Three cups of tea

Right now Ryan and I are reading the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and it's made me think a lot about what it is to raise money for a cause you support. In the book, based on the experiences Greg Mortenson had raising money for schools in Pakistan, he believed so wholeheartedly in what he was doing that he was determined to raise $12,000, enough money to build one school in a small village, Korphe. He did everything he could think of to raise the money, including writing 580 letters, many of which he typed on a typewriter. He only got one response from his letter campaign, Tom Brokaw, and that was it; hardly enough money to build his school.

Eventually he got in touch with one man, Jean Hoerni, who gave him all the money he needed to build the school. When he got back to Korphe with all the materials for the school the village elders told him what they really needed was a bridge (as it would have been difficult to carry the materials across the Braldu river with a hanging basket on a cable). Mortenson then realized he would have to fundraise again. He was feeling pretty down when he was encouraged by a fellow climber to ask Hoerni again for money, as he definitely had enough to give.

What I've realized from this book (what we've read so far) is that my efforts to fundraise have been pretty puny, and last week as I was beginning to think 'how in the world will we raise enough to meet our goal of $1800 each?' I realized that I really haven't done much yet to fundraise. So, while I'm not going to type 580 letters on a typewriter (I would have to buy a typewriter), I'm going to get creative with ways I can fundraise. So... if any of you who read this blog have ideas/creative ways to fundraise, please share them here! and I'll give them a shot.

Oh and also, if any of you wants to be the Jean Hoerni of my story, go right ahead!