Fundraising Friday--Food!

When we were preparing to make the move to Ecuador, we knew it would cost money. Fortunately, we had lots of friends jump in with ideas for fundraising and many offered their talents and services.

One friend owns a catering truck. She offered to prepare chicken plates for us to sell. Our only expense was buying the food. She did all the work of prepping and cooking the food. We decided on a date, set a menu and price, and went to work selling plate lunches. We also had friends that helped sell in their circles of influence.

We sold 425 plate lunches! In fact, we could have sold even more if we would have had them. Four hundred twenty-five was the maximum capacity of my friend's roaster. We sold each plate for $7, and our total profit for the day was nearly $2000!


The plates included a chicken leg quarter, baked beans, cole slaw and a yeast roll.

 

Now, how can you apply what we did to raising money for Casa de Fe? Simple. Gather your friends, plan a menu, set a price, pre-sell the meals, cook and deliver. Depending on where you live and what your menu is, you could sell plates for $6-$12 each.

 

Here are some meal ideas:

Spaghetti plates: spaghetti w/ meat sauce, salad, green beans, bread

Red beans & rice plates: red beans w/ sausage, rice, green beans, salad, bread

Chicken plates (like we sold): chicken leg quarter, cole slaw, baked beans, bread

Burger plates: hamburger on bun, French fries or potato chips, baked beans

Chicken spaghetti plates: Chicken spaghetti, salad, green beans, roll

 

You could also add a dessert to each plate. Just remember to adjust your price accordingly.

 

Another idea:

Having spent about 15 years in student ministry, we've done a few fundraisers. One of the easiest and most successful fundraisers we've ever done were serving food on Sundays after church. This could just as easily be coordinated by a Sunday school class, small group or just a few Casa de Fe supporters within the church.

 

We always got the event and date approved by church leadership and then began to promote it within the church. Those helping to coordinate the event shared the responsibility for preparing the food. On the day of the event, everyone brought their food to the kitchen/fellowship hall. Coordinators also shared the serving responsibilities. Church members were invited to enjoy their meal in the fellowship hall or take a plate (or 2) to go after the morning service.

We never set a price for these meals. We only asked those eating to consider donating what they would have spent on a Sunday meal at a restaurant. We have always been pleased with the funds raised.

 

At the same time, this would be another great way to help promote our child sponsorship program and bring the work of Casa de Fe to the attention of your entire church body.

Don't forget--once your fundraiser is over, mail your tax-deductible donation to CornerStone International, P.O. Box 192, Wilmore, KY 40390. Be sure to write "Casa de Fe" in the memo of your check.

And if you're in Canada, you can write your cheque to our Canadian sending agency, ACCI at: Adventive Cross Cultural Initiatives 89 Auriga, Nepean, ON K2E 7Z2 Canada.

 

 

How about you? Have you sold food as a fundraiser before? Would you consider holding a fundraiser like we've mentioned here to help feed the kids at Casa de Fe? Share with us in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selling meals is probably one of the easiest and most guaranteed to be a success fundraisers that anyone can do, because EVERYONE eats. And when you offer to deliver lunch to a person's place of work, it's really hard to say no. ;)