The End

Well the numbers are in and I have raised a grand total of $250. It is an impressive number considering I only had approximately 8 donors, but is quite pitiful that that is all I received out of a 250+ home neighborhood. I have a feeling that I can raise more than I did, so I plan on putting out a new set of fliers after this project is done in hopes of more participation.

It's nice to have everything done though, I think I can sleep at night. All in all, things went smoothly. The fliers didn't prompt as much response as I had originally hoped, but I'm going to try to fix that for later on. My presentation was only to a small group of people, but they were very interested in what I had to say and were encouraging and comforting.
I've learned quite a lot about Sudan throughout this project. I knew that the area was poor and in need of aid, but I never realized how critical the situation was. I never thought about anything other than the specific genocide of Darfur. By researching into education, I saw how the genocide and below average conditions were effecting so many different aspects of the lives of these people. They didn't have the funds, feeling of safety, nor the chance to make the sacrifice to receive an education. Their world is dying fast and we need to step in and help.

Just the other night, I received an email from one of my neighbors that had donated. Here's what it said:

Kristen,

I thought I would send this to you. I received it the same day I received your paper on you high school project. You are doing a very noble thing and I pray that more young people would look past their own needsand see the world as it is. A world in overwhelming need. I will put my donation into your mailbox this week and God Bless you for bringing this to the attention of so many.

Marie Hedrick


(The caption says: The PHOTO in the mail is the "Pulitzer Prize" winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan famine. The picture depicts a famine stricken child crawling towards a United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the cild to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Keving Carter, who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken. Three months later he committed suicide due to depression.)

This was found in his diary:

Dear God,

I promise I will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full I may be. I pray that He will protect this little boy, guide and deliver him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests. I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for granted.

Kevin Carter

The Final Stages

So a couple hundred fliers, dollars, and worries later, my project is nearly complete. I have relied on my oversized neighborhood to help me in the process of collecting money for the Sacks of Hope foundation, but only had a few generous neighbors actually donate. However, the few that did were extremely gracious in their amounts.
Many people, even though they did not donate, were quite interested in my chosen topic and product. Out of all the different possiblities that I could have picked, I am proud to say that I know I made the right choice. It has been a more than difficult challenge, with too many unexpected problems along the way, but it is safe to say that I know I have made a difference.
Last week, I presented my project to the women in our neighborhood Bunco group and followed the presentation with dinner, snacks, and a miserable loss on my end. Needless to say, luck is not on my side. (At the end of the night, I was crowned the title of "Most Losses." What an accomplishment!)
All in all, I will admit that it is nice to have this project mostly complete. Now all I have to do is get the rest of those hours, and fast!

Operation Product

So I officially placed my product into action today. I stapeled together packets containing an information letter and flier about the Sacks of Hope campaign and placed them into the mailboxes around my neighborhood. I'd say there were about 250 homes here, give or take a few. I did walking on half, but the other half I decided to take my car and drive to pass out the remainder. Of course, with my luck, it figured that I would end up getting too close to a mailbox and make a few brutal scratches on my passenger side mirror. So much for being a good driver...

The information letter explained the graduation project, my goals, and gave a little bit of information about the situation in Sudan. The Sacks of Hope flier gave a short paragraph about the refugee situation in Sudan, as well as stating what the "start-up Sack of Hope" contains:

-Family sized tarp/ground sheet to offer shelter from rain and sun

-Family sized blanket to keep the whole family warm on cold nights in the bush

-Family sized mosquito net for protecting against insects, snakes, and scorpions

-Cooking pan for boiling water and preparing millet gruel

-Plastic canister to carry 5 liters of water

-Hand-held sickle for cutting the dried grass that is required for roofing a shelter

-10 Fishing hooks

-Hoe head for cultivating

-Seeds for planting crops

-22 lbs. of grain to feed a family of five for one week

All of those things are curtial to a family's chance of survival, and it can all be given for a donation of $50 to Christian Solidarity International.

I'm hoping that I'll get some good feedback from my neighbors and that I can raise enough money to really make an impact with this project. I'm planning on doing a short presentation in a few days to tell about what I have learned through all of this as the second part to my product. I'm sure that will go well.