bring her home. We needed to reach out to our community. We have shared our burdens with the Lord, our family, our church and our community. We have seen incredible generosity pour forth.

"I don't always think of myself as rich, and I'm guessing you may not think of yourself as rich either. But the reality is, if you and I have running water, shelter over our heads, clothes to wear, food to eat, and some means of transportation (even if it's public transportation), then we are in the top 15 percent of the world's people for wealth." from Radical, by David Platt

Sometimes, you need a channel by which people feel comfortable or inspired to give. Today, I'm highlighting the Ice Cream Social.

Here's what we did, if you have some suggestions, please feel free to mention them in the comments.

1. Plan a date, find a space.
We used our church building. They allowed us to rent the space free of charge. Wonderful blessing!

2. Invites! It wouldn't be a bad idea to mail our post-card type invitations. I'm just not convinced that e-invites, facebook events, etc are the way to go. We announced, announced, announced, through social media, email and in our church bulletin. Our total guests, including about 10-15 volunteers, was only 90 people. However, these precious 90 people happened to be very generous, as we were able to raise about $2100!!!

3. Find volunteers. You will need help. A friend of mine sent out an email sign-up sheet. We had volunteers for scooping ice cream, keeping things re-stocked, keeping things tidy, sitting at the donation table, keeping an eye on the silent auction items, selling raffle tickets and for clean up. One thing that we didn't do, that I wish we would have, is to have a brief meeting with volunteers, just to run through how you envision the evening going. If possible, do it at the venue.

4. Make a list of everything that needs to happen or needs to be collected before the event. Decide when you're going to do what. When you're going to set up tables, when you're going to pick up supplies etc. We chose to have toppings at our Ice Cream Social, whip cream, sprinkles, chocolate etc. We also had coffee. We started about 1.5 weeks before the day and that seemed to work well. Don't plan too much the day of, or you'll be stressed and exhausted by go time.

5. Find Ice Cream!!! For this, you'll need to plan ahead if you want anything special. There's nothing wrong with swinging by the local grocery store and loading up there. We wanted something homemade, and were able to find a local distributor, but it was about 3 x or more the price. Very good, quite expensive!! We ordered 7.5 gallons and that was more than enough.

6. These are optional items, but we chose to do a silent auction/raffle concurrently with our social. This brought it approximately $100 extra and was quite a bit of work, gathering items and setting everything up. Not sure if we would do that again. We also prepared a little presentation, including a slide show, which was fun and very well-received. Doing these little extras helped, but were not necessary.

7. Pray and ask others to pray. Our event was not super well attended, but as I said, those who came were obviously passionate about supporting our adoption and put their money where their hearts are.

~extra little tid-bits~
~we made sure (suggested by a smart friend) that those waiting in line/coming in would go right by the silent auction tables
~we didn't charge a fee to get in, we just kept a donation box for those who came in to give what they felt, there were hundred dollars bills, and very large checks in the box at the end of the night, and like I said, we raised $2100!!!
~if possible, try to find enough volunteers so that you won't need to do anything after set-up, you'll want to go around and chat with your guests, and you will have different folks coming up asking questions and what-not



So far, in our third adoption adventure, we have been blessed with over $10,000 in gifts and fundraisers. Two garage sales, hosted by others for us, brought it around $4,000 total. I plan to write another entry in this series on putting on a successful adoption fundraiser garage sale, as we have participated in and put on three now, over the course of our last three adoptions. a huge and heartfelt thanks/shoutout to our dear church family and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law for all the work and inconvenience of putting on these garage sales for our A.

My Greatest Offering

Since my last post, we have almost reached our last goal, which was selling 27 puzzle pieces. Two recent donations have gotten us really close! Such a blessing! We realize that most donations have come from sacrifice, and this touches our hearts so much. That you all would do that for our baby girl!

The Ice Cream Social is just a few weeks away! It will be held May 30th, from 6-9 p.m. at Twin Cities Bible Church in Maplewood. There will be delicious, locally made ice cream and some exciting items raffled, some great silent auction items. If you are local, please attend!

Saturday we spent part of our morning going from shop to shop in our local downtown. We received a couple of donations toward the silent auction/raffle. We have had other donations come in from advertising on facebook and word of mouth. We are so thankful for the things that have come in so far, and are hopeful for more. We have a few places yet to visit, and hopefully the Lord will open doors.

In other news, we received four out of five passports (mine was sent in a couple days later, so it hasn't come yet)and our home study packet was finally sent last Wednesday!!! That felt so good! Getting our home study in writing (this is something our social worker does and should be complete soon, now that all our paperwork is in) is a huge key to the next series of steps we need to take. Then on to apply for advanced immigration approval and start to tackle the dossier, which actually seems a little easier than the home study documents. I am eager to get the dossier in, as that is when the 6-9 month time clock to get our court date starts counting down. Realistically, it will take at least two months before it's ready.

