[Inez] Fundraising

As you know, Ruby and I have been fundraising on the website indiegogo.com to try to raise enough money to fund two trips to El Salvador this year. In addition to the price of the plane tickets, there is also food, lodgings, and daily transportation to consider. We are also asking for some money to help with transcription because that is the next step that needs to be completed in order for us to move forward towards completing the book. In total, we're trying to raise $3720.

So far we've raised $1525. It's an incredible amount of money. Most of this money has come in the form of $25 donations from people we know directly. Some has come in $10 donations, and we're incredible thankful for this level of support as well. a surprising amount has come in $100 donations which is absolutely thrilling every time it happens! I am mostly writing this to express how thankful I am for the support (emotional and financial) from these incredible people, including those who weren't able to give but spread the word among their friends who may be interested in our work.

I'm also writing the post to talk a bit about giving. If you're reading this blog, chances are you know Ruby and I personally. But just in case, let me give a bit of background information. Ruby and I are both Quakers (What's a Quaker?). Our Yearly Meeting (an organization that conducts business once a year with representatives from many regional Monthly Meetings) has a long-standing relationship with the Yearly Meeting of El Salvador, which means that we have several Quaker friends in El Salvador. One year when we were in El Salvador we went to a f/Friend's house to participate in their ministry to distribute food around the city to homeless folks.

Our friend gathered with several family members and a few other members of his Meeting and together they cooked up a few giant pots of food. They also made a large amount of coffee and a large amount of hot chocolate. They they loaded it all up in the back of a pickup, everyone piled in (three of us up front and the rest riding in the back with the food) and we set out into the dark streets of San Salvador. We drove around for a few hours, handing out food, coffee, and hot chocolate to people who were homeless -- some of them mentally ill, some of them business men who simply couldn't afford a place to sleep, some of them drug addicts. All of them grateful that someone took the time to bring them something hot to eat or drink.

This ministry isn't financially supported by their Monthly Meeting. We asked them later how much money they spent on the food each week, from their own pockets. It was an incredible sum of money, considering that none of them makes very much. Yet they feel honored to be able to do such work, not burdened.

So here's how I like to think about it when I'm trying to figure out how much money to give away: What don't I need? I don't really need to buy a $10 lunch out; a little foresight and I can prepare a lunch at home for a fraction of the cost.

I don't really need another $40 pair of shoes when I already have half a dozen. Instead, I could give $40 to a cause I believe in.

Or even longer term -- can I go two weeks without buying lunches out? If I had been buying lunch every day at an average of $8 per day, that's $80 saved over two weeks. Maybe I could give that money away.

If you're reading this, I would encourage you to take a couple minutes and think of something you want but don't really need. Maybe it's a new dress. Maybe it's dinner from a local restaurant you enjoy. Maybe its a six-pack of beer -- or a six-pack of ginger beer. How much does that thing cost? Consider donating it to our Indiegogo campaign instead, to help us write this history of an incredible human rights organization.