Winter Fundraisers

Happy Holidays from Expanding Lives

With the holiday season quickly approaching, we are about mid-way between summer conferences, and that means Expanding Lives is focusing on fundraising for the upcoming 2014 conference. This year’s conference will take place in Benin and will allow us to regroup all past participants to evaluate our program and look toward to some serious teamwork on the ground.  We have a number of events and campaigns planned for this winter.  These fundraisers help contribute a lot of the resources that make our summer conferences possible.

The first event is the Annual Holiday Dinner and Alternative Gift Giving Event.  Volunteers will be hosting dinners across the country during the first week in December, in order to raise awareness and money for Expanding Lives.  This is the second year these dinners have been held.  Last year was a huge success; we even surpassed our fundraising goal!  Many thanks to all those who hosted and participated last year, as well as to those who have volunteered to host this year.

Alternative giving is a form of gift giving in which the gift giver makes a charitable donation on the recipient’s behalf, instead of giving them an item.  For all of those friends and family members to whom you aren’t sure what to give, consider making a donation on their behalf to Expanding Lives instead.  It is the perfect holiday gift that is suitable for everyone and makes a difference for so many people.  If you are interested in making a donation to Expanding Lives, please visit our website at www.expandinglives.org.  To learn more about how you can be a part of our Annual Holiday Dinner Event, please contact Sara Chambers at schambers@expandinglives.org.

Aichatou and Sara 

Another holiday fundraiser is our annual gift-wrapping fundraiser.  Our fantastic volunteers will be skillfully gift-wrapping presents for shoppers in exchange for donations to Expanding Lives in many locations across the north suburbs of Chicago. We will be at Lincolnwood Town Center from December 19th-24th, Barnes and Noble at both Village Crossing on December 19th and Old Orchard on December 20th, and Golf Mill Shopping Center on December 22nd-23rd.  Stop by while doing your holiday shopping to say hello, and let us help you wrap your gifts!  If you would like more information, or would like to volunteer with us, please contact Alankrita Siddula at asiddula1@gmail.com.

Joseph, our most dedicated gift wrapper

Finally, at the beginning of January, we will start a fundraising campaign for Nafissa, one of our first conference participants.  We are looking to raise money for Nafissa’s tuition as she works towards her Master’s in nutrition. Considering Nafissa is the only person in her family to finish junior high school, that her father died a few months after she left Chicago, that she is in charge of two younger brothers, $1000. a year for the two year program is small change for the great changes she will be able to make.  She is an incredibly bright young woman, and the first of our participants to pursue a graduate degree. We are so excited to see her furthering her education.  As one of 20 students accepted into Niger’s first ever graduate program in nutrition, Nafissa hopes to help the people in her community combat starvation and malnutrition, giving children a chance at a future.

Happy holidays from Expanding Lives!
 
-by Katherine Aulis, Junior Board Member