Each day that goes by we grow more eager to meet our new daughter. We are jealous of all the time we are "missing" from her. We do trust in the Lord's timing, nevertheless, it is very hard to be so far away, in time and space, from our sweet, darling little girl. We haven't seen any new pictures, or really heard much of an update at all, but hopefully soon.

One thing that makes this process easier is our supportive family and our sisters and brothers in Christ. We have received contributions of money, help, items for garage sale, encouraging words, prayers and cards. It all helps so, so much. Thank you all. We love you!

Our kids at home are doing great, Lu is turning 7 on Sunday!!! Harry broke another pair of glasses, but continues to amaze us with his vocabulary, intelligence and love for life...and cars. Finn will be getting hearing aids soon, but he's actually doing really great, he's hearing things he's not supposed to:) And I heard him singing Let It Go today. Super cute.

LuLu picked out her first present to her sister today. It's a pink, sparkly tiara headband.

I heard "Spirit Speaks" by All Sons and Daughters on Pandora today. It was timely. Two of my favorite lines...
"To every word you speak, I'll go where you will lead
To love the least of these, is my greatest offering"
Yes, yes it is. My greatest offering, loving the least (littlest), one at a time.

Getting Down To The Wire

Just a little recap of where we're at in the process.

We have a referral. We're in the process of updating our home study. We recently submitted our contract. Once the home study is updated, we'll submit our immigration paperwork. We're expecting our dossier checklist soon! Once the dossier (huge stack of paperwork that gets shipped off to Uganda) is on it's way, we expect to travel 6-9 months from that time.

So this is me.

Stacks of papers to fill out. Forms to photocopy. Questions to email. Phone calls to make. Dollars to raise.

Diapers to change. Lessons to teach. Homeschooling. Dishes. Laundry. Etc...

But it's all worth it. Each day, I grow more excited to meet my new daughter. Each day I am thankful for my kids at home.

And thankful for the warm sun when I take the kids outside to play.

And grateful that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, who knows and sees with compassion, all of our struggles.

I do worry. I try not to, but I am anxious for my girl, who seems so, so far away. I hope and pray that she is staying healthy. That she is full at the end of the day. That someone is showing her the care and love that she needs.

And I have what if moments. And they are scary.

