I cannot tell you guys how excited I am about this event.  I really, really think this has the possibility to be something special.  Over the past week this has taken on a life of it's own.  What started as a simple idea to do something crazy has turned into a full-blown opportunity for us to share out passion with the community! 

 

A lot of the details are still coming together but here's what we know so far:

 

• It will be on September 4th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm.
• I will be running a marathon on a treadmill set up in front of the store.
• We will have several displays set up to explain what our team is doing and how people can help.
• 88.3 The Wind will be teaming up with us and probably broadcasting on location.
• Because it's an Art Walk night, we will see anywhere between 500 and 1500 people.
• It will probably make the news in some way, shape, or form.

So yeah, it's going to be awesome!  We are going to have a chance to share our heart for Africa with TONS of people!  However, it's going to take a lot of work on our part.  There's a lot of stuff to do between now and then.  I don't want to sound like some crazy person claiming to have heard the audible voice of God, but the thing that God keeps putting on my heart is this: Just like running, the more we put into this, the more we will get out of this.

 

With that in mind, I am setting our goal for the evening to be this: To have 26 kids sponsored.  For those of you who don't know, the child sponsorship program is the foundation of everything World Vision does.  It is a great program where you commit to send $35 a month to a child's community and, in turn, World Vision provides that community with food, shelter, clean water, education, and many other resources.  You also get to become pen-pals with our child, sending letters and small items back-and-forth.  To me, this is better than asking people to make a donation.  Although donations are great, they are typically a one time thing, whereas the sponsor child is a real relationship that allows individuals to truly connect with the issue of poverty.  Does that make sense?

 

I will continue to update this as I get more information, but here's some stuff that we need to be thinking about:

 

• Getting the word out!  This is going to be key to this event.  I am currently working to put together an event website with it's own address and stuff.  It will give people an overview of who we are and what we are doing.  Once this is done, we will need to send it to everybody possible!  We will also need fliers, cards to hand out, and anything else we can think of to spread the message.
• Create the display tables!  One of the key aspects to the event is going to be the two display tables that we put up.  One of them will be outside by the treadmill.  It will provide an overview of what extreme poverty is and what we are doing about it.  On this table people will be able to make one time donations, either in person or online.  The second table will be inside.  It will explain the sponsorship program and allow people to sponsor a child on the spot. 
• People to be there!  Be sure to start clearing off your calendar for that day.  It is going to take a lot of set-up to get ready and, of course, we want as many of you as possible there that night.  Although I'm going to be the guy on the treadmill, you are going to be the ones doing the real work.  You are doing to be responsible for helping connect with people.

Wow.  That's a lot of information!  I will keep this thread updated as I have some more meetings with Global Fayre and 88.3 The Wind.  Until then, let's start sharing ideas!