Flea Market Success!

Yesterday's flea market went really well. We earned a total of $699.48! After the $60 expense for the space, we made a net gain of $639.48.

It was pretty exhausting, but I'm sure those that helped out would agree it was both fun and rewarding. I would like to give an enormous thank-you to everyone that helped out: Sandra, Rachael, Eleanor, Swaran, Pallavi, Alison, Drew, Jamie, John, Ally, Joel, Patricia, Ryan, Summer, Grace, and professor Schultheis. Each one of you did a fantastic job. Events like this aren't possible without your participation!

I am looking forward to planning at least 4 more fundraisers before our brigade - at least a couple of which need to be held before the end of the quarter. It will help the planning process immensely if everyone (who is in the Foothill area) would take the time to respond thoroughly to this survey.

Here are the fundraisers I am intent on executing and information about them. I am always open to more ideas and I would love for brigaders to contact me if they have interest in taking on a leadership role in planning one or more of these events:

Raffle - I have already obtained two Kindle readers and one of those fancy watches that links to your phone that can be used as prizes. It would be great to get some more prizes - a big ticket item (something valuable and useful to most people - electronics are great), as well as a bunch of smaller prizes (t-shirts, gift baskets/cards, services, etc.).

Last year we combined this event with a restaurant fundraiser. Brigaders invited their family/friends to come out to dinner, and a percentage of every bill was donated to us by BJ’s Brewery. We also used their space to raffle things off. It would be great to hold this event at a restaurant or bar.

For this event, we need brigaders to obtain more prizes and to let me know what dates and times they are available to attend. This fundraiser will likely be held over the summer.

Bar Event - I imagine this as a casual event at a bar somewhere between San Jose and San Francisco. If we can arrange for a bar to donate a percentage of our (or ideally everyone’s) bill for the night, this should be minimal work for most of us - all we need to do is just show up and have a good time. This event could take place anytime in between now and our brigade. Directly after finals could be a good time.

A couple of brigaders will have to approach bars to see what they can offer us. We will also need to know brigader’s availabilities.

I have already been in touch with Nola’s in Palo Alto, but I haven’t followed up with them yet because they needed a date and rough headcount.

Donut Sale + Guessing Game - This fundraiser will have to be held at Foothill, during the day. We need to have a date and time figured out by May 13th so we can get approval from the school.

We will also get the Dental Hygiene program at Foothill to put out a gigantic bucket of toothbrushes. People can pay a buck to take a guess at how many toothbrushes there are. The closest guess will win half of the money spent on guesses.

Brigaders will have to respond with their availability so we can set a time/date, and we will also need to solicit places to get food/drinks donated.

Movie Screening - There is a theater on campus where we could show a movie, and possibly provide food. We could sell tickets or, more likely, have a suggested donation at the door. We can advertise the event through the Biology department at Foothill - some professors might even be willing to give extra credit for attending.

We have a lot of options with this fundraiser. We could screen a movie that is related to what we do as Medical Brigades (related to healthcare or Central America), or we could screen something that is relevant to Biology to cater to the Bio professors and students, or we could screen something unrelated and enjoyable.

A good time for this fundraiser would be in the evening at Foothill, after classes let out. It will have to be held before spring quarter ends and we will need to get the school’s approval, so we need to have the even fully planned by May 13th or 20th.

Depending on what we screen, we may have to pay a screening fee. A brigader will have to search for the producers of the movie and see if we owe them anything for the screening.