In going over the more formal documents that we received last week, I realized that one application (immigration stuff) that has to be mailed ASAP includes a $720 fee. To be honest, I knew that this came somewhere in the process, but I wasn't sure when. The reason we need to get it in ASAP is because is takes 60-90 days to be fully processed. And we can't move forward with the final faze of adoption paperwork (dossier) till it's complete.

~~~~Please pray with us that we are able to raise the $1865 we will need, in about 3 weeks. That means we need to raise $621 per week till then.~~~~~

If we can get 27 more puzzle pieces sold, we will have reached out goal for the week!!!

Please pray with us that 27 hearts are touched.

More Little Steps

This week we finished our 10 hours of required training. I like to joke a little that I guess the last 3 years of adoptive parenting haven't counted:) While finishing up our training, which was a webinar, I folded little girl clothes. Mostly 4-5t. I've experienced baby showers...getting cute clothes to put your new baby in, and folding them neatly in preparation for the new little person that will fill them. It was sort of a similar experience, though these were Lu's hand-me-downs. It was fun to look at all the sweet little girl things A will wear. It's a way of feeling connected with her, the only way I can, for now.

Today we update our homestudy, which is just another of many steps in the paper chase. We're going to spend the cleaning and organizing, and it is just great timing because then on Sunday we host for Easter! Our new social worker comes here and we all chat (there will be a nice long movie time for the kids.) Then she updates the "story of our family" or homestudy, and gives us a list of documents to gather.

This updating process will involve a $1500 fee. Again, it's another big bill that we can cover, thanks in part, to timely donations.

Please continue to pray that more funds come in. We have fundraisers coming soon, but we will have big bills due before then. And by the time we submit our dossier (some time this summer) we will need to have $15,000 to cover all the rest of the international fees (this does not include travel.)

I know a lot of times we complain that adoption is too expensive, the costs are too high. But really, when you break it all down, a good part of the money is going to help care for our girl and to provide aid for the orphanage. Some goes to the government, and some to the agency, but not all. And our agency is very transparent about where all there money goes, so I truly believe that every penny is needed and justifiable. If you would like to help, please feel free to donate any amount by clicking the donate button to your right. Thank you.

Other ways to help:

Coin Buckets!!!

The Puzzle Project

The Latest

Well, we've seen the beginnings of better weather and the snow is gone. Praise the Lord! Another praise, our passport applications are in!!!

I was a bit nervous to do this, as it is so important (and expensive!) Thankful that everything went smoothly and it's done!

In facing the reality of the finances, dealing with other things that come up in life, and figuring out this whole passport situation with kids and forms, and printers not printing, and me making mistakes and having to re-do forms, then sitting down to do our training at 9 p.m. after a long day, I've been stressed! Finn has a sedated procedure coming on Tuesday, my house is in shambles, and the snow melting was wonderful, but revealed a ton of work we need to do cleaning up. I am concerned that from the outside looking in, we're crazy to attempt this huge, huge thing called international adoption.

But in considering this, I took a step back, and what I see is a sweet little girl, who I happened to find, who is not 100% healthy, who has no mama. And she needs me. And it's so beyond worth it. For her precious soul, it's an honor to do this. It's hard, yes. It's illogical, yes. But if we use our hearts and our eternity-seeing eyes, it makes all the sense in the world.

And if you ask my kids, they have a sister in Uganda. Or "Nuganda" as Harry terms it. She's their sister, the boys either identify her by her name, or by saying "sitter" (sister.) In my kids hearts, there are no questions about it. A is prayed for every night by daddy and boys, mama and LuLu, and she's going to be enjoying the longed for bunkbeds that LuLu now has a perfect right to expect.

Adoption is expensive, and yes, some aspects of it do seem ridiculously difficult. It's not the perfect solution, but for this 3 year old girl, it's the only solution possible.

And it is inconvenient to fundraise, and I know, it's not always convenient to give. And it won't make us richer, or less stressed, or anything like that. And it certainly won't really help you at all, to give to the adoption of this little girl. But imagine you were her. Living with next to nothing, not even family, and imagine how you would feel if a bunch of people in the USA pulled together to bring you somewhere safe, warm, loving and welcoming. Imagine that.

It makes me want to give everything for her, of course, because she is, or will be mine, but I know it moves your heart as well as mine. It's life-changing, to help kids like A. This is real, it may not be at our doorstep, but it doesn't make her need any less real. And ultimately, we're all part of the same race, the same family. Just because distance and a few bits of DNA separate us does not mean we aren't obligated, in some way, to help the motherless and fatherless of our world. This is my desperate, deepest desire.

Looking ahead, some prayer requests and things to be mindful of for us:

~Homestudy meeting coming up next Friday
~Finn's sedated ABR
~Reaching our first fundraising goal of $1600 ($1058 left to raise) which will allow us to pay the next 2 big fees, and reaching our ultimate goal of $23,000 total.
~Praise that our passport fees ($600) and our first professional services fee to our agency ($2700) is fully covered. God is good, and we see Him working through you!!!

Fundraiser #2!!!!

In conjunction with The Puzzle Project, which will be ongoing till we bring Alma home, we are introducing "Help Change a Life" coin buckets...

We have $1281 to go before we reach our first fundraising goal of $1600!!!



You could leave this on your kitchen counter, dresser, in your office at work, at a local business that you frequent, in your car etc...

Please let me know if you want one! When it's full let us know and we'll be happy to pick it up! All donations will go directly to bringing A home from Uganda.

First Official Fundraiser To Bring Alma Home From Uganda!!!!

The Puzzle Project!!


There are 1,000 pieces, and our goal is $23,000. Suggested donation amount is $23 or more. For each donation, we will put a name (yours) on the back of a puzzle piece (or however many pieces you choose to "buy") and when complete, it will mean that we can bring A home. The puzzle will be framed so that the front and back will be on display! You can either click "donate" or mail a check/give cash. Email me at Chicamia84@msn.com for address.


Our first goal, in the next month, would be to raise about $1600. That's what we're short for the first batch of BIG fees.

Please know we hate asking for money. The only time we ever have is to bring our kids home (this is our 3rd adoption.) We're pouring all our savings and pinching every penny, but it's not going to be enough. Alma has sickle cell anemia and has been in an orphanage most of her life. So please, please give what you can!

If you don't have any money (or just want to do more), and want to help consider these options...

~Share our blog! It has very, very few views, and I'm working on finding out ways to improve that BUT...you can share it on your facebook page, and that would be a HUGE help!!!

~Ask for a coin donation bucket, we're making them (photos to come) and you could ask your boss to put one in the office, keep one in your home, car, wherever loose change might be!

~Pass out our adoption cards. I always have some with me, or I will happily mail some out!

~PRAY! We appreciate this the most, as all things belong to Him anyway:)