When I first told my girls of the many needs of the children at Guma Ya Nesu orphanage in Africa, they had several ideas to raise money to help them. Because I wanted our first project to be completed in time for the blog project, Kids 4 Orphans project. , I had to narrow their ideas down to something we could do right away.

They really, really wanted to have a bake sale. With no time to organize a big group, we put a little twist on the idea. Instead of a traditional bake sale, my girls decided to take orders and deliver cookies. We settled on Snickerdoodles, a favorite recipe we’re quite comfortable with (and famous for within our family). Another plus is they’re pretty cheap to make!

Through phone calls, Facebook, emails, and message boards, my daughters took orders. We charged $10 for 2 dozen cookies, and gave information about the orphanage in case buyers wanted to donate more. All money collected for the cookies will go straight to the Cause!

My original desire was to have a project that involved more families working together, but this was a good starter project for us.

I will let you know next week how much we ended up raising with our Cookies 4 a Cause (When we’ve finished delivering all the cookies)!

Don’t forget to link up to the Kids 4 Orphans project this week!

Are you ready to link up your family’s project? Share what you did for the Kids 4 Orphans project! This link-up will show up on all blogs that are hosting it, so you only need to enter once!

If you haven’t gotten your project done or posted about it, there is still time! The linky will remain open until Friday night! I’m still working on my post, so it will be linked up later on. Can you say slacker?

Everyone who enters a photo or post will be entered to win a copy of both of Ann Dunagan’s books: The Mission Minded Family and The Mission-Minded Child!

Yesterday, I shared about a project we are doing to raise funds for orphans in Africa to have warm beds and full tummies.

Are you joining in? I hope so! I’ll be sharing our project next week!

I presented the need to my girls, and they immediately came up with some great ideas to raise funds. First, they wanted to do a car wash. Then a bake sale. Then a lemonade stand. My seven year old said she’d give the money she usually gets for her birthday. Oh, my Mommy’s heart.

If your kids are looking for ideas, here are some to get your conversation rolling:

Offer services in exchange for donations. Can your kids babysit? Wash cars, mow lawns, pull weeds? Wash dishes? Mop floors? Send them to my house! Or, if sending them to a might-be-psycho-for-all-we-know blogger freaks you out, maybe a neighbor or family member will be willing to hire them.

Our church used to have a slave auction each year with the high schoolers. Congregation members bid on students and overpaid for us, then put us to work. I can tell you I never pulled $100 worth of weeds in my pastor’s garden, but he paid it just the same!

Get creative! Bake cookies, Make handmade cards. Make bracelets. Heck, squeeze some lemons and make lemonade! Remember, the rule of thumb when raising money for a good cause is to overcharge. When else will your mother-in-law pay $5 for a half dozen cookies?

Sell Junk! Get a rummage sale together with a group of friends, or do a yard sale! Put some stuff on ebay!

Ask! There’s nothing wrong with writing letters and asking straight out for donations. Maybe far away grandparents or local businesses will participate! If no goods or services are exchanged, then all donations are tax-deductible.

Think out of the box. Kids are so great at this, so encourage their creativity and run with it!

Ann has a fabulous brochure here with more great ideas!

Let your kids pick and choose what to do and see how God works through them!

Remember, as you are raising money with your little ones to pray over the children you’ll be blessing!

Have your kids come up with a project yet?

In a recent guest post, Ann Dunagan of Harvest Ministry, shared a need for beds for orphans in Africa. Since then, Ann has shared other needs with me, including mattresses, blankets, and food.

I think I am more excited about what I am about to tell you than any other thing I’ve ever done on my blog.

I have an assignment for you!

Next week, between April 26 and April 29, some other bloggers and I will be hosting a Kids 4 Orphans Link up!

Your Assignment:
1. Share the need with your kids and pray for the children of GUMA NA YESU. You can read more about this ministry here. Here’s a video to share with your kiddos, on your blog, with your church, your neighbors, etc:

2. Get your kids to come up with a project to raise money for blankets, mattresses, and food for the Orphans at GUMA NA YESU orphanage in Africa. Tomorrow, I will be sharing project ideas for you. Ann has a brochure with the need and lots of ideas for you here.

3. Set a goal. Blankets are $5 each and Mattresses are $10. Beds are $20. The greater need right now is blankets and mattresses, and food. Here is what Ann has to say about food needs:

There is also a big need for food. Right now the kids are mostly getting is pinto beans, rice, and cassava flour “posho” (which is very bland, and tastes kinda like gritty non/salty play-dough. I have a hard time eating it. It’s typical boarding school food in Uganda, but I really would like for them to get more healthy food, like fruit or peanuts or pineapple or avocado or bananas or matoke (which is a Ugandan cooked banana that tastes like squash, it’s yummy and healthy), or cabbage. When multiplying by 700 it just costs so much to add variety.

What moves your kids’ hearts? Find out and set a goal with them, working towards a specific need. I wholeheartedly believe that each of us can raise at least $100, but I won’t put a limit on what God can do! Even if you raise $20, that will buy 4 blankets! I think it will help to set a specific goal such as, “We want to raise enough funds to get mattresses and blankets for 10 children!” Then see what God does with our little plans

4. Do the project with your kids. It can be as simple or as complex as you like!

5. Donate all funds raised to The Cause 4 Orphans. Directions and a button to donate can be found here. Click on the Piggy Bank and follow the directions

6. Share a photo or a blog post showing what you and your kids did. If you don’t have a blog, you can post a photo on my Facebook Page. If you don’t want to share a photo, you can simply post a summary of what you did. If you don’t blog or Facebook, email the photo or summary to me and I will post it for you, anonymously if you like. I want everyone to be able to participate so if in doubt of how to share, just contact me!

7. Link up your blog post next week! Other blogs are hosting the link-up, and when you link up on any blog, it will show on all hosts at once.

8. *Bonus! Everyone who enters a photo or post will be entered to win a copy of Ann’s books: The Mission Minded Family and The Mission-Minded Child!

Will you participate?

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