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I was inspired to do a fundraiser for One Child's Village by Todd, his example of a generous, giving life and his words: “When I'm on my death bed, I'm going to care less about how much stuff I have than how many people I helped." Last spring I decided a good way to raise money for One Child's Village was to have a garage sale.

I contacted almost everyone I know and my daughters did the same. Many people seemed happy to contribute their used kids toys, books, furniture, electronics, sports equipment, and much more. We had the sale on a Friday to Sunday. There were lots of bargains and we had fun doing it. Also, most importantly, we raised almost $1700.

Some items that didn't sell, I put on Kijiji. If they were listed as "free", I asked if they would like to make a donation. Most people seemed really happy to support the cause. And it was a really positive experience for my family and me.

I would certainly consider doing something like this again. I think it would be ideal if others got involved. It would work out great if several agreed to have a sale, recruiting stuff from all their network of friends and acquaintances. Many people seem happy to donate. Here is my email address so that anyone interested could contact me and we can share ideas: d.k.stewart@shaw.ca

I’ve always wanted to go to Africa and spend some time volunteering with those less fortunate than myself, do it through an organization that I know had the children's well-being at the top of their priority list and – most importantly --  share this experience with someone that I’ve got the utmost love and respect for. This is why, after attending the One Child’s Village silent auction last April with my friend Kamal, we decided it was time. Volunteering at Mercy Children Centre through One Child’s Village with my best friend, it’s as though it was meant to be!

Once we decided that we were going, for how long and when, we realized that we wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Time for some fundraising! After a little brainstorming we came up with two fundraising events: A charity poker tournament and a raffle. Having no fundraising experience whatsoever between the two of us, we had no idea where to start. We started questioning whether or not we could pull either event off. The first event to get underway was the raffle. Getting the raffle license was the least of our worries. How were we going to get enough prizes to make people even want to buy our tickets!? Thanks to the support of some great friends, the prizes started rolling in. By the time we were ready to start selling raffle tickets we had about $2000 worth of prizes, 20 prizes to draw for.

Next on the agenda was the poker tournament. At first people were a little hesitant to play, but once they found out what they were supporting they were excited that they were able to support a great cause, while enjoying a Friday night of cards, pizza and beer. Intuit was gracious enough to open the beer fridge to the players, and Panago even donated 10 large pizzas to feed the players. This event felt more like organizing a small party then trying to raise money. We were able to raise $850 while having a good time - and we’ve been asked to host another one before we leave. Doesn’t sound like a bad idea!

Although another of our ideas (a bottle drive) didn’t turn out quite as planned, there are a lot of generous people out there who were determined to participate even though we weren’t making it our focus, giving us another $400 or so.

With the help of so many generous people we were able to raise $2500, which we plan to double by submitting through Intuit’s donation matching program. Talk about a great place to work. Thanks to everyone who helped us reach our goal of raising $5000 to take to Bumala with us in February!

A BIG thank you to everyone who made it out to a yard sale, bought a raffle ticket, or simply dropped by to hear the stylings of Howard Rent-a-Car. We are touched by the creativity, involvement, and generosity of our supporters!