Harvspot 'Contest' To Boost Relief Sale Income

Everyone in the world should visit this site (Photo by UNHCR)

Some of us have dreamed of doubling this fall's Virginia MCC Relief Sale income for emergency war and famine refugee aid by encouraging attendees to be prepared to give generous cash, check, or credit card donations in addition to their participation in auction and food sales. We feel the extraordinary refugee needs we see in the world today call for an extraordinary response.

The Virginia Relief Sale Board has officially endorsed this initiative and is actively supporting an S.O.S. (Sharing our Surplus) Campaign to promote this between now and the September 29-30 event.

With some 10,000 relatively well-to-do people attending the Sale, most of whom do not participate in the auction, it should be possible to raise thousands in extra revenue by having a table set up for the sole purpose of accepting and receipting cash contributions from attendees--in addition to their auction and other spending.

In the interest of promoting this, I'm announcing a "contest" to gather creative ideas for how individuals and households could prepare to make sacrificial Relief Sale donations--over and above their regular giving--either on the day of the sale, on the Virginia Relief Sale website, or if preferred, directly to the Mennonite Central Committee website.

Examples of ideas to boost cash giving:

1. Prepare to give a tithe of what you have in your savings account.

2. Match what you and your household spends annually on eating out.

3. Save the equivalent of a month's rent or mortgage payment to help provide refugee housing.

4. Your (prize winning!) submission(s).

Please post your creative suggestions as comments below, message them to me on Facebook, or send them to me via email. I will present these to our group at our next meeting June 14.

"Prizes" (funded by private sources) will be awarded as follows:

First Prize: A $250 S.O.S. gift in your name.
Second Prize: A $150 gift in your name.
Third Prize: A $100 gift in your name.

Please share this via social media, emails and/or word of mouth.

Note: While the S.O.S.Giving Campaign is officially endorsed by the Virginia Relief Sale Board, this 'contest' to generate additional participation in it is purely my own.