Written by: Divya Palasamudram
As the holiday season was approaching, Sonali and Shayna were brainstorming holiday-themed projects and eventually landed on Holiday Bundles! They took inspiration from Candy Grams, the fundraiser that schools usually do around Valentine's Day. Sonali and Shayna work on every project, but the Holiday Bundles project was one specifically worked on just by the two of them.
Through selling Holiday Bundles, Sonali and Shayna raised a grand total of $230.91 for the International Cancer Care and Research Excellence Foundation, also known as, iCCARE. As mentioned on their website, “The mission of the International Cancer Care and Research Excellence Foundation is to give any child who is diagnosed with cancer the same chance of cure regardless of where they live. We pursue this vision through capacity building, research, improved clinical care, and financial assistance to families.”
Choosing which organization to support can be challenging, but the decision to support iCCARE with this project was not that difficult for Sonali and Shayna. Yadurshini Raveendran, a representative from iCCARE, was a guest speaker at one of the General Services Meetings. She was an inspiring speaker and amazing storyteller who knew how to captivate an audience. Sonali and Shayna got along with Yadurshini well and decided they wanted to support her and iCCARE with their fundraiser.
Creating the Bundles
The date that marked the first Holiday Bundle order was November 22nd 2020. Sonali and Shayna’s first set their goal as $150 in profits to donate to iCCARE, they surpassed this goal by over $80! They used an assembly line arrangement in order to create the bundles, and while creating these bundles they were able to tell each other stories, bond, and share lots of laughs! Together they learned the skills of tying ribbon and building boxes along with many others.
Promotion
Sonali posted about Holiday Bundles on her Facebook as done for every project. The team also was able to promote through post meeting questionnaires that members fill out after every meeting. Additionally, they also posted pictures of Holiday Bundles progress on the club Remind, allowing more members to be aware of this amazing project!
Obstacles
With starting a service project, many times there are obstacles that occur despite proper planning. For the Holiday Bundles project, the original holiday mugs stopped being sold in stores. So, for orders that did not get a holiday mug, Sonali and Shayna added a mug cake, instead.
Conclusion
All in all, both Shayna and Sonali had an amazing time preparing and executing the Holiday Bundles project from start to finish. Not only were they able to have fun, but their skills in promotion allowed them to raise an impressive amount to support iCCARE.
If this has inspired you to start a fundraiser of your own, that is awesome! The General Services board is always here to assist you with starting your own service project.