CHWC FUNDRAISING IDEAS

We are constantly asked if we have any fundraising ideas, so we asked a bunch of youth ministers what they did to raise money for CHWC this list is a compilation of some of the best ones. If you have any fundraising ideas email us at catholichrtcamp@msn.com

Flamingo Sale…Your youth can sell pink flamingo yard ornaments. People in the parish pay for a flamingo (or 100) to be put in someone’s yard. The group would then one night drive to the homes and “deliver” the flamingos. The group can also sell “flamingo insurance” for the homeowners that don’t want any in their yard. Joe Welch, Oklahoma City, OK

Make a map that shows the distance from our church to Workcamp. Parishioners can buy a mile to help you get closer to your goal of getting there. Make a cross or a hammer cutout and put their family name on it. Could say something like: The ________family supports St. Joseph Youth. Rene Platten, Memphis, TN

At CHWC we have Taco Tuesdays…TACO TUESDAYS NIGHT…Invite the parish for a free taco dinner (have someone sponsor the food). Have the teens give witness talks and show pictures and videos of their work at CHWC. You can then ask the people to write checks and leave them in the paint cans on the tables. The pictures and stories will touch people’s hearts! Maggie McGowan, Lakeland, FL

“Change for Change” Have your teens talk at mass about what they will do at CHWC. Ask the parishioners to donate their spare “change” (bills and checks) to help us make a change in the world. Have your teens stand outside of mass with paint buckets for the people to put their money in. Michelle Murphy, Sanford, FL

Pancake Sausage Breakfast…Ask all the teens going to camp to donate a specific food item for the breakfast, that way you will have no cost and everything you make is pure profit. They are “All You Can Eat” breakfasts and all you ask is a free will donation. Mickey Nickrent, Mahomet, IL

Sell wreaths, garland, etc. for Christmas. Get merchandise from www.sherwoodforestfarms.com. There is no money due until a couple of weeks after after delivery of merchandise, which is nice. Mickey Nickrent, Mahomet, IL

Homemade Pizzas…order all supplies from Sam’s. Make them available for pick-up Superbowl weekend. This makes very good money. Mickey Nickrent, Mahomet, IL

Take Stock in our Youth…Make a flyer that will say…Our youth will be participating in Catholic HEART Workcamp (explain what CHWC is). Add what the total cost of the trip will be. Our Teens are selling “STOCK” in themselves to raise money for this service trip. A donation of $10.00 or more entitles the donor to a piece of this experience. The donor will be invited to attend the Saturday evening mass before the trip, with a cookie and punch reception following to meet the people they have invested their money in. They will be sent a “dividend statement” from the camp updating them on the work being completed. And finally, invite them to another cookie and punch event to view pictures of the week and hear stories of the participant’s adventures and how their experiences enhanced their faith. To purchase stock ask them to mail their contribution to (put name of contact and address where to send.) Maureen Ragsdale, St. Louis, MO

Super Bingo...We pre-sell tickets...$25 per person...$1,000 jackpot...20 regular games with specials and other "rip-off" games of chance. We start with a plate lunch that the kids serve and we really make money when people buy extra cards and specials. The last few years we have averaged $4,500-$5,000 for one afternoon of work. We have found that the Saturday between the last NFL playoff game and before the Super Bowl weekend is ideal to catch all of the Bingo Aficionados...male and female...also we advertise the Bingo at the local area bingos several weeks before the event...the diehard bingo players...not necessarily our parishioners are the ones who support these Bingos. They like the lunch and helping the kids too! Mary Blythe, North Huntingdon, PA

Murder Mystery Dinner Theater...The kids in the youth group do a dinner theater play...we serve a dinner and give away a few door prizes. We love it because the kids have a ball putting the play together...it doesn't require a lot of extra practices or scenery etc. The audience likes getting dinner and guessing "who dun it". Mary Blythe, North Huntingdon, PA

We sell Advent Supplies (Calendars, Candle sets, Wreaths, Religious Cards etc.) after Masses for two weekends before Advent begins...the Parishioners are grateful to get their Advent sacramentals and we make about $1,500 for very little work. Mary Blythe, North Huntingdon, PA

