A new exclamation point!

No sooner had I posted about needing 86 more dollars to meet our goal than I was told that someone had put a check in the offering plate on Sunday for $100! AWESOME!!!

We can now officially buy building materials. Yay!

Less than 24 hours till Part 1 of the team leaves for Mississippi. Last minute details are coming together and the packing frenzy will ensue soon!

Less than 48 hours...

9 of the team members are less than 48 hours away from getting on the plane for Mississippi. Yippee!!!! But here's even bigger news...

We are $86.30 away from hitting the $10,000 mark in our fundraising...in fact, I'm so confident that we can bring in that $86.30 that I'm changing the thermometer to reflect our new goal of $10,000...which means we can spend money on building materials!

Help us out! Donate through PayPal today!

An exclamation point!

WE HAVE AN EXCLAMATION POINT!!!! Our goal of $9000 has been achieved! NOW let's go for $10,000! :) We're just a little under halfway there with $9484 having come in. We can do it! Anything over and above will help us buy building supplies and anything above that will go towards helping get a lift for Captain John.

Just so you know, here's how the team stands:

6 people have been completely sponsored
2 people are within $75 of their goal
4 have over $100 or more to come in


10 days until we leave!

I want an exclamation point!

I realized awhile back that I type, a lot, in exclamation points. They end most of my sentences...usually. Tonight, as I was updating our Fundraising Thermometer, I accidentally reversed the two numbers. Instead of our goal being $9000, I put in $8384, so that when I typed the $9000 in the donated to date total, the thermometer got really full and got an exclamation point beside the number like this $8384! And yes, it was in green.

While $8384 is impressive, it's not our goal. We still have time to make that exclamation point happen! Help the team today, please!

Thank you to all who have donated so far...come back the week of December 16th-24th. You'll see pictures, read funny stories and see just what your donations are going towards! Plus, you can leave notes of encouragement and love to us...which makes the whole week that much more fun. =)

16 Days and counting

I love the countdown clock, though part of me panics when I see it as well. 16 days til we leave for Pearlington! Yikes!

There is still much to be done! While the fundraising thermometer says we are less than $900 from our goal, there's another count going on...the one that says much of our team still needs to raise half of their support. It's do-able in 16 days! Sponsor someone today. Every $10 helps!

Thank you!!!!

Thank you to Elisabeth Carlisle, Sherry Austin, Sharon Allen, the band and Toby-the sound guy for a wonderful Concert tonight! Thanks to all the concert-goers as well for showing up, for supporting the team and for being a huge encouragement to us all!

Sometimes it's easier to put our fundraising into perspective by getting familiar with the numbers of what some things cost. So here's a little breakdown on what we anticipate our costs being for the trip.

Airfare is by far the most expensive part of the trip at around $3800.
Car Rentals come in 2nd at about $1500.
Housing is the 3rd most expensive part at $1225 total for the two homes will be staying in.
Gas and Food and a couple other "essentials" round out the rest...but it's hard to estimate just how much that might cost. We asked each team member to raise $750 this time around.

I say all this is because tonight at the concert we raised enough money to cover almost all of the housing costs...$1095! YIPPEE!!! Only $130 to go! Or to put it another way, we could lower the cost that each team member needs to raise by $91.25. Awesome! :)

The chorus of one of the last songs tonight, had me crying (so did the second song of the evening but those lyrics I can't find yet). The lyrics spoke to my heart...especially the second two lines...it's how I feel about Pearlington:

If I needed you would you come to me tonight?
Would you come for me to ease my pain?
If you needed me I would come to you
I would swim the seas for to ease your pain.
~Townes Van Zandt If I Needed You

Fundraiser and fundraising

Saturday Night is the big benefit concert Featuring Sherry Austin and Sharon Allen and highlighting our own Elisabeth Carlisle. Scroll down past a couple of posts and you'll get all the information. We're excited to see what God does! A $10 tax-deductible donation is all we ask...and since we'll be flying the friendly skies to get to Mississippi, we may just give you a bag of peanuts...or pretzels. :)

As we anticipate our fundraiser I'm excited to report that 25% of our team is fully funded! Yay team! Yay sponsors! We are COMPLETELY reliant on the kindness of family, friends and sometimes strangers to get us to Pearlington each time. So thank you! 75% more to go!

