Clifton Park and Albany NY Homes for Sale: Charity idea.......

John from LA posted a blog earlier today about donating blood and it got me thinking about some fund-raising my wife and I did a few years ago that I thought I would share with you.

For my wife's 40th birthday party I threw a big celebration.  Now, she isn't the kind of person who needs to be the center of attention but she does enjoy being around all our family and friends.  When we were talking about the BIG day (oh by the way, she is older than me and I never let her forget it for the two months every year that she is) she indicated that she didn't want all the typical 40th Bday party "crap" that people bring.  Besides let's not kid one another, it all ends up in the garbage or gets re-gifted.  So we came up with an idea.......

We decided to ask people to make a small donation to the American Heart Association instead of bringing the typical gag gift.  This was also done in honor of her sister (Leah Jane) who passed away at the young age of 18 due to a congenital heart defect.  So, we set up a little table with her sister's picture on it and placed a little donation box for people to drop their card or check.  We collected over $2,000.  When I presented it to the local chapter and explained what we had done, they were thrilled and put the story in a copy of their newsletter.

The party was a big hit and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I think a lot of people appreciated making the donation instead of being "forced" to go buy a cheesy gift.  Anyway, I hope you found this helpful and I hope it gets you thinking about creative ways to help out a charity of your choice.

Lew