"Cross Ornaments"...We make crosses out of construction paper...attach a small envelope (coin size) to the envelope and on it write..."You're invited to..." then inside the envelope we ask the people to pray for our youth who are going to NCYC OR CHWC etc. so that they will grow spiritually...then we also invite them to share the monetary burden if they choose by returning the envelope through the collection basket with any donation they care to make. People put in $5 - $500. We hang the cross ornaments on a Christmas tree in the back of church for a couple of weeks about 2 months before the designated event. Mary Blythe, North Huntingdon, PA

We do Hoagie sales after all Masses one weekend every 3 months. Mary Blythe, North Huntingdon, PA

We host a 32 team 5th and 6th grade girls and boys basketball tournament. We have $4,000 in the bank from entry fees before the tournament even starts. With admission fees and concessions, we will make around $8,000! A lot of work over two weekends (we only play Friday night and Saturday) but great rewards…AND we use it as an opportunity to show everyone what we are doing at CHWC with a video playing the entire time. Randy Alderman, Greenville, IL

Websites for additional ideas http://www.catgear.com/ http://totallycatholicfundraising.com/ http://www.crownofthornsprints.com/

CHWC 2010 Theme

When we choose to follow Christ and respond to the call of service

to others …. We choose a Life with a new Rhythm! The world

invites us to rush through life, to keep going, to get ahead and

achieve for ourselves. Yes, we should achieve, but this is the

beat of the world. God invites us to be a part of His rhythm,

to walk at His pace, to stop and look at the world around us

and to be a part of a Cadence of change!

Sure we can have high goals, but within the motion of life

we must look at the needs in our world where suffering,

loneliness, hunger, poverty, and injustice are real! God has

been calling an army of young people to serve through

Catholic Heart Workcamp. When we come together as the

body of Christ we are in harmony with one another and

with our God who calls us to choose a life with a new rhythm!

NCYC 2009: Kansas City

Catholic HEART Workcamp was very excited to particpate in this years National Catholic Youth Conference in Kansas City. We saw lots of old friends and made some new ones. 20,000 Catholic Youth from all over the country were here this weekend. Here is a picture of our booth.

 

Here is the fabulous CHWC team at the booth on the opening morning. From Left to right (Lisa, Nick, Charlotte, Wayne, Kelly, Charles, Lauren)
 

Update from the CHWC Office

Busy. Busy. Busy.

We are hard at work finalizing the 2010 dates. We already have so many for next summer camps are filling up. God is Good! The new postcard is in the mail now. Here is what it looks like.

All the merchandise orders have been filled and are in the mail, so be on the lookout. We are hard at work on sharing all the summary videos online so be on the look out for a way to view them.

We are always trying to improve CHWC as an organization and our web presence if you have any ideas or thoughts please let us know. http://heartworkcamp.com/contact.htm.

Our brochure is next on the agenda and is going to print in a couple of weeks. That is all we have for now. God Bless!

CHWC in the News

Catholic HEART Workcamp has been all over the news stations this summer. Below we have two broadcasts one from Oklahoma City,OK and one from Greensburg,PA.

 

 

If you know of any other news coverage of CHWC this summer please send an email to nick@heartworkcamp.com

CHWC Going Green

Catholic HEART Workcamp is doing all it can this year to be green. We have opted to use paper products where possible, and we are recycling plastic and cardboard in all of our kitchens. We understand that preserving our environment is a way of preserving God's creation and We are doing our part to do so.

Love Repeated

Campers all over the country have been Love Repeated to hundreds of residents in 20 communties in the month of June. As the new staffs take over in July we want to focus on our theme Love Repeated. Love Repeated means taking the love that we are shown by our families and friends and duplicateing that love to those all we come in contact with. So far in 2009 we have had 5000 campers take that love and show it to all they have come in contact with, it truely has been something special. As we embark on the second half of the summer, we hope that the love that has happened already will not only serve as an example to those who follow, but contine to grow and spread to the commmunites that campers return to. Here is the theme song performed by the person who wrote it Jon Niven, in Charlotte, NC.