I'm adding a countdown to Pearlington clock to the blog...just to make things a little bit more fun. ;)

See y'all Saturday!

Our first reservation!

It's official! We've had our first 3 tickets reserved for the Sherry Austin/Sharon Allen Mississippi Benefit Concert. S.G. from Santa Cruz...Thanks!

Don't forget, November 6th 7pm@ Felton Presbyterian Church. Doors open at 6:15pm.

$10 tax-deductible donation.

Refreshments will be available for a small charge...all non-alcoholic but not all non-caloric. :)

New Feature

I thought it would be fun to see which states donations come in from. Being that our team is from California, it makes sense that we would get a lot of donations from California, but also seeing as how we have a famous one on our team (Ralphie) sometimes the donations come from across the country.

The map is on the right side of the page, just below the Fundraising Thermometer.
Just something to make raising money a little more fun!

Announcing....

A Pearlington Benefit Concert
Featuring:

Sherry Austin and Sharon Allen

and Elisabeth Carlisle

Saturday, November 6th
7pm @ Felton Presbyterian Church
6090 Highway 9, Felton
Doors open at 6:15pm

All ages are welcome!

A $10 tax-deductible donation can be made at the door.

All proceeds will go towards the December Mississippi Trip.

Bring a few extra dollars...Coffee, tea, water, sodas and yummy baked goodies will be available as well!

(Pictures borrowed from artists websites)

Tickets bought!

So we've got 10 people committed to going to Pearlington in December. There are two people that are still considering going. They better get on it! ;)

We've had two PayPal donations from KPIG listeners. Thanks! Ralphie is on his way to raising his funds!

I was doing the math the other day and over the 9 trips we've taken from April 2006 to April 2010, we've raised $102,000. That's pretty impressive! It makes a mere $8250 seem like a drop in the bucket. Let's get the fundraising going!

Speaking of fundraisers, if you are in the mood to do a little Flea Market shopping, stop by the church on Saturday. We'll be hosting a Flea Market from 8am-3pm. Proceeds will benefit the Mississippi and Brazil Mission Teams. It's so nice to work together!

And coming soon we hope to announce a fun fundraiser in the beginning of November. Keep watching this space for more information!

And we're off!!!

The first donation has arrived! Thanks to Hour, a KPIG listener, for supporting Ralph Anybody. Our fundraising has officially begun!

Guess I had better get the Fundraiser Thermometer up!

The home stretch--updated

8 of the 19 Team members leave on Friday for Mississippi. We are SO ready! There are little details that still need to be done, like making sure the walkie talkies have batteries so we can communicate from car to car, putting fresh band-aids and super glue in the first aid kits (yep, we've super-glued wounds shut before!), getting all the directions printed out and of course, that whole packing thing.

There is still some fundraising to be done as well. In the last week some stats have changed a little, so here's the rundown.

7 people have their trip completely paid for.
7 people are within $200 of goal.
3 others have between $201-400 to go.
2 team members need over $400.

In our PayPal Challenge Ralphie/Jeffy is still in the lead with 18 donations...Ellen is in 2nd with 5, Debbie hangs in with 2 and the Waltons are at 1. There's still time to enter the race!...which reminds me of a song from Sawyer Brown "The race is on and here comes pride in the backstretch, heartache coming to the inside..."...maybe not such a great song to be reminded of huh?

We will gladly receive donations anytime! If they get here before December 30th, it will be tax-deductible for 2009! Paypal or snail mail works, just look on the sidebar for more information.

Gift Wrapping and Challenge update

Need your Christmas Gifts wrapped?? Live in the SLV area? We've got a group of people willing to wrap Christmas Gifts on Sunday mornings, beginning at 8:45am ending at 11:30am. Just come to Church, drop your gifts off in Taylor Hall with the group and they will be wrapped and waiting after church is over! We even supply the paper! :) Donations accepted.

Just a reminder, Amber, Regina, Jolynn, Sammy and Melanie...you signed up for this week!

And on our PayPal Challenge, here is the latest:
Jeffy/Ralphie--10 PayPal donations
Ellen--2 PayPal donations
Debbie--1 PayPal donation
Bill---1 PayPal donation

There's still time to donate! Just click on the link on the right!

