But these beautiful PINK birds are for fighting cancer!
Now that my own cancer treatment has wound down for the most part, I wanted to find ways to "give back". Last year I was a participant in the Relay for Life in both Jackson County and Jennings County and this year, the Jennings County Relay asked me to have a team.
You might recall Ralph, whom I met at the Relay last year (we compared our bald heads...lol). You might also recall that my sister and I were guest speakers at the Jennings County Relay Kick Off breakfast in January. We feel like they all "adopted" us and they made us feel special. So, we're happy to be healthy enough this year to participate with them as a team. So, I rounded up some friends and family and we formed the "Living Out Loud" team! (We're thinking we need to change our name to "The Flockers" next year.....haha!)
For our main fundraiser, outside of selling the Relay Luminaries or asking for donations, we decided to do Flamingo Flockings! It has been a HUGE success and loads of fun!!! Fun for us and fun for the "victims"!
We sell "flockings" for a $15 donation and the donator chooses a yard to place the flocking in. A note is left with the flocking and the donator can choose to identify themselves or they can remain anonymous. Then the "victim" can pass on the flocking to one of their friends for a $15 donation. The great thing is that it feeds off of itself! Most everyone re-flocks someone.
Sometimes we are able to hit a home during the daytime (which is easier for us) when the household is away at work and school!
We have five flockings out every night.....at $15 a flocking, that's $75 a night....and sometimes we receive more than a $15 donation.....we've had $25, $40 and even $50 checks left for us! It's adding up fast! We only began our fundraising a couple of weeks ago and are already at $1200. We had hoped to reach at least $1000.....now we're shooting for $2000! We're pretty pleased with our success in our first year as a team!
And everyone is having fun with this! People have called us and written us notes, telling us how much they have enjoyed their flockings and what a great idea it is! People post pictures of their flockings on facebook to share it with their friends! Fundraising can be FUN!!!! And we are amazed that we don't get caught! We have done flockings with curtains wide open and we can even see their tv on. One time we even heard children talking and laughing! LOL....we're fast....we've got this down!
One time we went back the next night to pick up the flocking (we leave them for 24 hours) and the bodies were GONE!!! The wire legs were still sticking in the ground but the bodies were gone! :=( We were so disheartened (thinking they were stolen), as these things were not cheap for us to buy ($35 a dozen and we were LUCKY to find them that cheap in the Target Dollar Section....they were going to cost us at least $60 a dozen online). Plus, we always have a waiting list, so we just hated to lose a flock! And why would anyone want to take their bodies??? I was hoping it was a joke and it turned out to be. The woman's grown son had taken the bodies and put them in the back yard to pull a prank back on the gal who had donated to have them flocked. In the end, all turned out well. We got our flock back and mom donated and made her son donate...lol...so we got a $40 donation from them and all was forgiven! :=)
The reaction to our flockings has been wonderful! We love hearing the "stories" from the victims, but the BEST story so far was told to me via a phone call. The lady said she always looks out the front window before she heads to bed. Her husband headed on to bed and she looked out the front window, as she routinely does. She saw the flock but thought they were pumpkins. That's funny enough, considering it isn't even pumpkin season. lol! She was so upset, thinking someone had thrown pumpkins all over their front yard and ran to tell her husband. He asked if she wanted to call the police and she said, "yeah, I think I will". So she did! Can you imagine them getting THAT call! lol! So, an officer came down to her house with the big ol' spotlight shining and they saw they were not pumpkins at all! The officer took the letter out of the pouch and read it and she saw her friend's name on it and they both died laughing. The officer told her it made his night and he was going to have fun with this all night. He said it was the best thing he'd seen and she said he was still laughing as he got in his squad car and drove away. LOL....I bet he enjoyed sharing that "call" with his fellow officers! I'm not sure anything will top that story! He asked her why she thought they were pumpkins and she said something about Halloween and all....but it's APRIL!!!! hahahaha! This story was the BEST, although we've had lots of other wonderful stories from people. These little pink critters just seem to make people smile and bring joy wherever they go! And it's brought us a lot of joy to surprise people!
Until next time......find a way to bring joy to someone's life today! :=) Something so simple can make people feel so special to know someone thought of them! Look in your own life and find a way that you can "give back"! In the end, you will be blessed!
Cindy
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