We pray for safe travels and that everyone will find a way to repeat the love they have received.

Week 2 CHWC

Week 2 of Catholic HEART Workcamp 2009 is complete. Mishawaka, Virginia Beach, Toledo, Omaha and Jamaica(1) took place this week. It was another great week of love being repeated over and over again throughout these communities. Below is a video of Popple performing Days of Elijah during Monday night's program.

CHWC Memphis

This was left on the CHWC Facebook page, it is a reminder why we do what we do.....

This week a group of wonderful people came to work on my parent's house. They painted, cut shrubs and bushes, put in a new fence, and cleaned up the vacant lots around their home. I am just in awe at the work that the Catholic Heart Workcamp students and Jacob's Ladder organization completed on my parent's home. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. They truly blessed our family this week.
-The Fowler Family in Memphis, TN

CHWC 2009 is underway

The Summer of 2009 is underway with 5 camps going on this week. We are in Memphis, Denver, Tampa, Chicago and Jackson. The camps are all going very well through the first couple of days and many homes and communities are being rennovated. Below are pictures from the opening Mass in Jackson, MS. We ask you to pray for the safety of all the campers as they go out to the worksites today.
  

And they're off.....

The trucks are loaded and the teams are on the road. Memphis, Tampa, Jackson, Chicago and Denver are first on the schedule. Below is Team 2 finishing their truck at the CHWC office.Team 5 has the farthest to go. Orlando to Denver is quite a drive, here is a picture of them loading their truck.
Team four is off to Chicago, below is a picture of them saying a prayer with CHWC Office Manager Charlotte before they hit the road.The trucks are loaded, the teams are en route, and the summer of 2009 is upon us...
Please pray for all the youth groups, as well as the staffs, that they travel safely to the first orkcamp cities this summer.

Staff Training

Every year the staff comes to Orlando for a week of intense training, this year was no different. The staff went over thr rules, procedures and the 2009 program in a couple of days of training. Below is Lisa going over the theme 'Love Repeated' with the staff.It was not all business, during this training the staff make friendships that will last a lifetime. Below is a picture of Jeremy (captain team 4) and Lauren (captain team 1) learning the opening for 2009.

Media Weekend

Summer is is almost here, but before the trucks get loaded and the staff arrives, CHWC invites all the Media Managers to Orlando for Media Weekend. This weekend crams all the knowledge a Media Manager needs to know to run the audio and video systems at camp into four day of training. Day Two is computer day, we go over video editing and the presentation software, one table, six laptops and 12 hours of clicking.
Day three is equipment day. After mass, we setup all the equipment used for all 5 teams in one gym. We test, sort, and organize. This day of intense learning is capped off with the 7th annual chicken wing dinner, does it get any better?

Directors Meeting

Every year around this time the CHWC Directors come to Orlando to discuss the upcoming Workcamps. This year was exceptional like always. The picture below shows Steve trying out some of our new state of the art equipment on Brian. What is it you ask? You will have to wait until the camps start to find out.

Oh Baby!! There is a lot happening in the CHWC Office

Over the past month it has been pretty much crazy in he Workcamp Office.
First off, Nick and his wife Melanie adopted a baby boy, James Anthony Balabanski, he was born on February 5th. He is a blessing to their family and they thank everyone for all the support they have received.Then, on the day Nick returned to work which was also the day before the second managers meeting Dodie went into labor three weeks early. Dodie and her husband Cory had a baby girl, Alexandria Dodie Hibbs, on February 20th.
Both Babies are very healthy and are doing great. James is happy that he won the contest for the longest name but Alexandria contests that she has prettier eyes. They are both a great blessing to the entire CHWC family.

Manager's Meetings 2009

Every year we have all the CHWC managers come to Orlando for a weekend of prayer, reflection and of course instruction. This year we split the managers into two different weekends, one in January and one in February. These are very special weekends that are very important to us as a community and very vital to the process of Catholic HEART Workcamp. Both weekends were very much a success. Below are pictures of both meetings.