Lots to report

There are lots of things to report so I'll just list them.

1. Our Jambalaya Dinner brought in $1077 after expenses. Thanks to all who participated, who cooked, served, set-up and cleaned up and ESPECIALLY to those who came out for some good food and good music. See the post below for some pictures of the night.
2. Part of our team last December spent the week at Captain John's property. The goal was to dig out and start putting in piers for the foundation of his house. We left in December with nothing really in the ground but holes dug. When we returned in April the house was framed and wrapped and ready for the interior to be worked on and work we did! Last week I received an email from Ben asking if we were ready to paint and do more interior work. This is the picture from last Tuesday.
3. This is a picture from yesterday. Hurricane Ida, though downgraded to a tropical storm, still brought water into Pearlington. Captain John's house will always receive water because it's right on the bayou, but this is a little more than usual. This picture is the front yard of the Yellow House. And this is one of the side streets. Not as high as it could have been and everyone is safe and sound.
4. For those going to Mississippi we have a team meeting on Sunday at 12:30pm. PLEASE be on time.
   

Fundraiser Report

The Jambalaya Dinner was successful. I've heard great things about the food, entertainment and ambiance. Thanks to all the team members who came to help out. It was good to see you work as a team...hints of things to come!We brought in approximately $1000 (profit). A few generous people helped out with that (Thank you!). It will be divided up amongst the team members who worked and put on their "sponsor" reports for next week's meeting (Sunday @ 12:30pm).
Thanks to our talented musicians for sharing their gifts with us! So awesome!

In other news, I was remiss in declaring Hurricane Season over, so that post is gone. It's not done til the end of the month, hence Hurricane Ida heading toward the Gulf Coast. Here's hoping that Hurricane Ida calms down and is downgraded before reaching the Gulf Coast.

Dinner will be served...

At 6pm on Saturday. What, you say? What dinner? Well, the Jambalaya Dinner benefiting the Mississippi Team!

What is Jambalaya? A yummy rice dish with chicken, shrimp and sausage and some Cajun spice. Mmmm...(for those allergic to shellfish, we make different versions). It's fantastic!

Besides dinner, what can we look forward to? Glad you asked! You will hear music from The Presbytones, Jared Fujishin and Elisabeth Carlisle. Additionally, we will show pictures from past trips and a little about why we go to Pearlington.

What is the cost? Great question! We aren't going to charge you for dinner, but ask that you make a donation to the Mississippi Team. All donations are tax-deductible, so if you want a receipt we'll make sure that happens.

Childcare will be provided if needed...but we think they might enjoy the music too! See you Saturday!

It's all coming together!

Our team has started the process of getting sponsors for the trip in December. It's exciting to see how God works all the details together, though a little stressful at times. Sunday I was positive that things were going to all come together well. I left our meeting feeling good. Monday, I was positive I had made the wrong decisions and wasn't listening to what God wanted at all. Yet, this morning, it seems the decisions were the right ones after all. This following God thing is never easy but the reward is great...seeing lives changed in Pearlington and hearts changed on our team.

So on we go. Airline tickets need to be purchased, houses need to be rented and we have a fundraiser dinner coming up that we need to start advertising! If you are in Felton on November 7th, stop by Felton Presbyterian Church at 6pm for some great southern food and music by some very talented folks in our church!

Date, Paypal and Fundraiser

I had hoped to have a final decision on the date of the trip by tomorrow. It's not going to happen for a reason that I won't be sharing. God is definitely in the planning and there is one thing that the decision is hinging on, so please be patient.

There are a couple of factors in the Paypal thing that are delaying putting that button up. Kind of need approval from some people, so, again, be patient.

For those of you working at the fundraiser on Saturday, you will be standing all day, wear appropriate shoes. You will also be cooking food for 1000 people...wear appropriate clothes. My friend who has done this the past couple of years has said that it gets really messy. Find the BBQ area at Harvey West or look for the Dominican Picnic signs and you will find us. That's the best I can do for you...I honestly don't know much more!

October 3rd Fundraiser

There are still slots available for the October 3rd Fundraiser. We've had a time change, if that helps. It's now 9:30am-6pm. There are 4 people committed to all day and two that can come for half the day. We could use three more people all day or 6 people for half day. Contact Brittany if you can help!